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EspañolI am afraid that my employer will harass me or tell other co-workers about my situation. Is this legal?
Your employer cannot fire you, threaten to fire you, harass you, put you at a lower-ranked position, suspend you, or punish you in any way for asking for time off, for taking time off, or for asking for reasonable accommodations.1
Also, the law requires your employer to keep your situation confidential. For example, your employer cannot tell your co-workers, your clients, or other employers that you took time off to deal with an act of violence. The employer must also keep private any documents that you gave him/her that relate to your situation. The only exception is if sharing the information is required by federal or state law, or necessary to protect your safety in the workplace. But you must be given notice beforehand.2
1 Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.8(a)(3), (d), (e)(8), (f)
2 Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.8(c)(3), (e)(7)(D)
After taking time off from work under this law, I was one of many people laid off by my employer. Is this legal?
The law says that your employer cannot fire you or punish you because you took off time from work to deal with an act of violence.1 However, your employer can still fire you or punish you for other valid reasons, such as budget cuts, not doing your job well, or other reasons that have nothing to do with the fact that you or your family member is the victim of an act of violence.
Note: Sometimes, an employer will offer a fake reason for firing someone in order to hide the real reason. You might want to contact an attorney who specializes in employment discrimination or file a complaint on the California Civil Rights Division website if you have facts or evidence that:
- your employer is not being truthful about why they fired you; and
- the real reason they fired you was because you took off time for issues related to an act of violence.
1 Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.8
