Is there anything I can do?
I have been with this company from 1997 to 2000. I had a break of service and came back in 2003. I was also the whistle blower. I had to do it to protect myself since I had been the personal assistant to the individuals mentioned in the law suits. They did not know how much I knew so they tried to make my life miserable and make me quit. I fought and I was able to stay however, I was transfer to a different dept, an offsite location. My director was really close to the person I had seen falsifying documents and getting rid of documentation in the charts being investigated. After that, my career went to hell. In 15 years, I received a 3 dollars raise. After working out of class for about 3 years, the union requested a study on my position from HR. I met with the consultant and after over a year HR decided to meet with me to discuss my situation. My boss was there. I had received no evaluations in 5 years but he still denied that I was doing the work that I am to date, doing. I presented HR with documentation and a letter from people I work with backing up my claim of working out of class. As a matter of fact, and as of today, I still don't have a job description. In the meeting, I was lied to by the compensation manager stating that policies do not require an employee to receive yearly evaluations. I went online and printed all policies and sent them to him. I then received an email letting me know that there was no change to update on my position. My director at the time suddenly retired as he is being internally investigating for fraud to the tune of 8 million dollars. The interim director that came after had the opportunity to meet with the HR consultant involved in my case and made it very clear to her that the previous director had lied. The operations manager agreed and supported the claim that my ex boss lied to HR. Even though the consultant was made aware of this and she identified the need to revisit this issue she also mentioned that "it was a closed matter". HR has not done anything about it. According to policy and if everything would have gone as it should have, I would have had to be reclassified and paid retro pay at least from the time I first met with the consultant which was back in April of 2015. I do believe that this is retaliation for what I did to protect myself years ago. This ex director, a proven to be very mendacious individual together with the manager of compensation, the manager of labor relations and the consultant' s unethical, dishonest and deceitful practice have brought me to have insomnia, be stressed, depressed and suffering from panic attacks. I need your guidance. What can I do? They are obviously protecting each other. I am very frustrated. What can I do? Thank you.
1 answer | asked Nov 21, 2016 10:36 AM [EST] | applies to California
Answers (1)
Second: If your whistleblower activity was in 2000, it will be very difficult for you to demonstrate that what is happening to you now is due to what you did 16 years ago. It isn't impossible but it would be a very, very, VERY steep uphill battle.
Third: But you are represented by a union. Is there some reason you do not believe your union is doing what should be done? No one knows the workplace or the rules better than the union. Do what you can to help the union help you and to bring your case to arbitration. That is the probably the fastest way to get this reviewed by a neutral. And, for you, the only way that won't cost you anything.
Even if you find an attorney to take your case on a contingency, you are most likely going to be responsible for costs of suit along the way, which could run tens of thousands of dollars. If you win in the end, there is a good chance the employer sill have to reimburse those costs – but in the meantime, you are out of pocket. And there is no guarantee you will get everything back.
More importantly, many employment attorneys, even excellent ones, will not take a case if a union is involved because of potential preemption.
Also, unless you can make a connection to the whistleblowing that is far more recent than 16 years, it will be hard to find a contingency attorney and might be hard to find any attorney. Consider that an ordinary employment law suit, without much complication, easily consumes $100,000 to $500,000 in attorney's fees. Add in your obvious complications (whistleblowing issue, union preemption, break in service, lack of performance reviews, ano attorney is going to risk losing that much in legal fees if you don't have strong enough facts. So, again, your best bet is probably working with your union.
Employment law is complicated and fact-specific. You may wish to consult with an experienced plaintiffs employment lawyer. To find a plaintiffs employment attorney in California, please go to the web site of the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA). CELA is the largest and most influential bar association in the state for attorneys who represent working people. The web site is www.cela.org. Click on "Find a CELA Member" and you can search by location and practice area. Many CELA attorneys represent clients throughout the state.
I hope there is a good resolution to this situation.
posted by Marilynn Mika Spencer | Nov 27, 2016 7:44 PM [EST]
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