Hostile Work Environment
The term “hostile work environment” is a legal term. Meaning, that it has a different connotation in a legal sense than it would if the term was used conversationally. For example, say that you’re the only Green Bay Packers fan in an office full of San Francisco 49ers die-hards. On the Friday before a playoff game between the two teams, you are teased mercilessly for your allegiance to “The Pack.” You may jokingly tell a friend that, on that day, you operated in a hostile work environment. When used in a legal sense, however, this term refers to a serious, unlawful practice of creating an environment so toxic that the worker who has been targeted as a result of their protected characteristics within this space is significantly distracted or even prevented from engaging in their job-related duties. Hostile work environments can become so toxic that they inspire workers to resign from their positions and surrender their livelihoods simply to be freed from the unwelcome, offensive, and unlawful conduct that they are often repeatedly exposed to.
If you are being targeted as a result of a
protected characteristic and your work environment is becoming intolerable as a result of the unwelcome, offensive conduct that is coloring your experience, know that you may have strong grounds for filing legal action. You may be entitled to significant mistreatment as a result of the challenges you’re experiencing. Whether the protected characteristic that has made you a target of others’ ignorance and unacceptable behavior is your disability, age, religion, race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, genetics, or other inherent trait that helps to make you who you are, we can help. When you attend a free, risk-free, confidential consultation with our legal team, we’ll objectively analyze your circumstances and assist you with making an informed decision about your options. If your work experience has become toxic, you don’t have to navigate this situation alone.
Our legal team will treat you with the respect and consideration you deserve and your case with focus and a sincere seriousness of purpose.
Respected Representation for Workers Navigating a Hostile Work Environment
Our firm’s client-focused approach to representation allows us to view each case we handle with an attention to detail, determination, and commitment to building the strongest possible arguments on behalf of our clients that elude some other firms. We do not prioritize maintaining a certain “volume” of cases. Instead, our team prioritizes providing quality representation to each client we serve. When it comes to a client’s livelihood, there is no room to cut corners or to prioritize convenience over getting the job done right. If you are looking to work with a firm that will treat you with the utmost respect and will treat your case as a serious matter worthy of time, focus, and integrity, please connect with our team today to schedule a free, confidential consultation. We don’t take our firm’s reputation for excellence for granted, although we do hope that it will help you to feel more confident about entrusting your all-important legal challenges to our knowledgeable, experienced, compassionate, and capable team.
Behavior that Inspires Hostile Work Environments
As noted above, the term “hostile legal environment” is a legally-specialized term that refers to specific conduct targeted at a worker as a result of a protected characteristic.
Protected characteristics are inherent to a person’s being. They include sex, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, national origin, religion, and genetics. There are three primary ways in which workers are targeted with unwelcome, offensive conduct as a result of their protected characteristics. These generalized approaches to fostering a hostile work environment include:
- Discrimination – Discrimination can take many forms, including being denied access to adequate compensation, being passed over for employment-related opportunities afforded to other workers, and being intentionally isolated from one’s peers. When discriminatory conduct takes the form of unwelcome and offensive behavior, that discriminatory behavior may facilitate a hostile work environment.
- Harassment – If you – as a result of your protected characteristic(s) – have become the repeated target of jokes, inappropriate touching, threats, intimidation, and other forms of harassment, you may have strong grounds for a hostile work environment claim.
- Retaliation – When workers report that they have been discriminated against and/or harassed and they become the targets of retaliation in exchange for speaking up, this scenario can inspire offenders to create a hostile work environment in regards to the brave worker who came forward in the face of mistreatment.
Hostile Work Environments – California Law
In California, the law that governs most hostile work environment cases is known as the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). If you’ve experienced repeated incidents (or a particularly serious isolated incident) of unwelcome and offensive conduct as a result of a protected classification, you may be entitled to compensation and justice under FEHA.
