Location: California
Hello, I want to know if I have any legal recourse.
I was an exempt employee in a county job in California. I was hired by someone I had worked with several years ago. After I accepted the job offer, my boss said something like, “I hired you because we have a certain way of doing things here, and I knew I couldn’t hire some people because of the language we use.” I assumed this meant the workplace probably had a dark or gallows sense of humor.
Once I started, I realized it was much worse. One employee, who I will call Dumb, regularly used slurs against gay people. He would openly stare at female customers, make graphic sexual comments as they walked away, and prioritize serving women he found attractive over other customers who had been waiting longer.
Another employee, who I will call Dumber, frequently made racist remarks about people from certain parts of the world. He also made sexist comments, including remarks about my partner and another coworker’s wife. Fairly quickly, Dumber became openly antagonistic toward me and began harassing me directly, while leaving others alone. I have no idea why Dumber started acting this way towards me.
I tried to talk to Dumber privately several times to address his behavior, but that only encouraged him to escalate. Dumb and Dumber had both worked in that building for at least twenty years. They were very close with my boss and the supervisor above our boss. Everyone in the building knows these two coworkers. Their behavior had been ignored for years, even when our supervisor held my boss’s current role. Whenever they made sexist, racist, or homophobic comments, I would look at my boss, silently asking if they were serious about allowing it. My boss’s response was always, “That’s just how they are.”
I felt trapped. I did not think reporting the behavior internally would help because my boss and supervisor clearly supported Dumb and Dumber.
After several months, while I was still on probation, an incident occurred where I was on the phone helping my significant other who was in a precarious situation. Dumber interrupted my call while making misogynistic remarks. I asked him twice to stop. When he continued, I yelled, “What’s your fucking problem? I’m sick of your misogynistic remarks and the way you talk to me.” He laughed, and my boss ran over to defuse the situation.
My boss pulled me aside, and I told them everything that had been happening, especially with Dumber. My boss asked if I wanted to report it to HR. I said I needed some time to think about it. About forty minutes later, I told my boss I did want to report everything.
My boss later held a meeting with the three of us. Dumber apologized and claimed he “didn’t mean anything by it.” I told him he was only sorry because HR was now involved. If he had really meant it, he would have stopped long ago, especially since I had asked him several times to stop.
Eventually, I met with HR and told them everything. About three weeks later, my boss and the department supervisor fired me, citing my outburst. I suspected this would happen after I reported the harassment to HR. I believed they wanted to get rid of me to protect themselves and Dumb and Dumber. My boss and the department supervisor were still on probation too, so I think they wanted me gone before the issue went any further. Plus, if I was no longer employed, it would be harder for the County HR to follow up with me.
A few months later, the County contacted me because they reopened the investigation. I shared all the details again.
Now that the investigation is active, do I have grounds to pursue legal action for wrongful termination?
Short version: I worked a county job in California where two long-time employees made constant racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks. One of them harassed me directly. Management ignored it, saying, “That’s just how they are.”
After months of this, I snapped during an incident, reported everything to HR, and was fired two weeks later for my outburst. The county has since reopened the investigation.