Should you save those scandalous text messages that you receive from your boss or co-workers? The answer is yes. This video and webpage is about how to do it properly so that if you have to take legal action down the road those text messages will help prove your case. Saving good documents, like emails and text messages, can mean the difference between losing your case, and winning millions of dollars in punitive damages.
This video is Part 4 in Branigan’s video series called, “How to Document Bad Behavior at Work.”
Mr. Robertson just released his latest video on how employees should save company documents while they are still employed. Employees should save these documents if they suspect something unlawful is happening at work and they want to protect themselves. This video covers when you should save documents, why it is helpful, what documents you should save, and how you should save them to avoid getting in trouble.
This video is Part 3 in the video series, “How to Document Bad Behavior at Work.”
Whether we’re talking about inappropriate text messages sent by the boss, emailed complaints sent to HR about an abusive coworker, or a performance evaluation containing inaccurate information about your work ethic, documentation simply makes your case stronger. It’s always better to show a jury that unlawful behavior took place rather than merely telling them.
When an employee has physical possession of important company documents, it becomes harder for unscrupulous employers to make evidence disappear. Strong documentation also has the power force the employer to the negotiating table more quickly.
When Should You Save Documents for a Potential Lawsuit?
For many of the folks who call our office every day, this is the key question. While there is no way to answer this question with 100 percent certainty, the decision to save documents for a potential lawsuit should be guided by the following three questions:
Is what’s happening to you significant?
Is it Impacting your job?
Is it unlawful?
Number three in that list is particularly important. Remember, there is a lot of bad behavior that occurs in the workplace every day that unfortunately is perfectly legal.
For bad behavior to cross the line into unlawful behavior, very specific circumstances must occur. For instance, it is unlawful to discriminate or harass an employee because they are in a protected class (i.e., their race, gender, pregnancy status, religion, age, sexual orientation, national origin, military status, etc.). Unlawful discrimination or harassment can include the following:
Vulgar racist jokes
Unwanted touching or sexual advances
Exclusion from staff meetings because the employee is pregnant.
Another area of unlawful behavior that employees need to consider is whistleblower retaliation. Generally, a whistleblower is someone who reports dangerous, unsafe or unlawful situations at work. The list of safety violations that occur in California workplaces is too vast to list in an article such as this but includes issues ranging from food preparation to operating room procedures (and many more in between). An employee who experiences retaliation after reporting discrimination or harassment of a coworker, might also want to consider saving documents for a potential lawsuit. For a deeper look at safety laws and whistleblower retaliation, be sure to check out this video.
What Documents Should You Save?
All too often when a potential client calls our office, they’ll tell us about all the solid evidence they have that makes their case a slam dunk. When we ask these potential clients to send over a few specific documents, we’re suddenly overwhelmed with a flood of emails and attachments containing all manner of documents— from barely legible screenshots to 20-page chronologies detailing every miniscule detail of the employee’s work life.
A simple rule of thumb to consider when trying to figure out which documents to save in preparation for a lawsuit is the following: save the essential documents. What are the essential documents? They include:
Emailed or written complaints to HR (as well any responses or attachments)
Any write-ups issued to you after you complained (potential retaliation)
-Any documents that show other employees are held to a different standard than you.This is only part of the discussion surrounding the types of documents to save in preparation for a lawsuit. For more discussion, be sure to check out Branigan’s video in its entirety.
How Should You Save Documents?
Before we get into the methods employees should use when saving company documents, there are a couple methods employees want to avoid. First, don’t send important company documents to a personal email account. This method makes it easy for the employer to track which documents are being saved. It also opens an employee’s personal email account to discovery later down the road. Trust us, you don’t want the company attorney sifting through your personal email account.
Employees will also want to avoid storing important documents on a company computer or any other company device. If the employer catches wind that you are preparing for a lawsuit, you might be locked out of the device immediately, thereby losing access to the documents.
Here are the best methods for saving important documents:
Print them out, save them in a folder at home. By doing this you lower your risk of leaving a digital footprint.