Oftentimes, the ways in which laws and regulations are applied to workers’ specific situations and circumstances are clarified through case law. This means that the decision handed down in a specific legal case - filed by someone who was attempting to exercise their rights under a particular law or regulation – clarifies how the law or regulation in question should be applied under certain circumstances. A California case involving Warner Bros. Television Productions (Lyle v. Warner Bros. Television Productions (2006) 38 Cal.4th 264, 279) has helped to clarify what needs to be proven in order for a FEHA hostile work environment case to be successful. This standard insists that:
- The victim of a hostile work environment must be a member of a protected class (protected classes include age, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, disability, etc.);
- The victim must have been subjected to unwelcome and offensive conduct (as perceived by a reasonable person) due to their membership in the protected class;
- The conduct experienced must have been sufficiently pervasive and/or severe enough to create an objectively abusive environment and to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment;
- The victim must have perceived the conduct as abusive in nature;
- The victim must have exhausted available administrative remedies before filing legal action; and
- The defendant must be liable under the principles of a legal concept known by the Latin term “respondeat superior.”
This is a complex standard that is contextual and nuanced. As a result, we’ll need to examine every aspect of your situation before we’ll be able to objectively assess whether you have strong grounds to file legal action at this time. With that said, it’s important not to make assumptions about whether you have a case before speaking with our firm. If you’re reading over the terms of that complex legal standard and you’re thinking that there is “no way” you’ll be able to meet it, please don’t panic. It is our job to understand how complex legal standards apply to everyday experience. You may have a stronger case than you think. Either way, we’ll be able to advise you accordingly once you arrive for your free consultation.
A Word About Internal Investigations
If you have reported discriminatory, harassing, or retaliatory conduct to your manager, human resources department, or others in a position of authority, an internal investigation into your claims may have been launched. If you either believe that your allegations are not being taken seriously or you have received word that your “case has been closed” without any follow-up, you may be understandably angry, frustrated, and may even be second-guessing yourself. “Was I overreacting? Was this all in my head?” you may be asking. It is important to understand that internal investigations are notoriously unreliable. Those in positions of power are not always inclined to “rock the boat” by standing up against the forces facilitating a hostile work environment. Similarly, those connected to the internal investigations process may have reason to cover up certain behaviors, protect others involved in the situation, and/or maintain plausible deniability in the event that you choose to file litigation.
As a result of these challenging realities, please do not refrain from exploring your legal options with the assistance of our experienced legal team simply because an internal investigation hasn’t been taken seriously or has “cleared” those who are causing you harm. You do the hard work of showing up to do your job on a daily basis. You may have also made the hard decision to quit in the face of sincere mistreatment. Either way, you deserve to have your story taken seriously. In the event that you have grounds to file legal action, you deserve to benefit from a focused, detail-oriented outside review of your situation. Our experienced team is capable of conducting such a review and of advocating on behalf of your rights and legal needs accordingly.
Preparing for Your Consultation
It is important that you take time to gather any information and/or documentation that will allow our team to understand the “ins and outs” of your situation as fully as possibly during your consultation. We cannot provide you with a comprehensive, objective case analysis unless we understand what you’re facing, in detail. As a result, you’ll want to gather any texts, emails, posts on internal or external communication platforms, call records, witness contact information, and/or other relevant information for us to review during your consultation. Only by understanding your case as completely as possible can we assist you in making an informed decision about whether to move forward with filing legal action of any kind. Additionally, you’ll want to write down your questions and concerns in advance of your consultation to better ensure that we address every single one of them before your free consultation is complete. The last thing we want is for you to leave your consultation feeling like your concerns haven’t been addressed in ways that allow you to make informed decisions moving forward.
Contact Our Firm Today for a Free Case Evaluation
Federal and California State laws safeguard against the creation of a hostile work environment. When these unacceptable conditions arise in violations of these safeguards, workers are entitled to exercise opportunities for legal recourse under the law. Holding an employer accountable for a hostile work environment is not an easy task. Employers can be powerful entities that often employ experienced legal counsel to advocate on behalf of their interests. As a result, if your rights have been infringed upon, you deserve to benefit from experienced, knowledgeable, and focused legal counsel capable of holding powerful employers to account. Our firm has extensive experience handling hostile work environment cases and we understand how to pursue them as efficiently and effectively as is possible. To learn more about your legal options in the face of a hostile work environment, please call our firm or fill out an online request form to schedule a confidential, risk-free consultation at no cost. All workers deserve to understand their rights – please allow us to clarify yours today.