In a decision of considerable practical significance for public safety unions, the Sixth District Court of Appeal in Paknad v. Superior Court (Apr. 17, 2026), has clarified that an employer cannot invoke the thoroughness of its internal investigation as a shield in litigation while simultaneously withholding the factual substance of that investigation behind claims of privilege. The ruling arises from a sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation lawsuit in which the employer repeatedly emphasized the quality and independence of its pre-litigation investigation. When the plaintiff sought production of the full investigative reports, the Court of Appeal held that the employer’s defensive reliance on those materials waived both attorney-client privilege and work-product protection as to the factual findings and information bearing on the scope and adequacy of the investigation itself.
Before litigation commenced, the employer retained outside counsel to investigate the employee’s complaints. Counsel conducted witness interviews, reviewed documents, and prepared two detailed written reports containing the employee’s allegations, summaries of the interviews, the investigator’s factual determinations, conclusions, and legal recommendations for future action. The employer provided the plaintiff only with a high-level summary of the findings and later asserted an avoidable-consequences defense in the lawsuit, representing to the court and the jury that it had “thoroughly investigated every allegation” through an “independent, outside investigator” who had interviewed numerous witnesses and reviewed a voluminous record. When the plaintiff moved to compel production of the actual reports and underlying materials, the trial court initially permitted sweeping redactions that stripped away virtually all of the investigator’s factual findings. The Court of Appeal twice granted writ relief, first ordering production subject to in-camera review and then rejecting the trial court’s overly broad redactions on the second petition.
The appellate court’s reasoning rests on a straightforward fairness principle. Once an employer places the adequacy and independence of its internal investigation at the center of its defense, it cannot fairly withhold the very facts that would allow the plaintiff to test that claim. The court expressly held that factual content—witness statements, the investigator’s factual determinations about what occurred, and any information relevant to whether the investigation was thorough and impartial—must be produced. Pure legal advice, mental impressions, or unrelated protected communications may still be shielded, but the factual core of the investigation is not. Even core attorney work product loses protection when the employer voluntarily puts the protected matter at issue.
For California public safety unions, this decision represents a meaningful advance in discovery rights. Public employers routinely contract lawyers to conduct workplace investigations into member complaints of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Later, they seek to conceal these investigations citing attorney-client privilege while simultaneously touting that they “did everything right” and “thoroughly investigated.” Paknad makes clear that such representations come at a price.
Unions and their members now have authority supporting demands that the employer produce the actual investigative reports, interview summaries, and factual findings rather than hiding behind vague summaries or privilege assertions. The practical implications are considerable. In future litigation, counsel for public safety members should move aggressively to compel production whenever the employer pleads or argues that it conducted a proper investigation. Unions should also counsel members, during the administrative phase, to request full copies of any investigative reports generated in response to their complaints. Early reliance on an attorney-conducted investigation does not guarantee confidentiality if that investigation later becomes a centerpiece of the defense.
Conclusion
In light of Paknad, public safety unions would be well advised to treat any employer assertion regarding the quality of an internal investigation as an invitation to demand full disclosure. Paknad establishes an important principle in California employment law: an employer who voluntarily invokes the thoroughness and independence of its internal investigation as a litigation defense cannot simultaneously withhold the factual substance of that investigation behind claims of attorney-client privilege or work product protection.
To that extent, the decision supports access to investigation materials by the employee who was the subject of the investigation—but its support is conditional, not categorical. The case does establish a freestanding right of an accused employee to access investigation materials in the pre-litigation or pre-disciplinary context. Rather, it holds that when an employer places investigation adequacy "at issue", a waiver of both attorney-client privilege and work product protection occurs, and the scope of that waiver is governed by what the employer has voluntarily put at issue. The practical result is that the employee targeted by the investigation gains access to the investigator's factual findings, credibility determinations, and other materials related to the scope and adequacy of the investigation.
The decision potentially levels the playing field by ensuring that members can effectively challenge the very investigations their employers use to justify discipline but then seek to hide behind. California public safety employees deserve nothing less than the ability to test the completeness and fairness of the processes that determine their professional futures.
