Sacramento Sexual Harassment Law Blog

An Orange County, California, police dispatcher has filed a civil suit claiming that the Newport Beach police chief perpetuated a hostile work environment that ultimately led to her wrongful termination. Not only is the chief named in the suit, but the city and the police department have also been targeted by the civil claim.

The woman alleges that she was the target of inappropriate comments made by the police chief. The problems started after the woman's husband, a former officer, testified against the department as part of a separate case. The woman was let go from the department in February 2012 after 22 years of loyal service to the city.

Former workers at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California are alleging wrongful termination after they were fired for a variety of reasons. The group of 130 former employees at the national security facility, headed by Bechtel and the University of California, is seeking compensation for wrongful termination and breach of contract. Restitution sought in the case includes financial retribution for the loss of employment and income. The suit comes in the wake of a massive layoff spree in 2009 that left 430 lab workers without work.

Attorneys for the affected employees argue that the workers were protected by contractual provisions that prohibited their termination. Employees were let go because of their age, experience and income among other factors, according to the complaint. The Department of Energy maintains that many positions were eliminated because the laboratory was moving away from nuclear weapons research; as a result, employees' services were simply no longer needed.

A man who was hired by Pierce Transit in California's neighboring Washington is seeking financial compensation through a wrongful termination suit. The man is alleging that he was wrongfully fired after the company learned of his previous criminal record, which included a series of break-ins and license revocations dating back more than a decade.

The man had been a contracts manager for the state of Washington's Liquor Control Board before he was hired by the transit company. He had been working for Pierce for about a month when he was sent home on administrative leave after the company uncovered information about his criminal record. Administrators said they had conducted background checks prior to hiring the man, but standard reviews did not reveal his prior convictions.

A Film Commission worker in San Francisco, California, may seek legal recourse after she was wrongfully terminated. The woman, who was a permit issuer for the government group, said she was discriminated against as a whistleblower; she had reported misdeeds within her department, which she claims ultimately led to her employment termination.

The woman's claims come on the heels of a massive scandal that led to the resignation of at least one film commissioner within the department. That commissioner was the subject of the woman's complaints, according to media reports. The woman had reported that the commissioner was becoming too involved in the permitting process for a popular television series that was being filmed locally.