Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Wrongfully demoted.
I recently was demoted from my job at a school district from lead custodian/supervisor to custodian. In the formal letter addressed to me, I was notified of all my mistakes, in which they supposedly "observed" at the time and date, or that they "observed" that my rooms were not properly cleaned. They also added that on November 9th, they had a meeting with me and supposedly "discussed" all of my mistakes and uncleanliness of the school, in which included an incident of a teacher accusing me of stealing over 800 dollars after a football game. This meeting did happen, only they only addressed me about the missing money, which they have no proof of me taking and after the money was deposited an event was hosted close by said teachers room, and if her door was unlocked students could easily have scavenged her room for items to steal. The information within the letter is of course false, many of the complaints were minor, and I haven't received any of the complaints they enlist in the letter. Is this a lawful demotion? To I have any case against the school district/or state?
2 Answers from Attorneys
The key question is, why would someone go to all this trouble to documents false allegations against you to get you demoted? If the answer is that they are motivated for discriminatory or other unlawful reasons, and you can prove it, yes you may have a case against the school district. If you see this as an unfair (as opposed to an unlawful) demotion, your remedy is to fight it through your union.
There are no laws against 'unfair treatment' or poor management. 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, other than for illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy and make the company money. That�s how they pay your wages. Now if the firing was illegal under those definitions, feel free to contact me for the legal help you�ll need. HOWEVER, you mention a school district which normally means you are in a union, if so, a grievance is your only remedy, unless the firing was illegal under those definitions.
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