Share your story
Committee staff ask one question
Who does this actually affect? That is the question every small bill has to answer, and anonymous stories are how it gets answered. You do not need a dramatic story. "I could not open the agreement I signed" is exactly the story that matters.
What a story can and cannot tell you
A story is one person's account of what happened to them, told as they remember it. It can tell you what a process felt like from inside. Its practical use is that it shows you what to check in your own paperwork, which questions to ask, and which deadlines to count for yourself.
It cannot tell you how common anything is. One story is not a rate, a pattern of stories is not proof that a practice is widespread, and no story on this site is evidence that any company or person acted unlawfully. Read the pattern, not the verdict, and then check your own documents, which are the only ones that decide your case.
How we handle what you write
- Nothing is published automatically. Everything is reviewed first.
- We remove names. Yours, your manager's, your coworkers'.
- We never name a company. Not in published material, not in testimony, not anywhere. If you name one, we remove it.
- You decide whether it is used at all. There is a box below.
- Email is optional. Leave it blank and the story is fully anonymous.
Before you write
If you signed a separation agreement, it may contain confidentiality terms. California law protects your right to discuss unlawful conduct, and Government Code 12964.5 requires agreements to say so, but the safest approach is to describe the process rather than the specific terms of your settlement. What this campaign needs is what happened to the paperwork, not what you were paid.
What is most useful
Short and specific beats long and general. For example:
- Could you open your signed agreement a month later? Six months later?
- Did you get a copy without asking, or did you have to ask?
- Did the agreement change after you first saw it? Were the changes identified?
- How much time were you actually given to decide?
- What did you need the document for later, and could you get to it?
Also worth doing
A story helps a committee. A short message to your own legislator helps get the bill introduced in the first place. Both take about four minutes.