Employee Rights

Retaliation

At AJG Law Group, PC, we represent California employees who have been demoted, disciplined, assigned to less desirable positions, or terminated after exercising a protected right — requesting a disability accommodation, taking CFRA or FMLA leave, or filing a workplace discrimination complaint. California’s FEHA prohibits this retaliation explicitly, and the timing of an employer’s adverse action is often the clearest evidence that it occurred.

What Is Protected Activity?

Activities FEHA Protects from Retaliation

California’s FEHA prohibits employers from retaliating against an employee for engaging in any of the following:

• Requesting a disability accommodation from a supervisor, HR, or the employer
• Taking CFRA or FMLA medical leave for a qualifying condition
• Filing a complaint about disability discrimination with HR, the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), or the EEOC
• Participating in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing related to a workplace discrimination complaint
• Opposing any employment practice that the employee reasonably believes violates FEHA
• Requesting reasonable modifications to a work policy or procedure to accommodate a disability

The employee’s complaint or request does not have to be proven meritorious for retaliation protection to apply. A good-faith complaint about a practice the employee reasonably believes is discriminatory is protected regardless of the outcome of any investigation.

Common Forms of Retaliation

Termination Shortly After a Protected Act

The most obvious retaliation is termination. When an employee requests an accommodation or files a complaint and is fired within days, weeks, or months — without any documented performance issue that predates the protected activity — the temporal proximity between the protected act and the adverse action is strong evidence of retaliatory motive.

Demotion or Reduction in Responsibilities

Retaliation does not require termination. An employee who is moved to a lower-level position, stripped of responsibilities, removed from a project, or denied a promotion they were previously on track for — after engaging in protected activity — may have a FEHA retaliation claim even if they remain employed.

Negative Performance Reviews

A sudden negative performance review with no prior documented performance issues, issued shortly after an accommodation request or complaint, is a recognized form of retaliation. Employers sometimes create a paper trail to justify future adverse action after a protected act. A performance review that contradicts the employee’s prior history is suspicious on its face.

Hostile Work Environment Following Protected Activity

An employer or supervisor who creates a hostile working environment — increased scrutiny, isolation, public criticism, schedule manipulation, or other retaliatory treatment — after a protected act has committed retaliation even if no formal adverse action has been taken. Constructive discharge — where conditions become so intolerable the employee resigns — is a recognized form of retaliatory adverse action.

Failure to Reinstate or Changed Conditions on Return

An employer who reinstates an employee to a lesser position, places them on a performance improvement plan, or otherwise subjects them to adverse treatment upon return from protected medical leave has engaged in retaliatory conduct that violates both FEHA and CFRA.

Proving Retaliation

Retaliation claims are built from the following factual elements:

Temporal proximity — the closeness in time between the protected act and the adverse action — is the most powerful form of circumstantial evidence. Courts and juries are familiar with the pattern. An employer who terminates an employee two weeks after they request medical leave, without any prior documented performance issues, faces a significant evidentiary burden to explain the timing.

What You Can Recover

A successful FEHA retaliation case can recover:

• Lost wages — back pay and front pay for income lost as a result of the retaliatory adverse action
• Emotional distress damages — the anxiety, stress, and disruption of facing retaliation for exercising your legal rights
• Punitive damages — available where the employer’s retaliation was willful, oppressive, or carried out by a managing agent
• Attorney fees — FEHA requires the employer to pay your legal fees when you prevail

FEHA retaliation claims must be filed within three years of the retaliatory act. Contact us promptly to preserve your claim.

If you were demoted, disciplined, or terminated after requesting a disability accommodation, taking medical leave, or filing a workplace complaint, contact AJG Law Group, PC for a free case evaluation.