Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I have a two part question that ties together. Is it legal for companies to advertise in job posting "only seeking Assistant Manager who will become Store Managers"? I work for a company that had such a post. I accepted an interim Store Manger promotion last year and managed one of their stores for 8 months, I expressed interest in stepping down and continuing my training and was given the opportunity to do so. Recently I was approached and asked of my career goals, I said I was not interested at this time to take on Store Manager due to my commitments outside work and that I would be open to further opportunities in the future. I was told "we don't have lifetime Assistant Manager positions". Now this company has given me a performance counseling for not meeting sales goals and expectations (though my store was profitable in 2011 +14% above goal). I feel retaliation only because this literally happen within 2 weeks of my meeting with my supervisor. And, I was never given any documented feedback on my job performance for the 2 years I have worked for them. I only recently received a formal review for 2011 performance and all my competency dimensions were scored very low and our scores for store sales performance were Above Expectations. So unfortunately for me I was the only member on the management team not to receive a raise this year. Should I seek additional legal advice?


Asked on 5/21/12, 3:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

You can seek any advice you want, but seek the truth, not simply pay to get what you want to hear.

In CA, the employer is entitled to unilaterally set and change hours, duties, titles, compensation, benefits, leaves, vacations, holidays, policies, rules, etc. just not retroactively. Thus, they can do with you 'as they please'. You can either comply, look for another job and then resign, or quit now and risk being denied unemployment. Plus, in general unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or terminated any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice.

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Answered on 5/21/12, 5:46 pm


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