“Eman really knows his stuff and we were very pleased with our end result.”
Myretta & Thomas Knorr
✦ 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' compensation claim is a legal right protected by California law. No employer in Pomona — whether it is a massive warehouse operation near the 10 freeway, a food processing plant along Mission Boulevard, or a small retail shop in the Downtown Arts Colony — can lawfully fire you, demote you, cut your hours, or otherwise punish you for exercising that right. Yet retaliation happens with alarming frequency, particularly in Pomona's industrial sectors where employers face financial pressure from rising insurance premiums and rely on a workforce that may not know their legal protections. If your employer retaliated against you for filing a workers' comp claim or reporting a workplace injury, Labor Code section 132a provides a powerful remedy, and our firm knows how to use it.
Section 132a makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to discriminate against a worker because they filed or intended to file a workers' compensation claim, or because they received a workers' compensation award. The statute provides for reinstatement, back pay, a penalty of up to $10,000, and reimbursement of costs and attorney fees. This is not a civil lawsuit filed in Superior Court — it is a petition filed within the workers' compensation system itself, heard at the same WCAB office that handles your injury claim. For Pomona workers, that means the Pomona WCAB District Office, where we practice regularly.
Retaliation in Pomona often takes subtle forms that the employer hopes will go unnoticed. After a warehouse worker files a claim for a back injury, the employer suddenly "eliminates" his position due to a purported restructuring. A food processing employee who reports carpal tunnel syndrome finds herself transferred to a less desirable shift or assigned the hardest tasks on the line. A manufacturing worker returns from medical leave to discover his locker has been cleared out and his replacement has already been trained. These actions may not come with a written termination letter that says "fired for filing a workers' comp claim," but the timing and circumstances create a pattern that any experienced attorney can recognize and prove.
Our lead attorney, Eman Yazdchi, is a Board-Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law. He has prosecuted 132a retaliation petitions for Pomona workers across a range of industries and understands the evidentiary standards required to establish that the employer's adverse action was motivated by the worker's exercise of their legal rights.
Proving retaliation requires more than showing that you were fired after filing a claim. We must establish a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse employment action. This involves building a timeline that shows proximity between the filing and the employer's action, identifying inconsistencies in the employer's stated reason for the termination or discipline, and gathering evidence from coworkers, supervisors, and company records. We handle this investigation thoroughly because retaliation cases can result in meaningful financial recovery beyond the standard workers' comp benefits.
We also understand that retaliation claims have a broader significance for Pomona's workforce. When employers face consequences for retaliating against injured workers, it deters other employers in the community from engaging in the same conduct. Our approach to these cases is aggressive because the stakes extend beyond our individual client to the working conditions of every employee in Pomona who might hesitate to report an injury out of fear.
Injured at work in Pomona? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →We begin with a thorough review of the timeline between your protected activity — filing a claim, reporting an injury, receiving medical treatment — and the employer's adverse action. We gather documentation including employment records, personnel files, communications, witness statements, and any evidence of the employer's stated reason for the action taken against you. We then file a Labor Code section 132a petition at the Pomona WCAB District Office, which is heard alongside or in addition to your underlying injury claim. The employer will be required to respond, and the matter will proceed through discovery and potentially to trial. If we prevail, you may be entitled to reinstatement, back pay for the entire period of your wrongful termination, costs and attorney fees, and a penalty of up to $10,000. You pay no fee for our services unless we recover on your behalf.
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