Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I recently had a claim filed against me for hostile work environment from someone who has worked for me and we have been friends for years. Many people have complained to me that she has changed a lot since returning from maternity leave and seems to be suffering from some sort of post partum or something else. I have been trying to be very patient with her for the past few months since she has been back and strictly addressing her issues by communicating them with her instead of placing her on corrective actions (which would normally have been the protical) since she did seem to be very stressed coming back to work. She also updated me that her father was ill and she was having a lot of issues wtih her mother in-law and that she was not happy that her husband didn't make enough money so she could stay home with her baby. I granted her time off to be with her father during a surgery he needed and spent quite a bit of time listening to her concerns days before his surgery and staying positive for her through these tough times. Suddenly the first day she was out she called my boss and claimed hostile work envirnment against me. I am really caught off guard. I have gathered a lot of evidence regarding the errors including two witness statements to her changed behavior since turning to work and her errors but my boss does not have any interest in reviewing my side of the claim at all. He has talked with the claimant (per his statements) multiple times and lilstened to her claims but he has not interviewed any of the witnesses I gave him or taken my statements, etc. I am the head of HR so we nomrally also get our legal councel involved in these matters so I did contact them at first to start our normal process but my boss advised them that he wants to handle this claim. This has been horrible stressful on me. I have always gotten good comments (but never a formal review from my previous management) so nothing documented. I have had to go to the doctor from the stress and they want to pull me on stress leave and I am really concerned to do this since I am scared to loose my job. Do I have any rights in this type of thing?

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in California

Looking for something else?