“Very thankful for everything they did for us. Always responsive, reassured us every step of the way and obtained a great result.”
Miguel Orellana
✦ 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
Workers' compensation retaliation in Long Beach takes many forms, but the underlying dynamic is always the same: an employer punishes a worker for exercising the legal right to file a claim or receive benefits for a workplace injury. In a city whose economy depends on physically demanding industries — port operations at one of the busiest harbors in the world, oil refining along the Wilmington and Carson corridor, aerospace manufacturing, large-scale construction — the financial pressure employers face from workers' comp claims is immense. Some respond to that pressure by retaliating against the workers who file, hoping to discourage future claims and send a message to the rest of the workforce. Labor Code section 132a makes this conduct illegal, punishable by reinstatement, back pay, a penalty of up to $10,000, and costs and attorney fees. Our firm enforces that statute aggressively on behalf of Long Beach workers.
The retaliation we see in Long Beach's industrial sectors is often more sophisticated than a simple firing. A longshoreman at the Port of Long Beach files a claim for a shoulder injury and suddenly finds himself removed from the dispatch rotation, effectively cutting his income to zero without a formal termination. A refinery contract worker reports a chemical exposure injury and discovers that his staffing agency has reassigned him to a different client, telling him there is no more work at the refinery — a constructive termination disguised as a routine reassignment. A Boeing assembly worker returns from a medical leave of absence to find that her workstation has been reassigned, her security badge deactivated, and her supervisor claiming there was a "restructuring" during her absence. These tactics are designed to create plausible deniability, but the timing and circumstances tell a different story.
Proving retaliation under Labor Code section 132a requires establishing that the employer took an adverse action against the worker and that the action was motivated, at least in part, by the worker's filing of a claim, receipt of benefits, or testimony in a workers' comp proceeding. The worker does not need to prove that the claim filing was the sole reason for the termination — only that it was a contributing factor. This standard recognizes that employers rarely state their retaliatory intent explicitly. Instead, the evidence comes from timing, inconsistency, and context: the worker was performing satisfactorily before the injury, the adverse action followed closely after the claim filing, and the employer's stated reason for the action does not hold up under scrutiny.
Our lead attorney, Eman Yazdchi, is a Board-Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law who has prosecuted 132a retaliation petitions for Long Beach workers in port operations, petrochemical processing, aerospace, healthcare, and construction. He understands the evidence required to establish the causal connection and how to build a case that withstands the employer's defenses.
Retaliation cases at the Long Beach WCAB District Office require a dual focus: proving the underlying injury claim and proving the employer's retaliatory motive. We handle both components with equal intensity. On the injury side, we ensure your workers' comp claim is fully developed and documented. On the retaliation side, we build the evidentiary record through employment records, personnel files, dispatch logs, email communications, witness statements from coworkers, and analysis of the employer's treatment of similarly situated workers who did not file claims. This comparative evidence is often the most powerful tool in a retaliation case.
We also understand the broader impact of retaliation claims in Long Beach. The port, the refineries, and the aerospace facilities employ tens of thousands of workers who are watching how employers respond to injury claims. When we successfully prosecute a 132a petition and the employer faces real financial consequences, it deters similar conduct across the industry. Our approach to these cases reflects that significance — we litigate them aggressively because the stakes extend beyond the individual client.
Injured at work in Long Beach? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →We begin with a thorough investigation of the timeline between your protected activity and the adverse action. We collect employment records, performance evaluations, dispatch logs, communications, and any documentation that reveals the employer's true motivation. We then file a Labor Code section 132a petition at the Long Beach WCAB District Office, which is adjudicated alongside or in addition to your underlying injury claim. The employer is required to respond, and the matter proceeds through discovery — including depositions of the supervisors and managers who made the adverse decision. If the case does not resolve at the Mandatory Settlement Conference, we take it to trial. A successful 132a petition can result in reinstatement to your former position, back pay for the entire period of wrongful termination, costs and attorney fees, and a penalty of up to $10,000. You pay no fee unless we recover on your behalf.
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