Set up a web-based email account (Gmail or Yahoo) that will remain separate from your personal account. Save the document as a PDF and forward to your individual account.
Take pictures of the important documents with your cell phone. Obviously, this is not the best method as the resulting images can be pixelated making it hard for your attorney to read. It’s often difficult to keep hundreds of photos in chronological order.
Keep a written log of the important documents. This method should only be done if you feel that any of the previous methods put you at too great a risk of being discovered by the employer. This method involves making a handwritten inventory of dates and documents you believe are important. Down the road, your attorney should be able to request these specific documents during discovery.
When To Call a Lawyer
Unfortunately, Branigan can’t represent most of the people who call our office. This is especially true for those who are still employed. That said, he does review cases for free. If you feel you are being treated unlawfully at work, give our office a call. Even if you haven’t been terminated, Branigan will review the basic facts of your case.
If Branigan believes you have a case, he might be able to represent you on a contingency basis. This means you won’t pay out-of-pocket expenses. In a contingency situation, Branigan is paid with a portion of the settlement or judgment at the conclusion of the case. Are you having significant problems with an employer or coworker? Give Branigan Robertson a call today and find out if he can help.
Comments Off on How to Save Company Documents in Preparation for an Employment Lawsuit – Pt. 3
In this video employment lawyer Branigan Robertson details how and why people should save important emails from work if they suspect they are the victim of unlawful retaliation, harassment, or discrimination. Mr. Robertson explains when employees should start saving emails, what emails they should save, several strategies on how to save them, and why emails can increase the value of your case.
This video is Part 2 in a four-part series called “How to Document Bad Behavior at Work.” The first video was about taking good notes while at work. This video focuses exclusively on emails. The next video is about taking company documents. The final video is all about text messages. All of these videos are very important so if you’re still employed I recommend you watch all of them! Here are links to each video:
Emails are the most common type of evidence in employment cases. That makes so much sense because most of our modern workplace communication is done via email. But so many clients call our office after being fired and they didn’t keep any documents! This is terrible as it makes it much harder to pursue your case without any supporting documentation. While it doesn’t ruin the case, it makes it much harder to pursue justice.
By their very nature, employment lawsuits have a lot of moving parts. There are bad bosses, their bad behavior, the treacherous coworkers, more bad behavior, the witnesses who see it all, and the jury that hears the case. Of course, there’s the judge that instructs the jury, and the lawyer that fights for the rights of his client—the worker. And when it comes down to winning nothing or scoring a million-dollar award, time and again, it’s the humble email that makes or break a case. Simply put, it’s important that workers learn how to save emails for a potential lawsuit.
In this video employment lawyer Branigan Robertson details how and why people should save important emails from work if they suspect they are the victim of unlawful retaliation, harassment or discrimination. Mr. Robertson also explains when employees should start saving emails, several strategies on how to save them, and why emails can increase the value of a case.
Why Save Emails in the First Place?
Legally speaking, it’s always better if you can show that something bad happened at work as opposed to simply alleging that something bad happened. Evidence such as emails can drastically improve the strength of your case, and in some situations, might even quickly bring the employer to the negotiating table.
One of the most frustrating types of calls our office receives involves an employee who was treated poorly by a coworker or supervisor. The coworker was harassed for months—maybe because of religious practices, their ethnicity, or because they refused to do something illegal. The caller tells us about several different incidents. The caller tells us how they complained via email to HR. But when we ask if they still have a copy of that email, they tell us they don’t. At this point steam shoots out of our ears.
The caller will often suggest that we can just simply obtain that information during discovery. While this is a possibility, there’s a lot that can happen before a case gets to the discovery phase. In a worst-case scenario, unscrupulous employers might make important evidence disappear.
When Should You Start Saving Emails?
In general, you’ll want to start saving emails once you decide you are being treated unlawfully by a coworker or your boss. This leads us to another question that can be difficult (though no less important) to answer: when is the law being broken?
