Knowing your rights is an important part of being happy in your place of work. Though you might hope that you will be fairly treated and judged on your merit and diligence, this is not always the case. All too often, employees in California are subjected to a hostile work environment every day.
This can be the result of discrimination, retaliation or simply having an employer who does not protect his or her workers or make payment on time. This sort of behavior is unacceptable and should always be challenged. To make this easier, some new legislation has been enacted by the California Legislature which should all come into effect during 2015.
Under this new legislation, the changes that have been made include mandated paid sick leave. This means that employers are obliged to allow employees to take paid leave for an illness provided they have worked for at least 30 days within one year of employment. Employees are entitled to one hour of leave per 30 worked.
However, as this article on labor and employment law details, employers are permitted to instate a cap on the amount of leave that can be earned in a year and the amount that can be accrued in total. As such, if you are unsure what you may be entitled to, you might benefit from the advice of an attorney.
Of course, this legislation only comes into play in 2015. In the meantime, however, there is still plenty of help available if you are being unfairly treated at work. You can contact OSHA for safety concerns and you might also want to file a claim against those responsible for discriminating against you.
The National Law Review, “2015 Labor & Employment Law Update for California Employers,” Dec. 2, 2014