Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: Harassment in the Workplace

There are laws protecting employees from harassment on the basis of their sex, nationality, skin color, age, disability and sexual orientation. These same laws require the employer to create a work environment free of such harassment, which means that the company is required to conduct a meaningful investigation into complaints, and to discipline employees who have engaged in harassment. There are also laws which require the employer to create a safe workplace -- one free of threatening and assaultive conduct. You are entitled to complain about a workplace which is not free of such conduct. The work "contract" is fairly simple -- you do your work; the company pays you. Anything outside that simple relationship which makes the work environment an abusive one is unacceptable. You should put your complaints in writing, and address them both to your boss AND to corporate. Especially in a case such as yours, where the writing is on the wall (the company is doing what it can to paper your personnel file,) you need to document the employer's failures and bad conduct -- and create a WRITTEN record that corporate knows about the conduct and is doing nothing to change the environment.

Re: Harassment in the Workplace

Slander is actionable, however, cannot be information that is true to be considered defamatiion or slanderous. If conduct relates to discriminatory issues, race, sexual, gender, etc., etc. You also need to make sure you take this to your manager in written form and keep copies. If no response from manager, go over her/his head if you are willing to take consequences and although such consequences may be part of your future claims, you need to consider where you go from here.