Employment Law: Retaliation Other Than Termination
When employees take action on unsafe work conditions, laws in California provide protection. While termination may be the first form of retaliation that employees think of, other adverse actions by an employer may also be prohibited by law.
Protection from lesser forms of retaliation is fundamentally the same as protection from termination. In practice, however, lesser forms of retaliation can be more difficult to pursue.
Cal/OSHA protection extends to employees who files a complaint against an
Retaliation encompasses a variety of actions but generally means any adverse treatment. This can include, demotion, removal of future promotion opportunities, undesirable work assignments or shifts, creating a hostile work environment, unequal treatment compared to similar employees with regards to vacation choice or overtime opportunities. Many other mistreatments could also be retaliation.
An important hurdle in managing a retaliation issue is that adverse treatment is only retaliation if done in response to the employee acting on a safety issue. An employer who is willing to retaliate may carefully build a case pinning their action to other issues, including job performance. Since everyone has positives and negatives in their job performance, the employer may succeed simply by emphasizing the negatives and remaining silent on the positives.
Most people have good instincts about being treated fairly and about why they are treated unfairly. Unfortunately, having a good instinct is not be enough to legally protect yourself. If you believe that you are being treated adversely because of your stance on a health or safety issue, a conversation with a qualified attorney may help. Please call.
