Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Hi I was placed on administrative leave at work. In the 3 plus years I've been at my job I have received nothing but accolades for my work. Sadly, this all came to a screech due to being required by my supervisors to take on additional roles when others left my department. Roles that required full-time employment of others. I tried many avenues to help resolve these issues. Unfortunately HR did not want to hire Temps or substitutes to fill in so I was stuck by myself. So I did what I could to keep my department going. With the additional roles there was no way for me to do my job effectively. My supervisor was completely aware of this and tried providing support but none was available as we were in the middle of covid. I did the best I could and I managed and was able to pull thru.

This is where the allegations come in of me not doing my job. The allegations towards me are completely false. In fact, during the time of the false accusations, the president of the school awarded me an award for exceptional job. Moreover, I was voted employee of the month by my colleagues for what I was able to achieve with the situation I was facing. Even the board members applauded my efforts. My direct supervisors were very happy with my work. So I was I. I did over 80 hours a week during this time, did not get paid overtime, but was just happy to pull it off. So this administrative leave comes as a surprise to me.

I am very upset with this decision. I am losing on overtime, which I consistently did that helped me bring in about $20k a year extra. I am missing out on other assignments to build my resume to one day become a VP or President myself. Worse I am in my 4th year to receive tenure so my tenure track position is in jeopardy. My wife is now moving forward to finalize my separation due to this nonsense.

Do I have any recourse against this? This feels like retaliation especially the way it was done. Also I am a latino so for me to get this job I had to go above in beyond everything as not many of us exist in these roles.

Side note that is very important many other of my latino and black colleagues have been put thru the same situation. So definitely something that should be looked at as well considering the racist comments that have been made towards us

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