Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in California

Sexual Harassment then laid off with 5 other employees?

My IT Manager made an inappropriate comment to me on the internal instant message client. The comment disappeared from the server less than an hour later. Again that night more content disappeared from IM archive(I have a copy of that but not the exact comment). M7 days later I was laid off with 5 other employees(not related to incident). The next day I went to HR who began an internal investigation. On Friday at 2:45pm HR emailed me with the final result of the investigation. My allegation comment was substantiated as the person admitted saying the comment but my claim that the IM was deleted could not be substantiated because it could not be retrieved. HR never mention the person being disciplined or what the next steps would be. I responded to that email the following Monday at 10am thanking them for investigating my claim and asked if there would be a further investigation into the missing IM. They responded at 1:45pm saying they had no plans to but if I wanted them to they would try to retrieve the IMs. I was laid off at 4pm that day no time to respond. I feel as though this is retaliation, can anyone help? I never had 1 negative performance review. Burden lies on me, can I prove retaliation if others were laid off too?


Asked on 3/20/09, 7:35 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
OCEAN BEACH ASSOCIATES OCEAN BEACH ASSOCIATES

Re: Sexual Harassment then laid off with 5 other employees?

It is fact specific and would not be known until after discovery. However, protect your rights by filing a claim with the EEOC or DFEH. Contact me directly,

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Answered on 3/20/09, 3:14 pm
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: Sexual Harassment then laid off with 5 other employees?

It can't be 'retaliation' by the company if you hadn't reported and complained about it before being fired. Yes, others being laid off drastically reduces your ability to prove anything improper about the layoff. Besides, one comment in a message wouldn't be sufficient grounds for a lawsuit anyway.

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Answered on 3/20/09, 3:24 pm


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