“Eman really knows his stuff and we were very pleased with our end result.”
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✦ 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
Filing a workers' comp claim is your legal right. No employer in California can fire you, demote you, cut your hours, or punish you in any way for exercising that right. Yet in Fillmore's agricultural industry, retaliation against injured workers remains a persistent problem — and it takes forms that exploit the specific vulnerabilities of farmworkers.
Attorney Eman Yazdchi of Yazdchi Law P.C. is a Board-Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law who fights employer retaliation under California Labor Code §132a. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff because we know that many Fillmore workers who face retaliation need to discuss their situation in the language they are most comfortable with.
Retaliation in Fillmore's farming and packing operations takes several forms, some obvious and some designed to appear innocent:
The clearest form of retaliation. A worker files a claim for a back injury, and within days or weeks, the employer terminates them. The stated reason is usually something other than the claim — "poor performance," "seasonal layoff," "restructuring" — but the timing tells the real story. When an employee who performed well for years is suddenly terminated shortly after filing a workers' comp claim, the inference of retaliation is strong.
This is the most troubling form of retaliation in Fillmore's agricultural community. Some employers explicitly or implicitly threaten that filing a workers' comp claim will result in immigration consequences — that the employer will report the worker to immigration authorities, that the claim process will expose undocumented status, or that the worker will be deported.
Every one of these threats is false and illegal. Workers' compensation is a state employment benefit. The workers' comp system does not communicate with immigration authorities. Your immigration status is irrelevant to your eligibility for benefits. And an employer who threatens immigration consequences to discourage a claim is committing an additional act of retaliation that strengthens your case.
Rather than outright termination, the employer gradually pushes you out. Your hours drop from 40 to 15. You are moved from a preferred crew to the worst assignment. You are given physically impossible tasks while still on medical restrictions. The goal is to make you quit — constructive termination — so the employer can claim you left voluntarily.
Fillmore's agricultural employers know each other. Farm labor contractors communicate. A worker who files a claim may find that no other operation in the Heritage Valley will hire them. While informal blacklisting is difficult to prove, patterns of rejection following a known claim history can establish the inference.
You recover from your injury, you are released to full duty, and you are ready to return to work. Your employer says your position has been filled, there is no work available, or the season is over — even though other workers are still employed. Refusing to re-employ a recovered worker because they filed a claim is retaliation.
California Labor Code §132a is one of the strongest worker protection statutes in the country. It provides:
Broad prohibition. It is unlawful for any employer to discharge, or threaten to discharge, or in any manner discriminate against, any employee because that employee filed or made known their intention to file a workers' compensation claim.
Meaningful remedies. The WCAB can order:
Criminal penalty. Retaliation under §132a is a misdemeanor. While criminal prosecution is at the district attorney's discretion, the criminal dimension underscores how seriously California treats this violation.
Protection regardless of immigration status. LC §132a protects every employee. An employer who retaliates against an undocumented worker faces the same penalties — and the worker's immigration status cannot be raised as a defense.
Fired after reporting a pesticide exposure. A grove worker near the Santa Clara River reports respiratory symptoms from pesticide drift and files a workers' comp claim. The farm labor contractor terminates him the following week, claiming the harvest season has ended. Other workers from the same crew continue working for three more weeks. The selective termination following the claim establishes retaliation.
Threatened with immigration reporting. A Fillmore packing house worker injures her back lifting crates. When she asks for a DWC-1 form, the supervisor says filing a claim "causes problems" and asks if she "has her papers." The worker, fearful, does not file. Two months later, she can barely walk. She contacts Yazdchi Law, which files the claim and a §132a petition. The employer's threat constitutes retaliation regardless of whether the worker's immigration status is documented.
Hours cut after returning from injury leave. A citrus picker returns to work after recovering from a shoulder surgery covered by workers' comp. Before the injury, he worked 45-50 hours weekly during peak season. After returning, he is scheduled for 20 hours while other pickers on his crew work full time. The selective hour reduction is discriminatory retaliation.
Moved to an impossible job. A packing house worker recovers from carpal tunnel surgery and returns with a restriction against repetitive hand gripping. The employer assigns her to the fastest line in the facility, knowing she cannot keep pace with the restriction. When she cannot meet production standards, they terminate her for poor performance. This is constructive retaliation disguised as a performance issue.
Retaliation cases require a lawyer who understands the dynamics of agricultural employment and the specific pressures Fillmore farmworkers face. Attorney Eman Yazdchi's board certification in workers' compensation law includes expertise in §132a litigation. Our firm brings:
Injured at work in Fillmore? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Retaliation against injured farmworkers in Fillmore is not just illegal — it is a deliberate strategy to keep an entire workforce afraid of exercising their rights. When you stand up against it, you protect not only yourself but also every coworker who will get hurt in the future.
Contact Yazdchi Law P.C. today for a free consultation with board-certified specialist Eman Yazdchi. Tell us what your employer did after you filed your claim or reported your injury. We will evaluate the evidence, explain your rights under LC §132a, and take aggressive legal action. We speak Spanish, we speak your language, and we speak the language the insurance companies understand. Call now.
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