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✦ Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — Certified by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization ✦
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, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
In California, a Fillmore employer who fires, demotes, or otherwise punishes a worker for filing a workers' compensation claim violates Labor Code §132a, which provides reinstatement, lost wages, and a $10,000 increase in compensation. Yazdchi Law, a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law firm, prosecutes these petitions at the Oxnard WCAB. Request a free case review.
Fillmore retaliation cases cluster around the industries driving the Heritage Valley caseload. Citrus and avocado growers and their farm-labor contractors sometimes fire or refuse to rehire workers who file cumulative-trauma or heat-illness claims — a particularly acute pattern in lemon, orange, and Hass avocado harvests where the workforce is heavily Spanish-speaking and often vulnerable to immigration-status threats. Bardsdale oil-services contractors sometimes terminate workers who report workover, well-servicing, or pipeline injuries. Fillmore & Western Railway and packing-house operators sometimes retaliate through scheduling, write-ups, or refusal to accommodate. Downtown Central Avenue restaurants sometimes fire servers and line cooks who report cumulative-trauma wrist or back injuries.
California Labor Code California Labor Code §132a prohibits each of these patterns. The statute bars discrimination against a worker who files or intends to file a workers' compensation claim. Remedies include reinstatement to the pre-discrimination position, payment of all lost wages and work benefits, an increase in compensation of $10,000, and costs and expenses up to $250. The companion section California Labor Code §244 bars a Fillmore employer from threatening to use a worker's immigration status as retaliation for exercising labor rights — a critical protection for the heavily Spanish-speaking Heritage Valley ag workforce.
Yazdchi Law's office at 1125 W Avenue M-14, Suite A in Palmdale sits about 65 miles northeast of Fillmore via the 14 and Highway 126. The firm does not maintain a Fillmore satellite. Eman Yazdchi appears at the Oxnard district WCAB on §132a retaliation petitions and is a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California.
A Fillmore §132a retaliation claim runs on three California Labor Code sections: California Labor Code §132a (the anti-retaliation statute and remedies), California Labor Code §244 (the no-ICE-threat companion), and California Labor Code §5814 (the 25% penalty on unreasonably delayed benefits, often a parallel claim in §132a fact patterns). This page sits within our broader fired after a California workers' comp claim practice. Statute deep-dive: California Labor Code §132a (anti-retaliation).
Under California Labor Code §132a, a Fillmore employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, or in any manner discriminate against a worker because the worker filed or intends to file a workers' compensation claim, received a rating or award, or testified in any workers' compensation proceeding. Typical Fillmore §132a fact patterns include refusal-to-rehire on a farm-labor-contractor citrus or avocado seasonal rotation after a worker reported an injury, termination of a Bardsdale oil-services worker shortly after a DWC-1 filing, demotion of a packing-house lead after a return-to-work request, and punitive scheduling against a Fillmore & Western Railway maintenance worker.
Under California Labor Code §132a, a Fillmore worker who proves discrimination recovers four remedies. First, reinstatement to the pre-discrimination position. Second, payment of all lost wages and work benefits caused by the discrimination. Third, an increase in compensation of $10,000 — added to the underlying workers' comp award. Fourth, costs and expenses up to $250. The remedies are cumulative; the worker recovers all four on proof. The §132a petition is litigated at the Oxnard district WCAB, separately from the underlying workers' comp claim though typically on a parallel calendar.
Under California Labor Code §244, a Fillmore employer may not threaten to use a worker's immigration status as retaliation for exercising labor rights, including the right to file a workers' compensation claim under California Labor Code §3351. The protection applies regardless of the worker's actual immigration status. A Heritage Valley citrus or avocado grower, farm-labor contractor, Bardsdale oil-services contractor, or packing-house operator who threatens to "call ICE" or "report your status" after a worker files a §132a petition violates §244 in addition to §132a. California Labor Code §3351 confirms that California workers' compensation reaches every employee regardless of immigration status.
Under California Labor Code §5814, when a Fillmore workers' comp insurer unreasonably delays or denies a benefit, a 25% penalty attaches to that delayed benefit. On a §132a retaliation file, the §5814 penalty is often a parallel claim — when the employer or insurer froze temporary disability under California Labor Code §4653 after the §132a-protected activity, or refused to authorize treatment under California Labor Code §4600. The §5814 penalty applies per benefit unreasonably delayed, and the §132a $10,000 increase applies on top.
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Tap to call →Fillmore §132a retaliation petitions are heard at the Oxnard district office of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board at 1901 Outlet Center Drive, Suite 100 — Ventura County's only WCAB district office. Yazdchi Law regularly appears at the Oxnard WCAB on §132a petitions in Heritage Valley citrus and avocado (farm-labor-contractor refusal-to-rehire), Bardsdale oil-services, packing-house, Fillmore & Western Railway, and downtown Central Avenue hospitality matters. Related coverage: Fillmore workers' comp settlements. See also: California §3351 ag-worker coverage framework.
A successful Fillmore §132a petition is built on temporal proximity between the DWC-1 filing (or other §132a-protected activity) and the adverse employment action, plus documentary evidence of the activity-action chain — text messages, supervisor emails, write-up sequences, attendance records, scheduling sheets, and farm-labor-contractor crew lists. Anti-retaliation cases are stronger when the worker's pre-injury performance record was strong and the post-injury "discipline" was pretextual. The California Division of Workers' Compensation publishes the §132a petition form online. Related coverage: Fillmore back-injury workers' comp claims.
A Fillmore §132a petition is litigated at the WCAB, but a wrongful-termination-in-violation-of-public-policy civil claim may run in parallel in superior court for the same fact pattern. The civil claim reaches damages — emotional distress, punitive — outside the §132a $10,000 cap. The civil claim's exclusive-remedy bar under California Labor Code §3601 does not extinguish a public-policy wrongful-termination claim. Fillmore retaliation files often run on both tracks.
Last reviewed by Eman Yazdchi, Esq., May 2026.
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