Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Depends. You haven't given any detail of what you claim is 'offensive', nor what the company has done that is 'hostile'. Simple offensiveness and hostility is not illegal, whether at work, school, shopping, in public or at home.

There no laws against 'unfair treatment', rude and obnoxious behavior, or poor management, but 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, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice. That is UNLESS it is based upon discrimination, harassment or retaliation as defined as actually illegal under the ADA [disability], Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], FMLA [medical leave], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes.

If you are claiming that the offensive messages and the hostile environment fits within the categories of those laws and was thus illegal under the above definitions, feel free to contact me for the legal help you�ll need. I've been doing these cases for over 25 years.

Employers in California are not allowed to retaliate against employees who report offensive conduct, so long as the employee has a reasonable belief that the conduct is actually unlawful AND the conduct was directed toward a legally protected category, such as a person's age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability (physical or mental), ancestry/national origin, marital status, or pregnancy.

Depending on what the "offensive" message was that you reported to HR, and depending on the actions the company has since taken against you, you may have a claim for unlawful retaliation. Our website, www.sarnofflaw.com, has a Confidential Online Case Evaluation Questionnaire that will provide us with the information we need to properly evaluate you claims. You can also call us at (877) 877-2545 to speak with someone at our office.