When asking this question, it’s important to remember that there is a lot of bad behavior that employers and coworkers can get away with that is unfortunately perfectly legal. There is a significant difference between unfair and illegal behavior.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act states that it is unlawful for an employer to harass or discriminate against an employee due to several characteristics including race, gender, sexuality, pregnancy status, age (over 40), military status, national origin, gender identity, among others. The law also protects employees who witness their coworkers being harassed and speak up about it.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s just assume that you suspect you are being treated unlawfully. Ask yourself the following questions:
Is the behavior significant (i.e., were you called a vulgar racist slur, did you experience unwanted touching by a manger or coworker, were you told you would be fired if the boss found out you are pregnant)?
Has the incident or behavior significantly impacted your job?
If the answer to these questions is yes, it might be time to reach out to our office for a free consultation.
How Should You Save Emails for a Potential Lawsuit?
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to save emails for a potential lawsuit, let’s first look at a couple methods that should be avoided. For instance, it’s a bad idea to save the emails on a work computer or mobile device. Even if the emails are stored in a ‘hidden’ folder, once the employer catches wind of what’s happening, the employee might be locked out of the device in which case they will lose access to the emails. It’s also a bad idea to send work emails to a personal email account. This potentially opens the employee’s personal email account to discovery down the road. Trust us, you don’t want a defense attorney sleuthing through your personal account.
Here are four methods for saving emails for a potential lawsuit that are better:
Print them out and take them home. Printing work emails will leave a substantially smaller digital footprint making it difficult for the employer to figure out what’s going on.
Send the email via PDF or similar format to an independent email account set up solely to receive the work emails. It’s recommended the employee use a free, web-based service such as Gmail or Yahoo.
Take a picture of the email with a cell phone. This is a less preferred method but is also less likely to leave a digital footprint than the previous methods. That said, it can cause your attorney substantial frustration if he or she must figure out how to put hundreds of pixelated cell phone pictures into chronological order.
Keep a descriptive log of the emails. This method requires the employee to handwrite or digitally type descriptions of the important emails. This method can be done to avoid leaving a digital footprint entirely. While it’s not as good as the previous methods, keeping a log can still help your attorney to figure out which emails need to be requested during discovery. Such a log can also serve as a record if the employer deletes incriminating emails.
Contact Our Office for a Free Consultation
If you’ve been mistreated, harassed or wrongfully terminated, give our office a call. There is no charge for Mr. Robertson to review the facts of your case. If Mr. Robertson believes that you have a case worth pursuing, he generally represents clients on a contingency basis. This means there are no out-of-pocket expenses, and Mr. Robertson is paid with a portion of the settlement or judgment at the case’s conclusion. Give our office a call to find out if Mr. Robertson can help you.
Pregnant women often find that maternity leave is complicated and daunting. It does not have to be! There are a few basics that we cover in this post: what are your rights, what if your boss is upset that you will take a leave, and what to do if you get fired. Taking maternity leave in California is better than most states. The laws protect you here more than anywhere else in the country.
Basic Maternity Leave Rights in CA
The first question that many expecting employees face is whether they are entitled to maternity leave at all. The answer is usually, yes! California’s main pregnancy leave of absence laws (CFRA, FMLA, PDL, FEHA) apply to most employers. You have a right to take maternity leave. Employers are not required to pay employees during maternity leave. Even though employees do not have a right to pay from their employers during maternity leave, most California employees have a right to California’s state disability insurance during their leave. Fortunately, pregnancy related illnesses are considered disabilities by California law; employees often have a right to disability insurance payments during their leave. Visit California’s EDD website for more information.
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Leave to Bond With Your Child – 12 Weeks
California provides leave rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”).To be eligible for leave under CFRA, certain requirements must be met. The employee must work for an employer that has at least 50 employees within a 75 mile radius of the employee’s worksite. The employee must have worked for their employer more than 12 months. The employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours for the employer of work in the preceding year.
