Legal Question in Employment Law in California

You can ask anyone you want. Unless this was a union matter, however, the NLRB will have nothing to do with it. And even if you were in a union the NLRB would have no interest unless you file a complaint against your union for not doing its job in the matter. The NLRB exists purely to govern unions and union-management relations, not employer/employee matters. The EEOC is a parallel agency to the DFEH, so their response is likely to be identical to the DFEH, but you can try. The bottom line is that the law only protects you from illegal conduct, not unfair conduct. "Should" and "is" are two very different things. Workplace misconduct "should" have to be proved by evidence before someone is fired, and that is how good companies run their business, but that is not law. What the law "is" is that they are under no obligation to prove anything before they fire you. Period. The only good news I can offer you is that if the harassment charge is as false and unsupported as you say it is, then the law will protect you if the company or any of its employees tell any of your prospective new employers about it. If they do, you can sue them for defamation. That is the only recourse you have.

I disagree, because he said he made a complaint to his supervisor's manager a mere two weeks before she complained that he wrote her a note saying "I love you." While the poster does not state what his original complaint of harassment is based on, if he complained of unlawful conduct by his supervisor, his termination may be considered retaliatory. Moreover, if he can show that he complained first, her complaint of harassment and the subsequent shoddy investigation can arguably show pretext.

Of course, this would be difficult to prove, and the only fullproof way would be if the initial complaint was in writing to his supervisor's manager. Indeed, it would be best if he complained in an email, as that would show a date and time of mailing, which could easily be used to show her complaint came after.

To the poster: if that is the case, and you have a copy of the written complaint you made to your supervisor's manager, then you may have a potential lawsuit for retaliation. However, you would also have to show that the conduct you complained of was unlawful itself. If you simply complained of your supervisor being nasty and mean, then that is not protected by law, and Mr. McCormick is likely correct that moving on would be best. But, if you complained, for example, that your supervisor was actually sexually harassing you, or discriminating against you based on a protected category (ie. age, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, etc.), then you may have a claim.

If, after reading this and finding a copy of the complaint you made to your supervisor showing the date and time, you wish for further information, please feel free to visit my firm's website at www.sarnofflaw.com and complete our confidential Online Case Evaluation Questionnaire. That will give us more information that would be necessary to further evaluate your case.