Single Plaintiff Employment Cases
Tunyan Law, APC also represents employees in an individual capacity with respect to the violations including but not limited to:
Wrongful termination
Under California law, an employee may be terminated for any reason or no reason at all. However, termination based on the grounds of race, national origin, marital status, disability, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religious status, citizenship status may be considered wrongful termination as it is in violation of public policy, i.e. engaging in protected activity, or in case of a breach of contract.
Discrimination
Under California law, an employer cannot discriminate against employee on the basis of characteristics such as age, race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, medical leave or pregnancy. If you are a victim of harassment or hostile work environment, you are protected under California law. Harassment may be verbal, physical or visual in nature, such as derogatory comments, unwanted touching or prurient gestures.
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is not limited to physical contact only. Sexual harassment is a harassment because of person’s sex, and it does not necessarily need to be of sexual nature. Sexual harassment includes any verbal and emotional abuse based on person’s sex such as offensive prurient remarks, vulgar comments, ostracizing somebody for their gender identity, touching, etc. The federal law prohibiting sexual harassment is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). California employers are also required to abide by the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), which applies to smaller employers.
Retaliation for engaging in protected activity
If an employer takes an adverse action against an employee for engaging in a protected activity, including but not limited to filing a claim with the Labor Commissioner or in court against an employer for unpaid wages or health and safety conditions, or taking time off from work to serve on a jury or appear as a witness in court, disclosing or discussing wages, using sick leave to attend the illness of a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or child of the domestic partner of the employee or making complaints or refusing to in engage in illegal activity or assertingconstitutional rights of free speech and petition, an employer is retaliating against an employee. The adverse action can be taken in the form of terminating or demoting an employee or taking any other adverse action against the employee as a result of the employee’s engagement in any of the protected activities.
Severance agreement negotiations
Employers in California are not required to pay severance, unless an employer and an employee have a previous agreement in the pre-employment agreement or union agreement. If an employee has an agreement on severance pay, it is important for an employee to negotiate a legally valid severance agreement and not to give up rights an employee cannot legally give up under California law.
Whistleblower/Qui Tam
It is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for bringing a complaint against an employer for engaging in fraudulent acts against the State of California or the federal government. California law and federal laws afford an employee protection from retaliation as a result of reporting a suspected fraud.
Wage and Hour
Under California law an employee may be entitled to damages and penalties for wage and hour violations including but not limited to unpaid minimum and overtime wages, bonuses, commissions, meal premiums for missed, short or interrupted meal and rest breaks, employee misclassification, unreimbursed work-related necessary expenses and failure to pay all hours owed upon termination.