Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Boss

The question as to whether or not you can be fired is usually not answered by reference to a list of specific "good causes for dismissal."

The answer usually depends, first of all, upon whether your employment is covered by a contract, either a collective-bargaining (union) contract, or a personalized contract between you and the employer -- which, by the way, needn't necessarily be in writing; some oral agreements or understandings will suffice.

If there is a contract of whatever kind, the terms of the contract will largely govern whether you can be dismissed under a given set of circumstances or for a given reason. The main limitation is that the contract cannot be enforced to the extent of a provision that is contrary to public policy, i.e. it cannot contain a provision saying reporting harassment is cause for dismissal.

If, on the other hand, you have neither a written, oral or implied contract, as a general rule you can be fired for any good reason, or for no reason at all, but not for a BAD reason (such as discrimination, retaliation, etc.).

In your case, I cannot answer your question more particularly because I don't know whether your employment is covered by contract or whether the post-discipline conversations you engaged in were proper or not.

You might want to see if a local office of the California Labor Commissioner would be willing to hear your story and give free advice.