This post discusses what employees should do if they are being retaliated against for complaining about a safety issue at work. It also describes how much safety lawsuits like this can be worth in Court. Attorney Branigan Robertson carefully analyzes the anti-retaliation laws that protect workers and explains what retaliation looks like in the real world.
Retaliation for Safety Violations is a Big Problem
Unfortunately, if you get hurt on the job, you create a big problem for the company. And the sad reality is, some companies choose to treat their employees like replaceable widgets and they will not tolerate when one tries to stand up for safety. Retaliation because of safety concerns is a big problem in California, and Mr. Robertson wants people to know their rights and when they should call a lawyer.
This is Part 3 of a four part series that Mr. Robertson is making on workplace safety.
Once Mr. Robertson finishes filming each video, he will come back to this post and insert a link so you can easily jump to the video that is most helpful for you. But you should watch them in order as each one lays a foundation that is key to understanding the next one.
We hope you find this information useful!
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This post details how employees should report safety issues and violations at work. This is the next installment in our video series called “Employee Safety at Work.” In this post and video, Branigan Robertson describes the correct way to report safety violations to bosses, HR, and OSHA.
Blowing the Whistle on Workplace Safety
If you are smart, you probably already know that reporting a safety issue is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” kind of dilemma. If you report the safety violation, chances are your company is going to be upset and might retaliate against you. But if you don’t report the unsafe situation, chances are the company will blame and scapegoat you if someone gets hurt because you knew about the situation and didn’t report it.
This is Part 2 of a four part series that Mr. Robertson is making on workplace safety.
Once Mr. Robertson finishes filming each video, he will come back to this post and insert a link so you can easily jump to the video that is most helpful for you. But you should watch them in order as each one lays a foundation that is key to understanding the next one.
We hope you find this information useful!
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This page details the California laws that keep employees safe at work. If you want to know the basics regarding Cal-OSHA regulations that apply to your job, this post will give you the details that you are looking for. The above video was created by California employment lawyer, Branigan Robertson. You can watch it on this page, or click here to view it on YouTube.
This is Part 1 of a four-part series that Mr. Robertson made on workplace safety.
Video 1 – The Laws of Workplace Safety (for employees)
Once Mr. Robertson finishes filming each video, he will come back to this post and insert a link so you can jump to the video that is most helpful for you. But you should watch them in order as each one lays a foundation that is key to understanding the next one.
We Will Answer the Following Questions:
These videos are made to answer the seven most common questions lawyers get about workplace safety, including the following:
What laws protect the safety of workers?
What are your rights if your employer is breaking OSHA’s laws?
How should you report unsafe conditions?
Who do you report to: HR, your boss, or OSHA?
How much money can you win if you get fired for reporting safety violations?
What happens if you get hurt on the job?
How do you get compensated for the time off work following an injury?
Stay tuned for more information!
Workplace Safety, The Big Picture
In the early days of the American workplace there were precious few laws in place to protect the health and safety of employees. If an employee died in a workplace accident, the employer simply hired a replacement worker and moved on. Thankfully, things are different today. In 1970 the Federal Government passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), which established workplace protections for employees nationwide. States like California added additional safety regulations to the federal regulations (hence Cal-OSHA). The basic directives underpinning OSHA are known as the General Duties. These include:
Every employer is legally required to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm to its employees.
Every employer is legally obligated to comply with OSHA safety standards set forth by the Secretary of Labor (29USC §59(a)).
Cal-OSHA General Duties take things further and provide more specific protections for California employees. These duties include the following:
Every employer is obligated to furnish safe & healthful employment to its workers.
Employers must do everything reasonably necessary to protect the life, safety, and health of employees.
Employers shall use safety devices and use methods reasonably adequate to render employment safe.
Employers are not allowed to require an employee to go to an unsafe workplace (CA Labor Code §§6400-6404).
What Types of Safety Is Covered
OSHA regulations primarily seek to prevent physical workplace injuries. OSHA does not seek to directly regulate psychological safety stemming from bullying and harassment. There will be more discussion on psychological safety later in this series, but you can view Branigan’s video on on workplace bullying and harassment if you feel this might address your issue more specifically.
OSHA does regulate issues related to physical workplace violence. Employees who experience or are aware of occurrences of workplace violence should notify their employer about potential physical violence.
Safety for All Industries
OSHA regulations were designed to cover all industries—from small startups space to sprawling factories. And whether you work at a desk or operate a milling machine, your employer must provide some basic safety considerations. These include:
Maintaining a smoke free environment (no tobacco products)Heat mitigation (we get a lot of calls about office heat issues)
Safety for Specific Industries & Activities
OSHA provides regulations for a vast range of specific industries. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to publish the complete list in this post—it could cover a novel sized tome. Suffice it to say OSHA has rules for just about any industry or activity you can imagine. If you work in an industry where you think safety violations might be occurring, you can always spend a little time reviewing information on your specific industry on OSHA’s website. Activities and equipment effected by OSHA regulations include:
Ladders
Stairways
Power tools
Forklifts
Sanitation
Fire Extinguishers
Toxic substance handling and disposal (lead, asbestos, chemicals, aerosols, etc.)
