Can a plaintiff bring a claim of retaliation against an employee who investigated the complaint?

Another helpful case is Gallanis-Politis v. Medina, supra, 152 Cal.App.4th 600. There the plaintiff sued her employer, a municipal department, raising gender discrimination and civil rights claims. Medina and another employee were charged with investigating the allegations in the complaint. Upon completion of their investigation and report, the plaintiff amended the complaint to add a cause of action against them for retaliation. The appellate court reversed the denial of the defendants' anti-SLAPP motion, holding in part that the investigation and the report were the basis for the plaintiff's claim; without them there was "nothing of substance . . . upon which to base a retaliation claim . . . ." (Id. at p. 611.) It also held that those acts were in furtherance of the right of free speech and petition "because the investigation and report were conducted and written in response to a request for information from counsel . . . ." (Ibid.)