Workplace retaliation takes on many forms. Employees who have offended a supervisor’s sensibilities can find themselves shut out of social events. Alternatively, retaliation can take the form of a demotion or suspicious termination. Some employees may even be blackballed after leaving a particular company.

No matter what a person’s role in their place of employment may be, all parties have the right to pursue justice for another professional’s allegedly inappropriate behavior.

Identifying Workplace Retaliation in California

Californian businesses rely on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to identify instances of workplace harassment and retaliation. Common examples of retaliation include:

  • Isolation within the office
  • Demotions
  • Unnecessary or unjust disciplinary action
  • Salary reduction
  • Job reassignments
  • Termination
  • Continued harassment after leaving a company

Most cases of workplace retaliation involve an unbalanced power dynamic. For example, a supervisor may take a bad mood out on a new employee. Alternatively, a business may react poorly to in-house criticism for members of its team. Injured parties can explore the impact of an uneven power dynamic on employee rights with the help of a California employment law attorney.

Filing a Workplace Retaliation Claim

Proving workplace retaliation is a matter of semantics. To successfully bring a claim forward, injured parties must use a legal complaint to indicate that they have:

  • Engaged in behaviors legally protected by the state of California
  • Endured an aggressive response from a superior
  • Suffered workplace harassment or otherwise unreasonable behavior due to their protected behavior

Connecting demotions and terminations to workplace retaliation can be tricky. Many employers will disguise these forms of retaliation as jokes or justified punishments. Injured parties can work with a California employment law attorney to establish the connections necessary to file a claim.

Proving Workplace Retaliation

Proof of workplace retaliation is most often found in a supervisor’s timing or language. For example, if a demotion comes shortly after a whistleblower takes action, then said demotion may be an example of workplace retaliation.

Alternatively, a supervisor may directly state that they intend to react to an employee’s allegedly offensive behavior. It is difficult to find this sort of evidence. That said, interested parties can still work with a lawyer to determine whether or not the injured party’s workplace seems hostile.

When in doubt, retaliation cases can use in-office precedent to establish a supervisor’s unusual patterns of behavior. If other employees receive lenient or favorable treatment while a specific individual receives punishments, then said behavior may be retaliatory.

The Benefits of Working with an Attorney in California

California’s workplace retaliation attorneys do more for clients than represent them in court. Attorneys with Blackstone Law can help injured parties file their suits, negotiate settlements out of court, and gather evidence to support their claims.

For more information about the average workplace retaliation suit in California, reach out to a Blackstone Law representative. Parties interested in bringing their cases forward can reach out to us by calling (310) 956-4054 or filling out our contact form.