It’s crucial to understand what legally actionable employee mistreatment looks like in practice. These distinctions are key because some folks who mistakenly believe they just have “a tough job” are, in reality, the victims of daily workplace violations. Alternately, some workers who experience harassment at work and believe they have a strong case against their employer might, in fact, be better served by a civil suit against the specific individual conducting the harassment. 

Your attorney in Riverside, CA can help you understand the merits (and potential weaknesses) of your specific claim, but we offer the below examples so you can understand what some legally actionable workplace violations might look like in the real world:

• Unpaid Overtime – A retail store closes at 9:00 P.M., and all scheduled shifts likewise end at 9:00 P.M. Closing shift workers at the store are only paid until the end of their shift but are required to stay until the facility has been properly cleaned and closed. This means employees are often working until 9:30 or later.
  
  If an employer consistently requires (or “asks”) you to work beyond your scheduled hours without providing overtime pay as required by California law, you can take legal action to recover your rightful wages.
  
  
• Minimum Wage Violations – An employer in the agricultural industry offers “under the table” cash pay of $10 an hour for temporary labor positions that get filled informally through word of mouth. This amount is far below the state minimum and maybe even further below the city’s minimum wage if it’s higher than the state wage.
  
  Unfortunately for the employer, the nature of the employment does not really matter, and all workers in California are guaranteed pay of at least the state minimum wage. In fact, in this scenario, the employer would probably be in violation of multiple other laws rather than protecting themselves through the informal nature of these hires.
  
  
• Workplace Harassment – We all have the right to do our jobs free from illegal harassment by our employers or their agents. For example, a black male office worker who is singled out and experiences persistent verbal abuse about their job performance (despite their work being of equally high quality compared to that of white male colleagues) may have grounds for a harassment or discrimination claim.
  
  
  
• Retaliation – You can also take legal action if you exercise your protected workplace rights and an employer responds by escalating the situation or trying to get rid of you. Consider a worker with a physical disability that reduces their mobility and who has a desk on the other side of the building from the employee restroom. The employee asks for reasonable accommodations in the form of an exception to an employer’s restroom policy, as it takes them longer than average to get to and from the facilities.

  Instead of receiving this accommodation, the employee is suddenly terminated without just cause. Depending on the available evidence, the disabled worker may have a valid claim for retaliation or wrongful termination.
  
  

• Discriminatory Hiring Practices – Some Californians fail to realize that their workplace rights actually begin before they have ever been hired. An older but highly qualified worker who has been consistently denied employment opportunities (or promotions within their current organization) based on their age may have a legally sound claim.
  
  
  
• Hostile Work Environment – Be assured that major California employers and their flashy corporate lawyers are well-versed in employment law, which means they will go to great lengths to cover their tracks when taking illegal actions against employees.
  
  Imagine an ambitious middle manager who observes inefficiencies or procedural issues within their organization and has a habit of making corrective suggestions to their superiors. Instead of responding to these communications constructively, their employer begins adding busy work that is not in the employee’s original job description and changing them to a less desirable shift in an effort to get them to quit voluntarily.
  
  

  Forcing an employee to quit by creating a hostile work environment can help the employer avoid a wrongful termination claim. However, if the employee has done a good job of documenting this saga of a work environment turning hostile, they may still have grounds to file a claim.
  
  

• Wrongful Termination – We have already touched on the concept of wrongful termination in some of the above items, but it can take many forms in practice. Bad faith employers may go to great lengths to conceal or obscure the true intentions behind a firing.

  For example, a corporate accountant who loses their job after refusing to help their employer conceal a shady “off the books” business transaction may be able to prove wrongful discrimination, as you cannot be fired or otherwise retaliated against for refusing to participate in illegal activities on behalf of your employer.