Legal Question in Employment Law in California
hostile work environment
I am employed at a small company where the owner screams and uses profanity, his sister (the VP of HR)insults people (including myself) by making fun of their looks, their age, their weight,their race, etc. My boss,is a slave-driver. She demands that everything be done her way, down to the color of pen to use and how to take notes. She is critical, and yells and ridicules at me in front of the whole company. The morale, neadless to say, is very low. My question is, what are my legal rights? Am I able to quit and collect unemployment? How could I actually prove that this is going on? Most of the employees feel intimidated and are afraid of losing their jobs. I don't know if I could obtain anyone as a witness, if need-be. Would it help to record some of this, or is this against the law? I am miserable working there, and I don't know what to do.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: hostile work environment
If the insults and hostile treatment is ethnic based or has the effect of discriminating on a group of people based on their age, race, gender disability or some other classification that is protected by law, the actions of these people could be illegal. But if these are, what we call, equal opportunnity abusers, and they treat everyone horribly, there probably would be no case. You can't sue someone just because they are mean, nasty people.
Before you quit your job, I suggest you consider meeting with your personal physician for an exam to determine if your job is causing any health concerns. EDD will not grant you benefits if you quit because you don't like your job. You must be able to objectively prove you had no choice, such as for health reasons. It also helps if you can show you put your employer on notice that their actions were causing your health problems, giving them the opportunity to correct the problem.
Some employers like this have a lot of workers compensation claims for stress and related injuries. This may not be the best option for you but you may wish to consider it by speaking with a workers conmpensation attorney.
Start keeping a diary or notes of daily events. If it looks like a pattern of discrimination is taking place, review your situation with an experienced employment law attorney in your area before quitting.
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