Is a government employee protected by qualified immunity from liability for damages in a civil case?

"The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials 'from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.' [Citation.] Qualified immunity balances two important intereststhe need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably. The protection of qualified immunity applies regardless of whether the government official's error is 'a mistake of law, a mistake of fact, or a mistake based on mixed questions of law and fact.' [Citation.]" (Pearson v. Callahan (2009) __ U.S. _, 129 S.Ct. 808, 815 (Pearson).) Whether a government employee is protected by qualified immunity turns on

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" 'the "objective legal reasonableness" of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were "clearly established" at the time it was taken.' " (Wilson v. Layne (1999) 526 U.S. 603, 614.)