Just like in any civil lawsuit, defendants in Labor Code section 132a cases are entitled to prepare for trial by gathering information from the employee. The term of art is "discovery," and the Civil Discovery Act governs this process in California. The Labor Code gives the WCAB judge authority to guide the case as she sees fit, but nothing in limits the parties' rights under the discovery act.
As I wrote earlier, often the 132a discrimination cases will sit around for years before the plaintiff acts on them. As such, the formal cut-off dates for discovery often don't apply, and employers will wait until to conduct discovery, or will piggy-back onto discovery in the underlying WC case by attending the depositions or just by using deposition testimony for the 132a defense. However, sometimes it is imperative to get discovery underway immediately, for instance if the plaintiff-employee seems to be pursuing the case aggressively, an early deposition will stave off the need for continuances at the hearings.
The WCAB judge has strict control over procedure in cases before her, and since the applicable Labor Code sections do not allow for motions on the pleadings or for summary judgment motions, the WCAB is unlikely to dismiss even the most frivolous cases without the usual course of hearings (which I'll discuss later). As such, in cases where the employee's claims are baseless, employers can try to move a case forward by taking the employee-plaintiff's deposition, and filing a "Declaration of Readiness to Proceed," moving the case onto the first hearing -- the Mandatory Settlement Conference.
This is only one scenario where the employer may gain advantage by pursuing the matter, rather than letting it lie dormant. Contact me if you have questions.
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