Ventilation
Textiles
WoodworkingMany others
What Are Your Rights in an Unsafe Environment?
This series on workplace safety will get deeper into employee rights in subsequent videos and blog posts. But employees have the right to the following:
To refuse to do unsafe work. This right exists if two conditions are met. First, the work being requested would violate OSHA regulation (such as the General Duties). Secondly, the violation would create a real hazard to you or your coworkers.
To report violations to the proper authority without fear of retaliation.
To receive written information on hazards at the workplace.
When the Employer Doesn’t Follow the General Duties
Our office fields thousands of calls every year from folks who believe their employers are violating safety laws. These callers are eager to get justice, and they are eager to sue. In some cases, they let their emotions get the better of them and end up making a bad situation worse. We must explain that there are a few things that must happen before a lawsuit can be considered—and a single safety violation often isn’t enough. It’s important that you continue watching this video series to get a broader picture of what it takes to hold an unsafe employer accountable.
When to Call an Attorney
If you believe that your employer has violated Cal-OSHA regulations, or if you have been terminated after reporting safety violations, call our office. Branigan does not charge for the consultation process. If he determines that you have a case worth pursuing, he generally represents clients on a contingency basis. This means the client pays for his services from a portion of the settlement or judgment at the conclusion of the case.
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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.
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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.
This video details how employees like you should properly document bad behavior at work so you can protect yourself down the road if legal action becomes necessary.
In the video, employment attorney Branigan Robertson talks in depth about when you should take notes, what they will be used for, what you should write down, three strategies that are best for how you should write them down, and he discusses best practices.
This video gives simple guidelines that might dramatically help you preserve key evidence (facts, dates, witnesses, events, and occurrences) that will be important later on. If your boss, manager, or coworker is treating you poorly, this video is an essential watch.
This video is part 1 in a four-part series called “How to Document Bad Behavior at Work.”
If you would rather watch this video on YouTube, click here.
Be sure to watch the whole video for Branigan’s in deep dive into this important issue. If you prefer, you can read the rest of this blog to get a general overview. But be sure to watch the video for full understanding.
Is the Bad Behavior Unfair, or Unlawful?
Unfortunately, there is a lot of bad behavior that happens in the workspace that’s perfectly legal. For an attorney like Branigan Robertson to pursue a case, he must believe there has been a violation of state or federal law. In California, §12940 of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) states that it is a violation of law for an employer to discriminate against an employee based on several characteristics. These include race, religion, gender identity, sexuality, national origin, disability and several other classes.
Harassment of a protected person rises to a violation of law when the bad behavior is severe or pervasive enough to alter the working environment. If you believe that you are being harassed, the quality of the notes you take can help an attorney to determine if you have a case worth pursuing.
Simplicity is Key
The first thing to keep in mind when documenting bad behavior at work is that you must keep things simple. Remember that you might be presenting your case to a jury of your peers at some point. You don’t want a defense attorney holding up pages and pages of scribbled notes in which you document your bosses’ every little misstep, perceived hypocrisy or office snub. Furthermore, you’ll want to refrain from psychoanalyzing the boss—even if he or she is a narcissistic tyrant.
Poorly compiled notes have the potential to make you come across to the jury as a whiner, or worse. When taking notes, focus on the significant events, which by their very nature are rare. These are the events you suspect are unlawful and impact your work:
Boss called me to his office, closed the door and rubbed my shoulders.
Devon threatened to hit me and used a racial slur.
Supervisor Sara made a joke at office lunch that she only promotes white people.
The Five W’s
Once you’ve decided you need to document something at work, keep it to the Five W’s:
Who
What
When
Where
Witnesses
People who call our office often struggle to remember simple but key details. They’ll begin the call by telling us about the hostile work environment they’re in and all the laws that are being broken. But when asked for the date when the illegal behavior happened, or who was there when it happened, these same callers’ minds’ go blank. If you’re documenting the significant issues, be sure you can answer the five W’s.
Set Up a Free Email Account
If you’re documenting bad behavior at work, you’ll want to have an email account set up where you can email and store your notes. This ensures that the notes have timestamp information that will corroborate your facts. It’s important you don’t store this information in a company email account, or your personal email account. In the former case, your employer probably has software or other ways of monitoring the information you store in a company account. In the latter situation you don’t want to trigger discovery that could result in a a defense lawyer sleuthing through your personal information.
Call an Attorney
If you’ve watched Mr. Robertson’s videos on documenting bad behavior at work and feel that you can relate a little too much to the discussion, it might be time to give our office a call.
While Mr. Robertson doesn’t generally take on cases while a person is still employed, he will review the facts of your case for free. When Mr. Robertson does take a case, he generally does so on a contingency basis. This means the client doesn’t pay for legal services out of pocket. Attorney’s fees are paid with a portion of proceeds at the conclusion of the case. Give the law office of Branigan Robertson a call to find out if he can help.
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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.
