Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Wrongful Termination

For approximately 6 months I have experienced a growing tension in my professional relationship with my Manager. She has repeatedly made unprofessional and condescending comments to me during meetings with co-workers or peers present. I have had numerous private conversations with her regarding this and asking her to discontinue this behavior. She admits to the behavior but still continues it. In the last 2 months I have escalated this issue to my company�s corporate HR department and my Manager�s Manager. I�ve stated that I believe I am being �managed out� of my position passively (as were the 2 employees that had occupied my position prior to my hire date). Today a co-worker noticed that MY existing job was posted on the internal website as an available employment opportunity. I believe that I will be terminated tomorrow or soon thereafter. I have notified my HR department, but due to reassignments in HR, I have consulted with 4 different representatives; each time having to reiterate all the issues over the last 6 months. It is very stressful and exhausting and it has been very hard to work under these conditions. Is there a specific course of action I should take?


Asked on 5/31/02, 2:46 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Martin Lathrop Russakow, Ryan & Johnson

Re: Wrongful Termination

California is an at-will state. This essentially means companies are only restrained by their own policies when it comes to employee relations. Absent a clear showing by a preponderance of the evidence of a violation public policy-usually sexual harassment or race/gender/age discrimination-you are not entitiled to anything and the employer can be as mean as it wants to because employees are free to find work whenever they want.

I suggest you check your employee handbook carefully, review all personnel records you have from the company and see if there is some violation. If there is, I advise you to have an attorney seek an improved severance on your behalf if they do in-fact fire you.

Good luck and thank you for your question-Martin

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Answered on 6/03/02, 8:45 pm


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