Legal Question in Employment Law in California

My girlfriend has been a worker for IHSS in California for nearly three years. She took over her aunt's jobs working for her grandparents. It's a pretty simple job to clean up after older people and help around the house, or so it was supposed to be. However, her grandparents have been completely taking advantage of her by blackmailing her to keep her job. They want so much money out of each of her checks or they begin to threaten her with losing her job and they'll just tell IHSS they don't need the service anymore. They used to take 2/3 of all her income then resorted to 1/2 of it. Now they only want 110 per month out of her tiny 600 monthly. I've been begging her to report this to IHSS and the only reason she won't is because it's the only income she has at the moment and with jobs being as scarce as they are it makes it even harder for her & myself to live on our own. She doesn't know what to do and I'm trying my hardest to help in any way I can but I'm not entirely sure how to go about everything and what to do. The only type of proof she has is that she was giving her grandmother receipts for the money, but her she wasn't signing them making them pretty much useless. She needs her job just as I need mine and I guess that given the circumstances I would do the same thing she has been doing but the emotional stress that she goes through daily with threats of job loss and the insults she hears from her grandfather have gotten to me enough to request legal advice. Being that I don't have money to meet with a lawyer/attorney I found this. Please respond with any help you may have. Thank you.


Asked on 10/19/09, 6:04 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Raymond Chandler Law Office of Raymond Chandler

Assuming your facts are correct, the grandparents are guilty of extortion (blackmail), a criminal offense, and conversion, a civil offense. Your girlfriend can file a police report and also report them to IHSS. She can also sue them civily for conversion. Depending on the amount, she can sue in small claims court (under $7,500). But she should consult with an attorney first to see if there are other claims she can make to increase the amount. Most attorneys will not charge for the intial consultation.

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Answered on 10/19/09, 2:27 pm


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