Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: Discrimination: Oeverance / Overtime

1. First you must understand that no law requires employers to pay any severance. It is either negotiated for as a form of a contract, or paid upon a purely discretionary basis. Some employers, though few, have fixed employment plans. If so, they must follow the terms of those plans. Otherwise, the employer can decide how much to pay to whom, depending on any number of factors. Seniority may or may not be one of them. However, they cannot consider illegal factors, such as age, race, gender, etc. You need to do some research and try to find out if the company has a policy or plan it follows. If not, it is free to use its own discretion.

2. If the PTO you refer to is in the form of overtime, the distinction may be based on exempt vs. non-exempt employees, or between employees of different departments. If you believe certain employees are not being paid for the overtime they work, and are not professional, administrative or managerial employees, they may have a claim against the employer.

3. "Constructive termination" means that the company created such a hostile work environment that no reasonable employee would continue working there, despite their best efforts to get the company to change its ways. In addition, the company must be doing this for a reason that is prohibited by law. Being unreasonable or just plain mean, is not enough. If you think that is what is going on here, see an employment lawyer as soon as possible.