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California Harassment
& Discrimination Advice
Advice
for California Employees ::
What You Should Do If You're Being Harassed or Discriminated
Against
by
Matthew A. Kaufman, Esq.
Some advice remains true for many workplace
problems, including sexual harassment, hostile work
environment, racial or sexual discrimination, and other
forms of harassment and discrimination in the workplace. I
am a California attorney, and some concepts seem to apply to
all work situations.
Follow Your
Company's Human Resource Policies
If
you feel you are subject to workplace harassment or
discrimination, do what your company tells you to do in such
a situation. In other words, read your employer's sexual
harassment policies and racial discrimination policies, and
do what they tell you.
In assessing these racial discrimination and sexual
harassment cases, jurors want to see detailed policies on
diversity, discrimination, and sexual harassment training as
well as basic management techniques. The employees should be
educated in these policies and they must be enforced fairly
and consistently. Companies can have such policies in
writing but do not follow them in practice. If this happens,
it often will reflect poorly upon the company in court.
Likewise, it may reflect poorly upon the employee if they
fail to make use of the policies.
Besides juries, the courts want to see employees taking
advantage of the employer's anti-harassment and
anti-discrimination policies. If you ignore these policies,
the courts may cut your damages or wipe them out
entirely.
Therefore, the victim of harassment discrimination in the
workplace has the burden of making use of these policies and
following the company's procedures. Typically, these
policies direct employees to complain immediately to the
company's human resources department, and thus you should
report what you feel is wrong to human resources. When you
make reports, be specific about what happened and be sure to
include all conduct that you felt was objectionable.
If no written policies exist, complain to your immediate
supervisor.
Take Notes of
the Relevant Events, But Only the Relevant Events
While
your memory might be clear now, when your case comes to
court in two or three years the events will be much more
difficult to recall. Cases may turn on the nuances of what
someone did or said, and you don't want your memory to be
fuzzy at trial. Therefore, taking notes at the time of the
events will be an enormous help. Notes made at the time of
the events appear more credible than your memories after a
lawsuit has started, and jurors will give them more
weight.
However, use caution in your note taking. All of the notes
could be evidence in your case. Therefore, limit your note
taking to only the relevant harassing or discriminatory
conduct. Some people go overboard by documenting all
transgressions against them, real or perceived. They appear
to be vexatious and disagreeable people. Certainly that will
not go over well with a jury!
A Hostile
Work Environment: Gather Your Evidence!
A
hostile work environment can take many forms. Did someone
draw an offensive picture? Write you a harassing e-mail?
Save those items. People sometimes discard these things out
of disgust, but they are also destroying their best
evidence. These should be kept because you have to prove
your case.
You should also save any papers given to you that relate to
your problem, such as copies of "write-ups", policies, etc.
By no means should you take confidential or proprietary
items from your employer (if you do, you may not be able to
use it in your case), but, if such things relate to the
harassment or discrimination you are suffering, you should
take notes on their author, date, content, where it is kept,
and other identifying information so it can be retrieved
later on in formal proceedings.
Don't Try to
Secretly Tape or Record Conversations
Many
people secretly record meetings in a hope to catch someone
in a damaging admission. "Aha!" they think, "I've got them
on tape! They can't deny it now!" Wrong: someone who
secretly records a conversation is in big trouble. In
California where I practice law, tape recording
conversations without the consent of the other person is a
crime and you could be prosecuted for it. Even if
you do record damaging admissions, the admissions very
likely will not be admitted as evidence in support of your
case. However, if you make an admission that damages your
case, then very likely it will be in evidence against you.
It is a no-win situation for people who make secret tape
recordings. The best advice is don't do it.
Do Not
Encourage the Harassment or Discrimination
A big defense to
sexual harassment cases is consent. If you appear to enjoy
what is occurring, then certainly you will have a hard time
proving that you were harassed or discriminated or that you
were in a hostile work environment. By all means, do not
play along with something you do not like. Rather, make it
clear that you do not like what is going on, and then follow
your company's human resource policies on what to do when
you feel harassed or subject to
discrimination.
Get Legal
Advice
If you feel
something wrong is going on, call an attorney such as
myself. You will only benefit by getting advice from someone
who has experience in tough work situations and who knows
the law. There is no downside for you.
California attorneys who specialize in employee rights
typically charge contingency fees, meaning that you do not
pay them money unless you win a recovery. I often counsel
employees in harassment and discrimination situations free
of charge.
Workplace harassment takes many forms and not all advice may
be appropriate for each case. If you feel you are subject to
sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, or other
forms of workplace harassment, call Harris & Kaufman at
(818)990-1999. We are California attorneys located in
Sherman Oaks, California.
Harris &
Kaufman Labor Lawyers Can Help You
Harris &
Kaufman is a California law firm that's dedicated to
representing employees in disputes against their employers
to do with workplace harassment in California. Our lawyers
can assist you if you believe that your employer has broken
the California Labor Laws.
Our employment attorneys are experienced and have had
numerous trials, arbitrations, and appeals and have
litigated on behalf of thousands of employees.
Harris & Kaufman has represented workers in state and
federal court and in administrative proceedings before the
California Labor Commissioner. Determined and aggressive,
our cases include individual disputes and
class
action lawsuits.
We can assist you with a wide variety of workplace disputes
to do with the California harassment laws. We are aggressive
and experienced lawyers and can help enforce your rights
under California state law or state regulations. Based in
Sherman Oaks, California we serve greater Los Angeles,
Orange County, Ventura County and have cases statewide.
To
email William Harris about a claim you may have
Click
Here
Advice
on Harassment Page Summary: Advise on harassment and
discrimination in California. California Labor Lawyers
Harris & Kaufman (re experienced employment attorneys
and labor lawyers who can assist you with online legal
advice to do with California harassment and discrimination
laws.
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