Legal Question in Employment Law in California
For 22 years I have worked for a chain of restaurants. A manager who left the company for 9 years came back to out store, left for about a year to open a new store, then came back to our store. He has gradually reduced my hours to 12 a week. The people who have taken my place are younger and are Hispanic. We have 33 employees not counting management. Of those 33 only 4 are caucasion. There was another server who was white and a few years younger than me and she was fired for pulling up her bra strap. The manager who has put all these things in place is black, has made age related comments, and once told me I have no idea what it is like to be discriminated against. He has repeatly told me my job is secure, at one point on my way down the ladder I said I didn't feel I was being treated fairly. He then proceeded to follow me around, threaten my job and went on and on till I started to cry. There were two others times he followed me around while I was waiting on customers degrading and insulting me till I started to cry. He also used shout "go Stacy go" across the restaurant. He knows I have battled clinical depression my whole life and loves to screw with my head. There is so much more but from what I have said so far is this legal?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Well... If you can prove the allegations of 'discrimination' by witnesses or documents, you may have the basis of a case. If it is your word vs theirs, no. If serious about pursuing a discrimination claim, write up a thorough chronological narrative of all the facts and details that have occurred. You would need that to show your case details if you decide to file a claim. Understand that you can only sue over things occurring in the last 12 months, but earlier events can be discussed as 'background'. Feel free to contact me if serious about pursing your claim, and I will review your narrative.
Given your description, you may be the victim of discrimination in the workplace. Employers are prohibited by law from discriminating against any employee on the basis of his or her age and/or race, which appear to be the two concerns you have raised. If true, such conduct is unlawful under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
Indeed, given your complaint that you didn't feel you were being treated fairly and your boss's subsequent conduct (ie. following you around, threatening your job, etc.), you may also be the victim of harassment and/or retaliation. Both are prohibited by the FEHA, the same law that is meant to prevent discrimination against employees in the workplace.
If you would like a more detailed assessment of your legal claims, I ask that you go to my firm's website, www.sarnofflaw.com, and complete our free Confidential Online Case Evaluation Questionnaire. Either my partner or I will review your questionnaire and get back to you shortly.
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