In this case, the ACLU supported Robert Runkle, who was employed as a bill collector by Medaphis, Inc (a Georgia-based company doing business in California) starting in October of 1986. His duties included "telephone bill collecting, mailing itemized statements to customers, and keeping records of his own accounts." He excelled at his job, and his performance was commended.

Runkle was an openly gay, HIV positive man, who experienced harrassment and discimination because of these qualities. He experienced "persistent and egregious harrassment and discrimination," including being denied winnings in an "intra-office productivity contest." Coworkers used slurs in his presence, and he was not allowed to receive personal phone calls at work from his partner, while his heterosexual coworkers were allowed to do so. When he informed his supervisor that he was HIV positive, he was told to keep this information to himself, and, at one point, he was denied a promotion because of his HIV positive status. At one point, a coworker brought a handgun to the office and threatened to kill Runkle. The harassment escalated over the course of many years, becoming more and more hateful, until September 22, 1992, when the plaintiff filed a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

He alleged thirteen counts of workplace abuses, including "sexual orientation discrimination", "hostile work environment harrassment," "disability discrimination," and "negligent supervision." The court ruled in support of Mr. Runkle, stating that his "privacy protections are no less robust simply because his sexual life reflects something other than a heterosexual orientation." They also write, in reference to the California Worker's Compensation Act (WCA), which the defendants attempted to use in their argument: "In order to rule that WCA exclusivity applies to the above-referenced causes of action, the court must find that such outrageous harrassment is a 'normal part of the employment relationship.' Plaintiff submits that this simply must not be the case."