“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
Filing a workers' comp claim in Santa Clarita should never cost you your job. But in the SCV's entertainment industry, where crew members rely on relationships and rehires to sustain their careers, retaliation for filing a claim often takes subtle forms. A grip who reports a back injury on a Valencia production may find that calls for future jobs stop coming. A Six Flags employee who files a claim after a fall might be terminated during a convenient "restructuring." A nurse at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital who reports a patient-handling injury could be reassigned to undesirable shifts. California Labor Code Section 132a makes all of these actions illegal, and workers who experience retaliation have the right to file a separate discrimination claim that can result in reinstatement, back pay, and penalties.
Retaliation in the entertainment industry is particularly insidious because it is difficult to detect. Film and television production workers in Santa Clarita are typically hired on a project-by-project basis. A camera operator, electrician, or set dresser builds a career through repeat bookings from production managers and department heads. When that worker files a workers' comp claim, the retaliation may not be an outright termination but simply a failure to call for the next job. The worker is effectively blacklisted without any formal adverse action.
This pattern is illegal under Labor Code Section 132a, which prohibits any discrimination against a worker because that worker filed or intended to file a workers' comp claim. The law does not require a formal termination. Any adverse action motivated by the claim constitutes discrimination, including failure to rehire, reduction in hours, demotion, reassignment to less desirable work, and informal blacklisting within the industry.
At Six Flags Magic Mountain, retaliation against seasonal workers is a persistent problem. Seasonal employees who file claims may not be invited back for the following season. The employer frames this as a routine staffing decision, but when the timing correlates with a workers' comp claim, the inference of retaliation is strong. Under Section 132a, the burden shifts to the employer to prove a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the adverse action once the worker establishes a prima facie case.
Healthcare workers at Henry Mayo face retaliation in the form of shift changes, reduced hours, hostile supervision, and pretextual disciplinary actions. A nurse who files a claim for a needlestick injury and then receives a sudden poor performance review has potential grounds for a 132a claim, particularly if their performance reviews were satisfactory before the injury report.
Labor Code Section 132a provides specific remedies for workers who are discriminated against for filing workers' comp claims. An injured worker who proves retaliation is entitled to reinstatement to their former position, reimbursement of lost wages and benefits from the date of the adverse action, a penalty of up to $10,000 payable by the employer, and costs and expenses incurred in bringing the claim.
The 132a claim is filed at the WCAB, not in civil court. For Santa Clarita workers, this means the claim is heard at the Van Nuys WCAB office, the same venue that handles the underlying workers' comp case. This is procedurally efficient because the same judge who is familiar with your injury claim can also address the retaliation issue.
In addition to the 132a remedy, California Labor Code Section 6310 prohibits retaliation against workers who report unsafe working conditions to Cal/OSHA. If you reported a safety hazard on a Santa Clarita film set, at Six Flags, or at Henry Mayo and were subsequently fired or disciplined, you may have a separate whistleblower retaliation claim. Section 6310 claims can be pursued through the Labor Commissioner's office or in civil court and can result in reinstatement, back pay, and attorney fees.
Proving retaliation requires connecting the adverse employment action to the workers' comp claim. Yazdchi Law builds retaliation cases by establishing a timeline that shows the correlation between the claim filing and the employer's adverse action. The closer in time the two events are, the stronger the inference of retaliation.
For entertainment workers in Santa Clarita, the firm gathers evidence of the worker's pre-injury hiring pattern, showing that they were regularly booked for jobs before the claim and stopped receiving offers afterward. Call sheets, payroll records, text messages, and emails from production coordinators all serve as evidence. The firm also contacts other crew members who can testify about the worker's reputation and the abruptness of the change in hiring frequency.
For Six Flags and healthcare workers, the firm subpoenas personnel records, scheduling data, and communications between supervisors to identify evidence of retaliatory motivation. Performance reviews, disciplinary records, and staffing decisions before and after the claim filing are compared to demonstrate that the employer's stated reasons for the adverse action are pretextual.
Attorney Eman Yazdchi's Palmdale office is connected to Santa Clarita by the 14 Freeway, and initial consultations for retaliation claims are free.
Injured at work in Santa Clarita? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Workers' comp retaliation cases involve the intersection of employment law and workers' compensation law, requiring knowledge of both the WCAB process and the evidentiary standards for discrimination claims. Eman Yazdchi is a Board-Certified Workers' Compensation Specialist, a distinction held by fewer than 1% of California attorneys. This certification ensures that your retaliation claim is handled by an attorney with the specialized knowledge to pursue both the underlying injury case and the 132a discrimination claim simultaneously.
Ready to discuss your case? Schedule a free consultation.
Schedule Free ConsultationRead more testimonials →“Very thankful for everything they did for us. Always responsive, reassured us every step of the way and obtained a great result.”