Q&A: Retaliation by Jerk Boss is Illegal
Published by James Peters January 5th, 2007 in Discrimination, Q&A, Retaliation, Wrongful TerminationQ: My boss is a real jerk. She harasses me for no good reason, calls me names and belittles me in front of other employees. Today I finally told her not to treat me like that anymore, because it interferes with my work and it is unprofessional. She fired me on the spot for complaining. Please tell me this is not legal in California!
– A Woman Wronged (CA)
A: You are in luck. In California it is illegal under Labor Code § 232.5 to retaliate against an employee for complaining about "working conditions".
Unfortunately, the term "working conditions" has not been clearly defined by California Courts under this statute. For example, if an employee complains about the poor selection in the break room’s vending machine and is terminated for the complaint, the language of the statute suggests that this would be illegal.
I actually believe that this example would be illegal. However, the employee would have to prove that their employer actually terminated them for complaining about the vending machine. The less believable it is that an employer would terminate an employee for a complaint, the less likely a judge or jury would be to decide the complaint actually triggered the termination.
However, your situation is almost certainly covered by the statute. If your complaint about how your boss treated you is really what motivated her to terminate you, then you would likely be able to pursue a wrongful termination case against your former employer.
Under such a claim you might be able to recover all of your lost wages, attorney’s fees and certain penalties.
“Q&A” posts are based on actual submissions by potential clients. The names have been changed unless permission to print the names has been granted. Fact patterns may be slightly altered to make the issues and language clearer.
Tags
Bullies | Discrimination | Harassment | Hostile Work Environment | Q&A | Retaliation | Wrongful Termination
DISCLAIMER
Assuming the act of complaining is protected activity, the employer may try to show that other reasons also contributed to the termination. California Law helps in “mixed” motive cases also. See e.g. CACI 2620 which states in part: that the “retailiatory conduct [need only be] was a substantial factor. . .”
Presumably she would have been given a raise had she complemented the boss.
How disgraceful and I presume illegal in all wetern democracy’s …if only it could be proven as the substantiative reason for the dismissal. The proof is the hard part.
I think that good communication can handle most of these situations. Of course, there is always a time when legal action is the right thing, but good communication can probably handle 80% of these problems before they get to that point.
–
Jason