Retaliation &
Whistle Blowing
Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, it is unlawful for an employer to demote, suspend, terminate or harass any employee because that employee has engaged in certain protected activities. Protected activities vary but include protesting, complaining about, resisting or otherwise “opposing” discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, sex, disability, national origin, age, or religion. Retaliation by the employer is prohibited whether the employee is opposing harassment or discrimination directed against themselves or another employee. An employee is protected from retaliation whether it turns out that the complaint regarding harassment or discrimination was valid or not as long as there was a reasonable basis.
It is also unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an employee for refusing to violate any law, for reporting the employer for violating any law, or for protesting conduct by the employer that is the subject of any state of federal statute, regulation, or constitutional provision.
In California it is illegal to fire, demote, refuse to promote, harass, discriminate or retaliate against an employee who is in a protected class, or whose conduct is within a protected category, which includes persons who “blow the whistle” on improper or illegal activities. A “whistleblower” is a person who complains, opposes, makes public, or threatens to make public, illegal actions by an employer. For example, it is illegal for an employer to take adverse action who reports discrimination, harassment or labor code violations. It is likewise illegal to fire, harass, reprimand or demote an employee who testifies in a proceeding against the employer, or who informs the government that a company has been falsifying documents in order to receive payment from the government. There are numerous other examples of “whistle blowing” under California law. If you believe you have been terminated or are being retaliated against because you have blown the whistle, our experienced lawyers at Callanan, Rogers & Dzida, LLP, have the experience to help protect your rights.
For Robert Rogers: My wife and I are so grateful for all the help and support you gave us during a very difficult time in our lives. You are a great lawyer, but more importantly a great person, and I truly admire you.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for your professionalism, thank you for believing in me and financing my case without even knowing me. I think that your strategies produced excellent results, and I am delighted that I was referred to you and chose you to represent me. I want you to know that I also appreciate very deeply your patience with me. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot. I have the feeling (and I hope so) that you and I made a good team where open and honest communication was the norm.
Thank you so much for your priceless time and effort assisting all of us. Your letter without a doubt has caused (our opponent) to reconsider their unethical and unlawful actions of simply going through the motions (without) providing due process. I cannot thank you enough. I most sincerely and profoundly thank you for doing this for me.
I wanted to thank you for all of your incredible support through this stressful process. I could not have done it without you. Thank you SO much for your confidence, honesty and diligence every step of the way. People like you restore my faith in the justice system. It is intimidating as hell to stand up to a multi-billion dollar corporation especially after disempowering discrimination and the challenging times I faced after my injury. Thank you for all of your support.