California Work Laws

[janglypangly]

Hey guys! I'm working at Circuit City right now, and have to put up with fucking crap. I was wondering if there are any laws prohibiting employers from talking down on you and making you feel like shit. Also, to a lesser extent, so called "mandatory" store meetings that take place at 7 AM in the saturday morning.

I hope I don't sound like a puss, I'm taking my hardest prerequisite classes for the RN program (anatomy and micro) and don't want to have any un necessary stress on my shoulders. Thanks in advance!

[GuyWithGun]

Do you get paid for the mandatory meeting?

[Socheata]

I was wondering if there are any laws prohibiting employers from talking down on you and making you feel like shit. Also, to a lesser extent, so called "mandatory" store meetings that take place at 7 AM in the saturday morning.

Mandatory store meetings at 7 in the morning isn't something you can really argue against. Unless you're NOT getting paid to attend.

As for your employer(s) talking down on you and making you feel like shit, you can always tell them to stop harrassing you (if that's how you feel). But if they keep on doing it, you can sue your employer/company for harrassment.

[ITDEFX]

Mandatory store meetings at 7 in the morning isn't something you can really argue against. Unless you're NOT getting paid to attend.

As for your employer(s) talking down on you and making you feel like shit, you can always tell them to stop harrassing you (if that's how you feel). But if they keep on doing it, you can sue your employer/company for harrassment.


its actually easier to quit and find a new job then to file a lawsuit against that employeer. Lawsuits against employeers aren't worth it unless its your career position and yes fight for it.. Also if they started saying racial remarks to you on a daily basis or make sexual advancements then hell yea sue the hell out of them.

[janglypangly]

Well yes we do get paid for meetings so I now understand that.

My manager tried to get me to do push-ups before. He even brought me into my office once, told me I was being demoted, then after saying he was kidding but it will happen if I don't shape up. That made me feel so fucking bad, seriously. How the fuck can I sell with no customers in the store? All he does is stay in TV's selling shit then brags how his numbers are high. No shit your selling merchandise that averages out to like $2,000 a unit for most customers.

[ITDEFX]

Well yes we do get paid for meetings so I now understand that.

My manager tried to get me to do push-ups before. He even brought me into my office once, told me I was being demoted, then after saying he was kidding but it will happen if I don't shape up. That made me feel so fucking bad, seriously. How the fuck can I sell with no customers in the store? All he does is stay in TV's selling shit then brags how his numbers are high. No shit your selling merchandise that averages out to like $2,000 a unit for most customers.


if I were you then, i would go to best buy (NOT CC), and buy a cheap digital recorder and batteries and start recording all this shit. Keep the recorder in your pocket and only record when you think the same shit is about to happen.. Once you gathered about a weeks worth, then take it to a lawyer.

[OntheDL]

Quit bein a bitch, just show up and do your job half assed, it's the American way.

.And you better get used to people makin fun of you if you're going to nursing school, Focker.

[ITDEFX]

Quit bein a bitch, just show up and do your job half assed, it's the American way.

.And you better get used to people makin fun of you if you're going to nursing school, Focker.


hey man did you read what the OP said? There making him do shit like push ups and threating to demote him then saying just kidding for kicks. This is really not acceptable manger/employee behavior. So are you saying that if the OP was a FEMALE employee and her manager said "show me some skin or else your demoted" that she should suck it up because its the American Way??

[Duo_Maxwell]

You basically have 3 options on the table and I highly doubt any of them involve labor laws or lawsuits.

1.) Get a job someplace else then quit (or vice versa if you can risk it).
2.) Suck it up and possibly do the job half-assed like someone else suggetsed if you feel so inclined.
3.) If you are feeling like your manager is singling you out time and again and making your work environment uncomfortable you can call the HR hotline. It's an anonymous (sp?) hotline and everyplace like CC has one, though it kinda seems that what you've been told so far wouldn't violate too many policies (maybe the push-ups thing but it probably depends on context). Either way the HR people usually do a decent job of things and it may at least scare him/her into being a better manager.

