Q: Is it legal for (small business in ca.) employer to lay me off through text message?
I worked for a small business in Torrance, CA. For 8 yrs I was a dedicated & hard working employee. Due to Covid 19, my employer laid me and another co-worker off through a text message. I wanted to confirm if this was temporary or permanent, since he had previously told me it would be temporary, & he said it was permanent & suggested I file for unemployment. Then I found out he put my co-worker back on the schedule but not me. I got nothing in writing, no reason why I was excluded on being put back on the schedule, nothing except that text message. Is this legal?
A:
There is nothing unlawful about being laid off in a text message.
There is nothing unlawful about the employer bringing other employees back to work and not you unless you can prove the reason you were not brought back is your membership in a protected class of people or because you engaged in some kind of legally protected conduct. Absent one of these bad motives, an employer is legally allowed to treat employees differently.
Good luck to you.
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