California Labor Law: Termination not "By the Book"

Corona, CA: Tina doesn't want her job back; she just wants to ensure that other employees are treated fairly. "If this company demands that employees follow their company handbook, my employer should follow its by-laws too," says Tina, who has filed a California Labor Law complaint.

Tina explains that she was terminated because she was late for work—but it's a bit more complicated than that which raises the question about California Labor Laws. She worked 40 miles away and had to deal with a lot of traffic commuting back and forth; sometimes she would arrive 15 minutes late. Although traffic congestion is no excuse for being late, she spoke with her employer and they came to an agreement.

"We decided that I would make up my time by staying later in the day if I was late and she was fine with that," says Tina. "In my position I don't deal with the public and my job performance was not affected in any way if I came in later and stayed later. I was late about two or three days per month because I had to get my three kids to school and again, my boss understood this."

But then her boss had a change of heart. She said Tina was using traffic problems as an excuse for being late. "She said I wasn't leaving home early enough to get to work on time and my situation wasn't unique: that I'm not the only person that had to deal with traffic," says Tina.

"We had verbal conversations regarding my tardiness and how to improve it," she says. "We spoke about changing my schedule and that worked: I came in much earlier: I worked from 7.30 am until 4pm instead of starting at 9.30 am. On occasion I still hit traffic but I would always call and let them know if I was going to be late and would make the time up that same day. I was never written up, never put on probation, never told that I was going to be terminated. But they let me go anyway."

Tina's issue isn't that she was fired for being late, it's because the company didn't follow protocol. "The company handbook states that you must receive a verbal warning then you get written up, put on probation and the last resort would be termination," she explains. Tina missed the middle parts: getting written up and put on probation.

So what does probation mean? For example, "You have to be here on time for three months otherwise we will terminate you," Tina explains. She never got to that stage. Instead, her boss said "all the verbal conversations we had were probation." Because they didn't follow protocol, Tina believes she was wrongfully terminated.

"It's like they were waiting for me to be late," she says, "and they let me go on the last payday of the month. My boss, her assistant and the HR director called me into the office. 'Today will be your last day Tina; you were tardy this week and I have spoken to you on several occasions and I don't see any improvement,' my boss said. I had called in every time I expected to be late but she said I was 'tardy' 14 times in eight months. I had been with this company for five years. Even my boss said that my performance was exceptional and there was never an issue with my work; it was just my arrival time.

Even though I was glad to be gone, I believe this company did me wrong. I was terminated almost one month ago and just started collecting unemployment insurance. My prospects look pretty good and I've got my resume out there with referrals from other companies I worked for—not this past company.

I filed a complaint with the California Labor Board on August 18th and I'm waiting to hear back. Meanwhile, I would like a lawyer to investigate the company's policy. And I kept my handbook. After all, what's good for the goose should be good for the gander…"