Can an employee be fired in retaliation for reporting a colleague's claim of sexual harassment to higher management?

Initially, the parties dispute whether the discharge of an employee in retaliation for reporting a coworker's claim of sexual harassment to higher management may rise to the level of a Tameny violation. Sentry argues that such reporting inures only to the benefit of the employee in question rather than to the public at large, and questions the constitutional or statutory basis [1 Cal.4th 1096] of such a claim. Plaintiff responds that the same constitutional provision (Cal. Const., art. I, 8) that prohibits sexual discrimination against employees and demands a workplace free from the pernicious influence of sexual harassment (see Rojo v. Kliger, supra, 52 Cal.3d at pp. 89-90, 276 Cal.Rptr. 130, 801 P.2d 373) also protects the employee who courageously intervenes on behalf of a harassed colleague.