Sacramento Employment Lawyer

Harassed or Discriminated at Work? Remain Civil and Polite with Your Co-Workers and Management at All Times!

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One of the advantages that emloyers and their counsel have in defending an employment/wrongful termination lawsuit is the many ways in which  they can portray the claimant-employee in a negative light so to turn the jury off and make the jurors reluctant to award any money or any significant amount of compenation to the Plaintiff even if he/she has a vialbe claim and even if the employer has violated the law. This is an extremely important element of the case for any employer and something that every employee who brings a claims should keep in mind.  

One common mistake that employee makes is being rude and unprofessional with their co-workers or manager when they feel threatened, harassed and/or discrimination. No matter how justified that conduct might be due to the employer's bad decisions of legal violations, e-mails containing harash language or threats of legal action do not benefit an employee in any way when procesuting a case. While the claimant might have perfectly legitimate reasons to unleash his anger, e-mails and letters reflecting the same look really bad in front of the jury, especially when the employer responds in a more kind and a more diplomatic manner. Blowing up a few such bad e-mails on an overhead will significant reduce or eliminated Plaintiff's credibiltiy and will make the jury, the judge or any other decision maker doubt just about everything else the Plaintiff's says.  

If you are harassed or discrimination at work, you might be angry. You might even be outraged, but the jury will not be able to relate to your outrage personally by observing your anger. In fact, that kind of behavior will achieve the opposite result. Showing an anger toward your employer outside or inside the courtroom will not get the jury angry at your employer. On the other hand, being said, somewhat conversvative and reserved in your arguments, and limiting your testimony to a calm recount of facts, leaving the conclusion about how evil your employer is to the audience will usually achive much better results. 

Protected Activity and Discrimination

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Many employees misunderstand the concept of being "protected" or engaging in a "protected" activity. The believe that just because they belong to a protected group of workers, they cannot be terminated under any circumstances under California law. This is not correct. Generally, "protected" means protected against being singled out, discriminated, retaliated or treated different because of being a member of the protected class. However, this protected employee status doesn't grant an employee absolute immunity from termination. The two major  and very common examples where being a protected employee doesn't prevent an employer from terminating the same workers and doesn't violate the law are a legitimate lay-off or terminated for valid reason/cause. 

For example, suppose you are an employee who sustained an injury and you requested and received an FMLA/CFRA Leave. While on leave, the employer found out that you stole merchandise or money from the company. The employer can easily and lawfully terminated you without violating the law, as the employer had a legitimate reason to terminate you, irrespective of your FMLA leave, and would have terminated you for theft, whether or not you requested and received the above medical leave. 

In the alternative, if the employer decides to lay off a number of workers, including you, it will be legal if it complies with other laws regarding lay-offs and if you are not chosen for a lay-off among other employees, becuase of requesting leave or due to your medical condition.