Legal Question in Employment Law in California

California is an employment-at-will state. That means that any employer can take an adverse action, including demotion, against an employee at any time for any reason that is not against the law or discriminatory.

An demotion that is against the law would be, for example, demoting an employee in retaliation because the employee filed an OSHA complaint.

A discriminatory reason would be one based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy or age. Here is an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission publication explaining illegal discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html. California also prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, filing a workers� compensation claim, and sexual orientation.

If the incident at work arose because you were discriminated against, then the demotion would violate California laws.

California also has exceptions to employment-at will. Those are:

1. An employment contract. In California, an employment contract does not necessarily have to be in writing. It may be implied by the actions of the employer, or what the employer says.

2. An employment manual that states employment is not at will, or that certain procedures must be followed to demote an employee. You should check your employment manual and see if the manager followed the rules.

3. A union agreement.

4. In California, there is a good-faith exception as well, which means that in the termination must not be made in bad faith or maliciously. A bad faith or malicious reason for termination would be, for example, making up allegations that something happened at that lunch that did not actually happen.

5. In California, an employee may not be terminated for reasons in violation of California�s public policy � such as termination for pregnancy.

6. There may be additional exceptions that apply to public employees, such as police officers and employees of government agencies.

If you think the action was discriminatory, here is a link to the EEOC website for more information: http://www.eeoc.gov/ explaining discrimination. California discrimination complaints are made to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) at http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/DFEH/default/. Your complaint must be filed with the DFEH within a year of the discrimination.

The employer is entitled to set and change hours, duties, titles, compensation, benefits, leaves, vacations, holidays, etc. Employees have the 'right' to pay and employee benefits per the law and company policy as agreed, provided a 'safe' workplace to minimize risk of injury, and sometimes are provided certain medical/pregnancy leave rights. That's about it. 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 fired any time for any reason, other than illegal discrimination or retaliation under the Discrimination, Civil Rights, or Whistle-blower, or similar protective statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy. Now, if you believe you are protected under such statutes, feel free to contact me to discuss your rights and remedies.