“Eman at Yazdchi Law was extremely professional, responsive, and supportive at all times. He and his staff exceeded all of my expectations.”
Andrea Dalessandro
✦ Board-Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — State Bar of California ✦
Your employer cannot punish you for getting hurt. If they did, we’ll make them pay.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law
In California City, where the job market is thin and the desert stretches empty in every direction, the fear of employer retaliation keeps injured workers from filing the claims they're legally entitled to. Workers at the California City Correctional Facility worry about schedule changes and assignment shifts. Construction laborers worry about being blacklisted on future projects. Solar farm technicians worry about being replaced by the next crew and never called back. These fears are understandable — and in California City, where employment alternatives are scarce and the next job may require a 45-mile commute to Palmdale or longer to Bakersfield, losing your position feels like losing everything. But California law is clear: retaliation for filing a workers' comp claim is illegal, and it carries serious consequences for the employer.
Labor Code Section 132a is the primary anti-retaliation provision in California's workers' compensation system. It states that any employer who discharges, threatens to discharge, or in any manner discriminates against an employee because that employee filed or made known their intention to file a workers' compensation claim is guilty of a misdemeanor. Beyond criminal liability, Section 132a provides civil remedies to the injured worker.
Retaliation under Section 132a is not limited to termination. It includes any adverse employment action motivated by the employee's workers' comp activity. Common forms of retaliation California City workers experience include:
Termination. The most obvious form. You file a claim, and weeks later you're fired for a pretextual reason — "restructuring," "performance issues," "policy violations" that were never previously enforced. The timing alone can be powerful evidence of retaliation.
Demotion or reassignment. You're moved from a preferred shift to a worse one. Your duties are reduced. You're transferred to a less desirable position. At the correctional facility, this might mean being moved from a unit you've worked for years to a less desirable assignment — not for operational reasons, but as punishment.
Hours reduction. Your schedule is cut after you file a claim. You go from full-time to part-time. In California City, where many workers can't easily find supplemental employment due to the community's isolation, hours reduction can be financially devastating.
Hostile work environment. Supervisors make comments about your claim. Coworkers are instructed to distance themselves from you. You're excluded from meetings, training, or advancement opportunities. The message is clear: filing a claim has made you a problem.
Failure to accommodate work restrictions. When your doctor imposes temporary work restrictions after an injury, your employer is obligated to provide modified or alternative work if it's available. Refusing to accommodate restrictions — or claiming no modified work exists when it clearly does — can constitute retaliation, especially if the refusal coincides with your claim filing.
Section 132a claims are decided by Workers' Compensation Administrative Law Judges at the WCAB — for California City, that means Bakersfield. The burden of proof requires showing that your workers' comp claim was a motivating factor in the adverse employment action. You don't need to prove it was the only reason, just that it was a substantial factor.
Evidence that supports a retaliation claim includes the timeline between your claim filing and the adverse action, any statements by supervisors or managers referencing your claim, disparate treatment compared to employees who didn't file claims, your employment record before and after the claim, and the employer's failure to follow its own policies when taking action against you.
Documentation is critical, and California City workers should start collecting it from the moment they suspect retaliation. Save text messages, emails, and written communications. Note dates and times of verbal comments. Keep copies of your work schedule before and after your claim. If your employer provides a reason for the adverse action, save the written documentation and compare it to how similarly situated employees were treated.
For workers at the California City Correctional Facility — a state employer — retaliation claims may also implicate civil service protections and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation policies. These additional layers of protection can strengthen your case but also add procedural complexity that requires experienced legal counsel.
The consequences for employers who violate Section 132a are substantial, and they are designed to make retaliation costly enough to deter it. An employee who proves retaliation is entitled to:
Reinstatement to their former position, if they were terminated or demoted. This remedy puts you back where you were before the retaliation occurred.
Lost wages and benefits for the period of discrimination. If you were fired and spent three months out of work, you recover the wages you would have earned during that period, plus the value of any benefits you lost.
An increase of up to $10,000 added to your workers' compensation award. This is a penalty paid by the employer directly — not by the insurance company — and it's in addition to any other compensation you receive.
Costs and expenses incurred as a result of the discrimination, including attorney fees associated with the retaliation claim.
Criminal prosecution. Violation of Section 132a is a misdemeanor. While criminal prosecution of employers for workers' comp retaliation is uncommon, the statutory provision exists and creates additional deterrent value.
In Los Angeles or San Francisco, a worker who is fired in retaliation for a workers' comp claim can find another job — maybe not immediately, but the market provides options. In California City, the options are stark. The job market is dominated by a handful of employers: the correctional facility, construction contractors, solar companies, and local government. Being terminated — or worse, being informally blacklisted — can mean there is no comparable employment available without a long commute through the desert to another community.
This reality makes two things true simultaneously. First, workers are more afraid to file claims because the consequences of retaliation are more severe in a small, isolated market. Second, when retaliation does occur, the damages are often greater because the impact on the worker's earning capacity and quality of life is magnified by the lack of alternatives.
Attorney Eman Yazdchi understands both sides of this equation. Yazdchi Law P.C. pursues Section 132a claims aggressively precisely because California City workers cannot afford to let retaliation go unchallenged. When an employer knows that terminating an injured worker will trigger a retaliation claim handled by a Board-Certified specialist, the calculus changes. Retaliation stops being a cost-effective way to discourage claims and starts being a liability.
Injured at work in California City? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Retaliation claims add a layer of complexity to an already complex workers' compensation case. You're simultaneously pursuing benefits for your injury and a separate claim for the employer's illegal conduct. The two claims interact — the underlying injury claim provides context for the retaliation claim, and the retaliation claim can affect the overall resolution of your case. Handling both effectively requires a lawyer who is deeply experienced in workers' compensation law, not someone who dabbles in it.
Eman Yazdchi's Board Certification in Workers' Compensation Law, held by fewer than 1 percent of California attorneys, reflects the kind of comprehensive expertise these cases demand. For California City workers facing both an injury and retaliation, this level of specialization ensures nothing is missed and every legal remedy is pursued.
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