Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: Bad faith for employers

Assuming you are a California employee of a California employer, your employer's action for allegedly retaliating against you for inquiring about a co-worker's pay may have been inappropriate under California law. Even if your employer's misconduct was unlawful for that reason, the employer's conduct as otherwise alleged may be a valid exercise of most California employer's discretion (i.e., all California employees are generally presumed to be "at will" employees unless mutually agreed upon to the contrary). Since you have obtained unemployment compensation and based upon the facts alleged, it probably makes sense to expend your resources to obtain gainful employment, rather than seek revenge against your former employer for a questionable act of wrongful conduct.

Re: Bad faith for employers

They can dispute you right to unemployment if you were fired due to misconduct. Sounds to me like they had an arguable case, they lost, which they should have. I see no case here. Even if you could sue, you have little or no damages. The case might be worth $50 or $100 max and you will have to pay a lawyer $5,000-10,000 to try it. It doesn�t make sense economically.