The appellate decision turns on whether students in clinical rotations fall within FEHA's 2015 amendment extending harassment protections to unpaid interns. The court held that the statute and its regulations can cover students in limited-duration work-based training programs, including nursing clinical placements. Critically, the court rejected the argument that "student" and "unpaid intern" are mutually exclusive categories. The panel also ruled that a deficient attorney declaration should not have been treated as fatal to the case where the defect was curable.
Schools, hospitals, and clinical training programs should expect FEHA harassment claims from unpaid trainees to survive early dismissal motions. The ruling expands potential liability for institutions supervising clinical students and signals that courts will not strictly enforce technical pleading defects when they can be remedied. Attorneys defending or pursuing harassment claims involving clinical placements should anticipate that student status no longer shields institutions from FEHA liability.