Few issues are more upsetting to an employer - especially to the manager who feels very powerful and who has been engaging in unlawful or unethical practices for a while, than an employee who is trying to change his ways, especially if that employee threatens to or actually reports the conduct to the outside public agency. Whistleblower retaliation is a claim that arises when the employer takes adverse action against an employee (including termination, transfer to a less desirable position, suspension, and demotion) because that employee complained to the outside entity about what he reasonable believed to be an unlawful practice by his employer.
One significant power of whistleblower retaliation claims in California is that the aggrieved employee does not how to prove that the conduct he or she reported was actually illegal. All the employee has to show is that he reasonably believed that the conduct was illegal. Thus, for instance, if you are an accounting manager, and after reviewing the statements of the company you believe that an comingling of funds or embezzlement is going on at your company, and you report that conduct to the entity overseeing the integrity of financials, you are protected from retaliation, as your position allows you to reasonable conclude within the scope of your skills, knowledge and job duties, that an unlawful practice is taking place. If your employer retaliates against you by terminating your after reporting that conduct and later proves that the conduct you were worried about is perfectly lawful, the employer will still be liable for unlawful retaliation and wrongful termination.
One of the most common ways in which wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and other employment related claims are resolved is private mediation. Mediation is an informal conference between the parties who submit their case to the mutually agreed upon third-party neutral evaluator - usually an experienced attorney in the subject area of law who also works as a mediator or a former judge, experienced in presiding over employment and wrongful termination cases. Some of the worst business disputes I have had to work on ironically involved people who, until that dispute arose, were very close to each other. Those were either close relatives or best friends who did business with each other, such as engaging in a partnership or another form of business venture, who did not feel comfortable asking each other to sign any agreements, and who were proud to agree on everything orally, believing that they will be able to work out any disagreement about their business in the future. Whether you are an employee or an employer, your deposition in a workplace harassment or wrongful termination lawsuit is one of the most important stages of your case. This is the opportunity for you to tell your story, to testify on your own behalf, and disprove your opponents arguments. Imagine the following, not uncommon situation. You are happily or at least not unhappily employed at your office for a number of years. You are slowly building a career enjoying a decent salary, benefits and a retirement package. One day, a different employer approaches you with a tempting offer to quit your current job and work for him for a significantly higher salary and a number of other perks that make the offer all the more difficult to resist. |
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