Good Evening -

How long has she worked for this principal?

Does she believe she is being discriminated against on some basis?

And can you clarify - are you in Washington state, or the District of Columbia?

Hi, are you still there?

Okay, thanks for the additional information

Washington State?

Okay, she's got two issues here:

Discrimination, and workers' compensation.

Here's a discussion I have developed about Washington employment law that I have developed while working for JustAnswer:

Washington is an employment-at-will state. That means that any employer can take an adverse action, including treatment that may not be the same as other employees, against an employee at any time for any reason that is not against the law or discriminatory.

An adverse employment decision that is against the law would be, for example, terminating an employee in retaliation because the employee filed an OSHA complaint.

A discriminatory reason would be one based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy or age. Here is an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission publication explaining illegal discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html. Washington also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

There are exceptions to employment-at will. Those are:

1. An employment contract. In Washington, an employment contract does not necessarily have to be in writing. It may be implied by the actions of the employer, or what the employer says.An employment manual that states employment is not at will, or that certain procedures must be followed to terminate an employee.

1. A union agreement.

1. In Washington, an employee may not be terminated for reasons in violation of Washington’s public policy – such as termination for pregnancy.

1. There may be additional exceptions that apply to public employees, such as police officers and employees of government agencies.

A “hostile work environment” is related to the issue of discrimination and retaliation. A “hostile work environment” arises when an employee is harassed in the workplace because they are in a protected class, or in retaliation for filing a complaint. A prime example of a hostile work environment is in the movie North Country, where a woman working in a mine was subjected to sexual taunts and assaults because she was a woman. (A “hostile work environment” does not happen just because a workplace is awful to work in, or an employer is unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious – the bad treatment has to happen because of discrimination or retaliation.)

If the adverse employment action was discriminatory, here is a link to the EEOC website for more information: http://www.eeoc.gov/ explaining discrimination. Washington discrimination complaints are made to the Washington State Human Rights Commission (http://www.hum.wa.gov/) Your complaint must be filed within six months of the discrimination!

If the adverse employment action might have been retaliatory, contact the agency where the Complaint was filed and ask for assistance.

If the adverse employment action was wrongful but not discriminatory, a government agency cannot help, but an attorney may be able to help. www.findlaw.com is a good resource. If the adverse employment action violated a Union agreement, you need to work with your Union representative first.

Now, let's talk about the Workers' compensation issues

Here is a link to the State of Washington Department of Labor and Industries:

http://www.lni.wa.gov/

This is the workers' compensation agency for the State

Here is a link to file a complaint: http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/claims/

Yes!

With which entity?

Ah, Washington State, you mean . . .

Actually, she could even request a workers' compensation claim form from her employer rather than going directly to the State

What will happen is that an injury report will be taken

And she will be sent to doctor(s) to evaluate her injury

She may be given time off

And possibly, some compensation

But keep in mind that stress claims will involve mental examinations

Which can be pretty intrusive

I believe you will be sent a copy of the transcript once this is closed out.

If not, you will be able to access it again with the link, and you can block and copy - it's ALT + F4 and highlight the text on my computer

My guess, btw, is the the Human Rights Commission is a good place to start

Okay, difficult question - a usual employment law intake is about an hour, and really detailed

I can tell you that employment law litigation is usually extremely stressful for the employee

but equally so for the people who are accused of the discrimination

I can also tell you that as stressful as it is, a lot of times, things don't change without pursuing a discrimination complaint

rtYou are very welcome!