If these requirements are met, the employee is entitled to take up to 12 weeks of family care and medical leave in any given 12-month period. This leave can be used for the purpose of child bonding. To learn more about FMLA & CFRA visit this page that details who is eligible.
Pregnancy Disability In CA – Four Months
In California, expecting employees are not only entitled to maternity leave for the childbirth itself, but they also have a right to time off for disabilities related to the pregnancy as well. The definition of “disabled” is fairly broad. Most employers that have five or more employees, which includes most businesses in California, are governed by California’s main pregnancy discrimination law, the Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA).
She has a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth
This can include, but is not limited too, the following: childbirth, loss of child, post-partum depression, bed-rest, prenatal care, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, postnatal care, etc.
How long can you pregnancy disability leave last? FEHA gives female employees a right to maternity leave for up to four months.However, this maternity leave is only available to the employee as long as she is disabled from the childbirth, pregnancy, or some related condition.
The right to as much as 12 weeks of bonding time under CFRA is distinct from the right to pregnancy disability leave under FEHA. Accordingly, the bonding time under CFRA may be taken after the employee takes up to four months of pregnancy disability leave—totaling up to as much as seven months of total maternity leave depending on the length of the employee’s pregnancy disability.
Does maternity leave need to be taken all at once?
No, California’s FEHA provides for as much as four months of maternity leave for disabilities related to pregnancy and childbirth. But often disabilities are not continuous. Expecting mothers can take some time off during one trimester, or during an emergency, and then take the rest after delivery. This is called intermittent leave and is considered a reasonable accommodation.
Employers must provide reasonable accommodations for employees if they’re requested and if a health care provider has advised it. Your employer will likely ask you for a doctors note. If intermittent leave is expected, employers may explore a temporary transfer to a similar position with equal pay and benefits.
However, just because you are pregnant, does not mean they cannot fire you. If you are a bad employee, they can fire you. If they are laying off your department, you can go too. If you get fired while you are pregnant suspect the reason you were fired was your pregnancy, call a wrongful termination lawyer to investigate your case.
Do California employees have a right to their job after taking maternity leave?
Yes. Employees in California that exercise their right to maternity leave may not be discriminated against for taking a leave of absence. They have a right to return to their same or a similar position after their maternity leave has ended. The employer is not allowed to cut your pay when you return.
2021 Pregnacy Discrimination Update
I originally posted this article on February 27, 2015. I’ve updated it several times. Its now 2021 and some women are wondering if CA’s maternity leave laws have changed at all. First of all, the foundation of CA’s anti-discrimination laws have not changed. If you believe that you were fired because of your pregnancy, disability related to pregnancy, or maternity leave you should call the best employment lawyer in California for a free consultation. Some administrative rules and laws may have changed in 2019, but the majority of the calls to our office are about termination or expected termination. Therefore, it is unlikely that the maternity leave laws in California that may have changed in 2019 would affect the analysis of our office during your consultation.
What are the legal implications of quitting your job? Can you collect unemployment? Severance? What if you have a case and you quit (vs letting them fire you), will you still be able to take action? I answer all of those questions in this video.
My office gets a lot of calls from people who quit and still want to take action. This video details the critical things that lawyers look at in this situation.
As with all things in life, making a complaint at work is a risk. If you complain to human resources the wrong way, you might get fired (it happens far more often than people think). That is why I took the time to make a video about the correct way to complain to HR.
This video will explain the five things you need to know before you complain about your issue at work. It also covers how HR will react to your complaint and what you should expect if they conduct an “investigation.”
If you found this to be helpful, please leave a comment below.
Employment rights must be addressed immediately. The window for legal action may close if you don't act. Call or contact Mr. Robertson for a free consultation.
No, California’s FEHA provides for as much as four months of maternity leave for disabilities related to pregnancy and childbirth. But often disabilities are not continuous. Expecting mothers can take some time off during one trimester, or during an emergency, and then take the rest after delivery. This is called intermittent leave and is considered a