Los Angeles Employment Law Blog

Los Angeles employees have a right to safe working conditions when they are on the job. This is not only important for the employees themselves, but also for the public they are serving. California employment law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for speaking out against unsafe working conditions.

Recently, two members of the Los Angeles City Council along with the Service Employees International Union have spoken out about the working conditions at Los Angeles International Airport. According to the councilmen, service employees at LAX are subject to unsafe working conditions, poor training and unsatisfactory oversight by the contractors responsible for them.

More than 100 female employees of one of the largest truck driving companies in the nation, based in the Midwest, have complained of unwanted sexual advances from male drivers during training rides across the country. The women gave detailed accounts to a federal agency of how they faced groping and sexual assault in the trucks and how receiving a passing grade depended on their reactions to the advances.

Given the number of women who have come forward complaining of sexual harassment at the trucking company, it was anticipated that a workplace discrimination judgment would soon follow. Unfortunately, the class action suit has backfired and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's investigative tactic has become the focus of the courts. In fact, the only case that has ever reached a jury since 2005 is that of a California woman who filed her own lawsuit and was awarded $1.5 million.

It is every business's obligation to provide safe working conditions for its employees. Those employees who are injured have the right to work free from any retaliation or harassment from their employer following their injury under existing employment law.

Unsafe working conditions are not always created by dangerous equipment or some obvious hazard -- the danger can be caused by more subtle problems. Many Walmart employees in California have complained that understaffing has created unsafe working conditions for them, and that those who speak up face retaliation.

A Los Angeles, California, firefighter has received a nearly $500,000 settlement from his employer, the Los Angeles Fire Department, after he faced harassment that violated employment law under the Civil Rights Act. This firefighter repeatedly faced sexual discrimination and also religious discrimination from his co-workers.

The discrimination began in 2006 after some of his co-workers learned that the firefighter had brought a lawsuit against the Catholic Church in which the he alleged sexual abuse by a priest. The firefighter was subjected to explicit and offensive name-calling and other comments which created a hostile work environment. The firefighter informed management but the hostility continued.