San Francisco Employment Law Firm Blog

You have been dedicating yourself to your company for years. You have been working hard, proved yourself and your efforts weren't wasted. You have been promoted multiple times and now you are manager holding an executive/supervisory position. You are happy and proud of your achievement and are excited about the authority you will have at your company to make bigger and more critical decisions about the financial, administrative or a marketing direction that you company will be moving in.

But not everyone is as happy as you are. You former co-workers, or your new subordinates might become jealous and bitter about your success especially if their work ethic doesn't match yours and/or if they feel that they should have been promoted and not you. There is a chance that they will conspire against you and will try to hurt your career by falsely accusing you of misconduct, harassment or even violence at workplace.

You feel upset, especially if those allegations are unfounded and if they are likely to slow down your further promotion in the company. How should you handle a situation in which your superior or a human resources manager contacts you out of the blue, informing you that an investigation has been initiated against you into certain allegations filed by your co-workers or subordinates?

Here are a few important steps that you can and should take when an investigation is initiated against you by your employer:

1. Do not be upset at anyone! Don't get angry or emotional, as it will only confirm your likelihood to be hot-headed, which is the last thing you want to show to anyone. Do not be angry at your company, and remember that your company has an affirmative obligation to conduct a full, thorough and unbiased investigation of any allegations of harassment, violence or other misconduct at workplace, whether these accusation are credible and truthful or not. So, remember - your company is just doing what it's supposed to do. Don't threaten anyone with legal action and don't ruin the good relationships you with the company by being angry or demanding toward your superiors.

2. Request your personnel file to review all the documents and make sure that there are no other documents filed in there, which you are not aware of, and which might case negative light on who you are as an employee. Under California labor code, you have a right to access your personnel file and obtain at least those documents that you have signed.

3. Request a copy of an investigation report with all its findings and conclusions. Review the report carefully and submit your rebuttal to the investigation report, in which you will specifically address every allegation and deny those accusations which are not true. Failing to do so, while not critical, might create an impression that you agreed with the accusations.

4. Keep a copy of every e-mail and other communications regarding the discussions of the accusations against you between you and any other employees or investigators.

5. Consult your employee handbook to make sure that the company complies with its own policies in conducting investigation and that it follows its own progressive discipline policy (if any).

6. Focus on avoiding having any communication with the accusers, if you know who they are or you believe you know who they are. It's much easier for them to misinterpret your words than to argue that you had a conversation with them, if in fact you haven't.

7. Consider requesting supplemental/new investigation that will consider newly discovered facts and circumstances.

8. Avoid the temptation to retaliate against the employees who falsely accused you of misconduct.

The above tips should help you deal with false accusations, clear up your name and move forward with your work and career in a healthy, productive way.

In the absence of an agreement otherwise a worker in California is generally presumed to be an "at-will" employee. This means that an employee can be terminated for any reason, no reason or arbitrary reason as long as it's not an illegal reason (such as discrimination, harassment, retaliation, etc.) Once an employee establishes that he/she might have been terminated for unlawful reason, an employer will be required to defend its termination by demonstrating "just cause." Employers covered by collective bargaining agreements are also typically required to demonstrate "just cause" for any disciplinary action involving a covered employee. Thus, it is important to understand the "just case" term of art. In determining whether the employer had just cause for terminating an employee, the following questions should be asked:

* Did employer's action violate any statute or policy?
* Did the company investigate to determine whether the employee actually violated the rule for which he was disciplined or terminated?
* What the company's investigation fair and objective?
* During the investigation, did the company obtain substantial evidence or proof that the employee was guilty?
* Has the company applied its own rules and discipline, as outlined in employee handbook or similar materials, fairly and consistently to all employees?
* Is the degree of discipline reasonable proportional to the seriousness of the proven offense or violation in light of the gravity of that offense as compared to overall performance, track record and length of service of that employee?
* Has the employee been honestly informed of the reasons for discipline or termination?

Generally, especially in the context of unionized employee covered by CBA (collective bargaining agreements), just cause for termination is something more serious than a minor misconduct or isolated incidents of negligence, as there is both semantic and legal difference between "cause" (which can be any cause) and "good cause."

The most significant immediate measure and employer may and should take in response to sexual harassment or another kind of harassment allegation by one employee against the other or against his or her supervisor is to launch a prompt and fair investigation to determine whether the complaint is justified. The employer must take temporary steps to deal with the situation while it determines whether the complaint is justified. Swenson v. Potter (9th Cir. 2001) 271 F3d 1184. The greater the potential injury to the complaining employee, the greater care the employer must take in investigation harassment allegations and preventing the alleged harassment from recurring or escalating.

The employer must conduct an investigation even if the alleged harasser denies the accusation and the victim wishes to drop the matter. The employer must investigate from "worst case scenario" in order to avoid exposing other employees to the alleged misconduct. Malik v. Carrier Corp. (2nd Cir. 2000) 202 F3d 97. A reasonable investigation does not require a trial-type proceeding. The inquiry may be conducted informally in a manner that will not unnecessarily disrupt the company's business.

If you believe that you are or have been a victim of harassment at work place in San Francisco, San Mateo/South Bay or East Bay regions, you might be entitled to legal protection. If you would like to discuss your situation at workplace, feel free to contact us by phone or by filling out the form on this page.

It is common for an employee who is subjected to discriminatory conduct or harassment at workplace in California to be afraid to complain about the harasser to his superiors for fear of retaliation and losing a job. However, an aggrieved employee simply has nothing to gain by keeping quiet. In most cases, the harasser's unlawful conduct not only doesn't stop, but becomes progressively more unacceptable and egregious, causing more stress to the victim of potential discrimination and harassment.

Even more importantly, by not complaining, and employee not only doesn't allow the employer to address discrimination and harassment and possibly discipline the harasser, but the victim virtually forecloses possibility of having viable legal claims for discrimination and harassment in the future. Unless the harasser is the aggrieved employee's supervisor, and employer is not liable for discrimination and harassment, if the employer did not know or had not reason to know that such discrimination or harassment took place.

Therefore, if you believe that you are subjected to unlawful discrimination and/or harassment at workplace, it is crucial that you complain about the conduct in writing to your human resources department and higher if necessary. In your complaints, you should outline in detail the facts and the circumstances of what you believe to be an unlawful conduct toward you at workplace, requesting prompt, thorough, formal investigation of your allegations as required by law.