In California, it is illegal for employers to retaliate against employees for taking steps to enforce their labor rights, such as requesting a reasonable accommodation, requesting or using a protected leave of absence, or reporting a Wage and Hour violation.
Additionally, an employer may not retaliate against an employee for coming forward to report suspected violations of law, regulations or public policy. This is true even if the employee turns out to be wrong so long as the employee reasonably believed their report was true. This is commonly known as Whistleblower Protection in California.
California protects employees from unlawful retaliation for many reasons; for example, for taking time off to serve on a jury, for an employee's status as a victim of crime or abuse, for a parent or guardian of a student taking time off from work to appear at the student's school, and much more. Please contact us to schedule a free 30-minute consultation if you believe your current or former employer subjected you to unlawful retaliation.