As an employee, you have certain legal rights in the workplace. You have the right not to be harassed or discriminated against at work because of your age, race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, and other factors. You also have the right to a minimum wage and overtime pay if you work over a certain number of hours. You are entitled to be paid for all hours worked. You may be entitled to certain benefits of employment, like paid or unpaid vacation time or sick leave, or insurance benefits, depending on certain factors.
If you are ever denied those rights, you may decide to contact an attorney or file a complaint with a federal or state agency. You are entitled to take those legal actions by law. However, as you may imagine, employers normally are not happy when they are investigated by federal or state agencies, or when they are contacted by an employment law attorney.
In those situations, the employer may be tempted to retaliate. Retaliation occurs when an employer punishes an employee for engaging in a legally protected activity. The employee doesn’t have to be fired in order for retaliation to occur – the employee may have had his or her salary reduced, faced disciplinary action at work, had his or her job or shifts changed, etc. Legally, employers cannot retaliate if employees make complaints about working conditions, or if they agree to participate in workplace investigations.
It may not be easy to tell if an employer is retaliating against you. In order to determine whether or not retaliation has occurred, you must look at all of the surrounding circumstances of the situation. If the employer’s actions are having an effect on your employment, or if the employer’s actions would prevent a reasonable person in that situation from making a complaint, that could be considered illegal retaliation.
If you believe that you are the victim of workplace retaliation after making a complaint against your employer, you should first talk to your supervisor or an HR manager. There may be a legitimate reason why actions have been taken against you. If you are unable to get a good explanation, it may be time to speak to an employment law attorney. Call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles employment law attorney, at 310-385-0567. We can help. Call today to schedule your free consultation.