Legal Question in Employment Law in California

About a month ago, a new guy at work that I'd known all of 24 hours exploded on me verbally in front of my manager, who said that if he'd taken one step closer, he would have had to physicall step in. I did not want to cause any drama so I didn't file an hr claim against him and agreed to let him stay on my project if he had to go through his manager as a mediator. After weeks of disregarding his manager's guidelines to not interact with me face to face, via email/IM/any other work system, the second incident occurred in front of my coworkers, so I filed a claim at this point. I was too scared to work in the office with him and started to work remotely. When I was finally getting feedback on next steps, instead of receiving confirmation that he would be let go, I was told by management that not only would he not be fired, but that I caused the harassment to happen to myself, and that I must return to work in the office immediately, despite weeks of documented emails stating that I was scared of him. Not only are they trying to force me to work in the same physical space as him despite my fear, they are insisting that we work on the same projects together! I am very disturbed by how this has been turned around on me and have been taking sick days because I will not endanger myself by putting myself in a situation where I feel at risk. I am told that I can only take 5 sick days in a row before I need to get documentation for longterm medical disability, which would also unfairly put the onus on the state instead of on my employer. That is to say that I have very little time to address this (I am expected to go back on 6/15. Since I am not willing to put myself in a situation where I feel threatened, I would likely be terminated right after that). A couple things to note is that the guy I filed the claim against has only been at the company about a month and a half while I have been one of the top earners (if not THE top earner) for 4 years. Please let me know how you think I should proceed. I definitely plan to leave the company after this kind of treatment but would want to be able to find a new job while still employed. The past two days (and in prior weeks), I have been overcome with insomnia, vomiting, headaches and nausea due to stress and anxiety.


Asked on 6/09/11, 2:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Sarnoff Sarnoff + Sarnoff

I am sorry to hear about your situation. From your description, it sounds as if the new employee has anger management issues, but it is unclear why he is harassing you. In order to constitute unlawful conduct, generally the harassment must be based on a person's gender, age, race, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, religion, or other protected category. If any of these are the basis for the harassment, you may have a claim.

More, you may have a claim for unlawful retaliation based upon your complaints to HR, but again, only if your complaint was about conduct that you reasonably believed to be unlawful.

My firm would be happy to review the factual circumstances surrounding your situation. The best way to get the necessary information to us is to complete our confidential online case evaluation questionnaire. It can be found on our website at www.sarnofflaw.com, and contains questions that will help focus the analysis of your situation. We will review the completed form and get back to you as soon as possible.

Read more
Answered on 6/09/11, 2:46 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in California