Northern California Employment Law Blog

A worker has the right to be free from bigotry while at work. Recently, a California police officer filed a claim alleging that he had been a victim of employment discrimination. He says that his religion played a role in his mistreatment. The department maintains that his claims were taken seriously and some sources say that the man was also guilty of using racially-charged terms. 

The officer, a Muslim man from Lebanon, has had a lengthy career with the police force. After 9/11, he said he began to hear racial slurs that associated him with terrorists. Both he and his wife say that religious and racial discrimination is pervasive in the force. When the problems started, the man said that he reported the issues to his supervisor, but no actions were taken. 

A respected California science institute is under fire again for the behavior of one of its top scientists. The Salk Institute, based out of La Jolla, was recently featured in the news when eight female employees spoke out to the journal Science to say that they had experienced sexual harassment from a renowned biologist over several years. The scientists denies the allegations and the Salk Institute has launched an investigation. 

The women claimed that the biologist engaged in habitual sexual harassment while they worked at the institute. The oldest incident dated back more than 30 years. His alleged behavior included forced kisses, pinching and unwanted grabbing. At least one of the women claim that she was assaulted at a party. Another said that she always tried to avoid him. 

A former employee of a marble company claims that he was let go from his employment without cause. The man worked for the California company for a number of years. His lawsuit claims wrongful termination as well as violations of his employee rights. 

The man's complaint was filed in April and cited violations of state Labor Code and wrongful termination. Over the 15 years of his employment, the man claims that he worked over 40 hours per week and was not compensated for overtime pay. He also says that he was forced to work through rest and lunch breaks. 

Another lawmaker has been accused of inappropriate behavior by a former employee. The assemblyman is being sued by his former chief of staff for wrongful termination because, says the former chief, he reported that the assemblyman was harassing his staff. The sexual harassment claims continue to fly in California, and the accused lawmaker says that the man he fired was guilty of exactly the behaviors he reported. 

Late last year, the assemblyman faced allegations of sexual assault, although those claims could not be substantiated and were eventually dropped. Now, the man's former chief of staff has filed a lawsuit alleging a hostile work environment in which he was retaliated against for reporting inappropriate behavior to the supervising committee. The plaintiff alleges that the lawmaker created environments in which he was able to sexually harass staff; in turn, staff members complained to the chief of staff.