• 07
  • May
    2011

Employees have the right to voice their concerns to their bosses. If they are being forced to work in unsafe conditions, their employers need to know. If they are being harassed or discriminated against, their employers need to know. Employers need to know about the details of their employees' working conditions to help ensure their employees are treated correctly.

Unfortunately, there are some employers in California who want to know about their employees' concerns for other reasons. Some employers retaliate against employees who speak up, and employees may be wrongfully terminated.

If you have seen ABC's soap opera "Desperate Housewives," you may remember the character Edie and her untimely death in the middle of season five.

People who regularly watched the show may have dismissed the character's fatal car accident as plot advancement. However, Nicollette Sheridan, the woman who played Edie, is claiming her character was killed because she got in a fight with the producer of the show. Sheridan claims her character was killed in retaliation.

The accusation of wrongful termination is not the only complaint in Sheridan's lawsuit. Sheridan also claimed that the show's producer sexually harassed her, and that he hit her during a fight. Although the judge dismissed Sheridan's claims of sexual harassment and assault, the judge said her wrongful termination and retaliation claims will be heard in front of a jury. Sheridan is satisfied with that decision and said she is happy she is finally being treated well.

The show's producer claims that the decision to cut Edie from the show was made months before the two got in a fight. It is also unlikely that finances were the cause of the character's death, as Sheridan was still under contract to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the remainder of the season.

Source: The New York Times, "Sheridan's Suit Against 'Desperate Housewives' Can Go to Trial, Judge Says," Dave Itzkoff