Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Started my job at Pacific Sunwear Inc. as Store Manager 4 months ago. During my first month I experienced intimidating comments from my boss ("I'll hunt you down") including yelling directly at me. We had a performance review based off my attendance in which I brought up my chronic medical condition that was causing me to be tardy to work. During that discussion I pointed out the harassment I was enduring by my boss. The HR representative said that no reasonable accommodations could be made for my medical condition and that she didn't think I should file for harassment. Then they made me sign a corrective action. About 2 weeks later I came to work in pain and had to the doctor from work. When I came back to work the next day My boss fired me for attendance.
Before this, I printed out all time cards for all the entire management staff (co-workers) which shows that the entire management staff was consistently late everyday and not equally reprimanded. I feel like I was targeted and not given equal treatment in retaliation against my original harassment complaint.
I filed for unemployment immediately.
Should I file with the EEOC for discrimination? Should I file my original harassment complaint ? Do I have a case? ?
3 Answers from Attorneys
It is not possible to tell if you have a valid discrimination claim. You should talk to a plaintiff-side labor lawyer to discuss how your medical condition impacts your life, and to see whether your claim is valid. You also may wish to talk to someone at the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Best of luck to you.
It is unclear if you have a case because you have not disclosed what your "chronic medical condition" is. It is unlawful for a CA employer to discriminate against an employee with a medical condition, but not all illnesses are covered. Example: flu, colds, etc. are not covered; cancer is. Most companies are required to "reasonably accommodate" an employee's medical condition and if the company has 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius, they would be required to allow leave, even intermittent leave for an employee's serious medical condition. Also, unlawful harassment in the workplace has to be based on a protected class: age, gender, religion, disability, race, etc. It is not unlawful harassment if your boss was rude or unprofessional. Call an employment law attorney to discuss the facts.
You will need to show that your medical condition falls within the definitions of the ADA, as life altering, substantially affecting your ability to do all the requirements of your job, and thus requiring reasonable accommodation. If so, then you can make a claim for failure to accommodate and retaliation. If so, and if serious about pursuing this, feel free to contact me for the legal help you'll need.
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