Legal Question in Employment Law in California
What evidence is necessary to prove wrongful termination or retaliation? I complained to the company owner I felt I was being harrassed by a specific person. I was let go 2 days later even though I had received a raise within 2 weeks & had no previous write-ups or disciplinary action.
2 Answers from Attorneys
There are no laws against 'unfair treatment' or poor management. In general, unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or fired any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice, other than for illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy.
IF you believe they violated those discrimination rules, contact me for the legal help you'll need. I've been doing these cases for over 20 years.
Whether the harassment, retaliation, and termination were unlawful will largely depend on WHY the person was harassing you. It is illegal for most employers to harass employees based on their sex, gender, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, age, sexual orientation, or marital status or because the employee closely associates with someone who possess one or more of these characteristics.
Most workplace harassment, therefore, is not illegal. If you are being harassed by your boss because she doesn�t like how you dress, is threatened by you, is in a bad mood, or doesn�t like your personality, it is not illegal. In general, it is not illegal to be rude, obnoxious, or just plain mean in the workplace if the behavior is not motivated by a discriminatory reason.
If you believe you were harassed because of your sex, gender, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, age, sexual orientation, or marital status and you complained to the owner about harassment based on one of these characteristics, please feel free to call our office at (213) 536-4236.