Every employee in California deserves to work in a safe environment. No job is worth risking one's safety or health.
If an employee believes their working environment is unsafe, the employee should immediately report the unsafe working condition to their employer. If possible, the employee should make this complaint in writing.
Note: An employee does not need to identify the specific health safety statute or regulation that the employer is violating. Rather, it is sufficient for the employee to report what they believe to be in good faith, an unsafe or unhealthy, working environment.
After an employee reports what they perceive to be an unsafe working condition, the employee is thereafter protected by California law from being retaliated against.
California Labor Code Section 6310 states:
(a) No person shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee because the employee has done any of the following:
(1) Made any oral or written complaint to the [Cal/OSHA], other governmental agencies having statutory responsibility for or assisting the [Cal/OSHA], his or her employer, or his or her representative.
(2) Instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or relating to his or her rights or has testified or is about to testify in the proceeding or because of the exercise by the employee on behalf of himself, herself, or others of any rights afforded him or her.
(3) Participated in an occupational health and safety committee established pursuant to Section 6401.7.
(b) Any employee who is discharged, threatened with discharge, demoted, suspended, or in any other manner discriminated against in the terms and conditions of employment by his or her employer because the employee has made a bona fide oral or written complaint to the division, other governmental agencies having statutory responsibility for or assisting the division with reference to employee safety or health, his or her employer, or his or her representative, of unsafe working conditions, or work practices, in his or her employment or place of employment, or has participated in an employer-employee occupational health and safety committee, shall be entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by the acts of the employer. Any employer who willfully refuses to rehire, promote, or otherwise restore an employee or former employee who has been determined to be eligible for rehiring or promotion by a grievance procedure, arbitration, or hearing authorized by law, is guilty of a misdemeanor…
Additionally, California law protects employees from retaliation if they refuse to perform work which they believe would violate an occupational health or safety standard or a safety order of Cal/OSHA and would create a hazard to the employee and/or their colleagues.
California Labor Code Section 6311 states:
No employee shall be laid off or discharged for refusing to perform work in the performance of which this code, including Section 6400, any occupational safety or health standard or any safety order of the division or standards board will be violated, where the violation would create a real and apparent hazard to the employee or his or her fellow employees. Any employee who is laid off or discharged in violation of this section or is otherwise not paid because he or she refused to perform work in the performance of which this code, any occupational safety or health standard or any safety order of the division or standards board will be violated and where the violation would create a real and apparent hazard to the employee or his or her fellow employees shall have a right of action for wages for the time the employee is without work as a result of the layoff or discharge.
What Constitutes Retaliation Against an Employee?
Possible acts of retaliation against an employee include, but are not limited to, terminating an employee's employment, demoting an employee, assigning an employee to less favorable work shifts, giving an employee a poor performance review, and refusing to promote an employee.
Summary
To summarize, the California Labor Code explicitly prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who: (1) make oral or written complaints regarding employee safety or health to government agencies, their employer or their representative; (2) institute or testify in safety or health-related proceedings; or (3) refuse to perform work in an unsafe or unhealthy environment that creates a real or apparent hazard to the employee or the employee's co-workers.
If an employee believes they are working in an unsafe working environment, an employee should complain, in writing, to their employer about their safety concerns.