[OntheDL]

hey man did you read what the OP said? There making him do shit like push ups and threating to demote him then saying just kidding for kicks. This is really not acceptable manger/employee behavior. So are you saying that if the OP was a FEMALE employee and her manager said "show me some skin or else your demoted" that she should suck it up because its the American Way??
First off, sexual harrasment is completly different. Second, I don't even understand how this whole thing can even be a question to ask us, I mean, push-ups? Tell the dude to go fuck himself. Just like that. Look at him and say "Go fuck yourself". If he talks shit about being a manager just look at him, dead in the eye and say "You aint manager of the parking lot, bitch" Then turn around leave the office and go about your shit. If he fires you, wait by his car till he comes out and fuck 'em up.

My guess is he's pushing you around because he's one of those dudes whos glory days was during his senior year of high school and he's trying to pressure you because he's an athority figure. If you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else is gonna.

[maddfrog]

I'm not to sure about what CA labor laws are, but I actually work for Dept. of Labor Wage and Workplace Standards unit here in CT, and I get calls about that kind of stuff all the time.

I can only tell you how laws are done in CT, but here an employee can do almost anything to an employee as long as it doesn't border on harrasement or discrimination. So in your origninal post of the employer taking down and making you feel like shit , in CT, is acceptable because its a choice for you to work there. If you don't like it, you have the option of leaving and finding a better workplace. For the meetings, if the're mandatory and your getting paid, then there is nothing you can do about that.

Like I said before, thats whats acceptable under CT law, and it probably is very different, because CT is much more strict on what is acceptable and what isn't. For example, we are a hire-at-will state, which means that an employer can fire you for anything they want accept anything discriminatory. So if you walk into a business with a Red Sox hat, and the employer likes the Yankees, he can fire you on the spot for that and he's within the law.

Your next step is to look to see if the state can help you, http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/dlse.html (the website for CA Labor Standards Enforcement). See if you can call them and get their advice. That or just put in a claim against your employer.

Man, I never thought I would be discussing work here, thanks OP and good luck :)

[Sarang01]

First off, sexual harrasment is completly different. Second, I don't even understand how this whole thing can even be a question to ask us, I mean, push-ups? Tell the dude to go fuck himself. Just like that. Look at him and say "Go fuck yourself". If he talks shit about being a manager just look at him, dead in the eye and say "You aint manager of the parking lot, bitch" Then turn around leave the office and go about your shit. If he fires you, wait by his car till he comes out and fuck 'em up.

My guess is he's pushing you around because he's one of those dudes whos glory days was during his senior year of high school and he's trying to pressure you because he's an athority figure. If you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else is gonna.

I hope you're joking because if not I'm wondering how often you've been charged with Assault.

[Xevious]

There are assholes everywhere in the workplace. You just have to decide which jobs are worth fighting for and which jobs are for quitting.

I'd say a Circuit City job is worth quiting.

[RedvsBlue]

Here's some tips I learned while working at Best Buy that I would suggest for you:

1)refuse to do their stupid shit like the push ups you mentioned (for me it was "Store Games" where we competed in teams throughout the store, I walked around completely disinterested while my team did the work), once they make you their bitch, they know it and will use it. Big box retail is like prison, once one manager makes you their bitch, your ass is branded.

2)At least one day, during a shift that they really piss you off during, leave. Don't bother to tell anyone you're going, clock out if you feel it necessary (it helps to make it clear to people that you're leaving early though), and if anyone questions you just tell them its time to go home. Then just show up for your next shift like nothing happened. They may fire you, they may not, they'll almost certainly write you up but along the lines of number 1, it shows that they can't push you around.

3)Show up to their Saturday morning meetings. Yeah, it sucks but think about it like this, you're getting paid your normal wages to sit around and do nothing. Don't get excited and don't play their stupid little games, sit there and act as uninterested as possible.

4)Now this one is fun but difficult to do just right. You need to suck up to at 1 or 2 managers/supervisors while simultaneously doing whatever you want pissing off the other ones. That way, when something does happen, the ones you've sucked up to will doubt what the other mangers have to say about you and may even argue on your behalf.

Now, all this only applies if this is just a job, if its a career (which it doesn't sound like for you anyway), bend over and take it, you're already their bitch.