Need help now?EmergencyCall 911Crisis supportCall 988 Text 988Local servicesCall 211Checked October 22, 2026
Need help now?Urgent contacts
EmergencyCall 911Crisis supportCall 988 Text 988Local servicesCall 211Checked October 22, 2026
Do Not Lose Hope

Home / Work and income / Work Hub

What you can do if your boss hurts, traps or lies to you

No job gives your boss the right to hit you, lock you in, take your papers, or lie to get you to work. These are serious wrongs under California law, and some are crimes. Here is how to stay safe, what the law calls each one, and where to get help.

Where this applies
California law, plus federal immigration protections for crime survivors. National hotline and Bay Area help listed.
Facts checked
Who it’s for

Workers in California, with or without papers, who were hit, threatened, held, or tricked into a job by an employer or supervisor. Also for family, friends and helpers who suspect someone is being held or controlled at work.

On this page

Take the next step

This page is general information, not legal advice. DNLH is not a crisis line or a lawyer. If you are unsafe at home as well as at work, see Survivor help.

We know this is frightening. You did nothing to deserve it. Help exists, and many people in your situation have found a way out.

Am I safe right now?

If someone is hurting you, threatening you, or stopping you from leaving, call 911. You can ask for an interpreter.

If you are not in immediate danger but feel trapped or controlled at work, you can call or text the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 (TTY 711), or text 233733. It is open 24 hours a day, every day, is confidential, and helps in English, Spanish and more than 200 other languages (National Human Trafficking Hotline). You can ask for help without giving your name.

If you are thinking about suicide or are in emotional crisis, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. It is free, confidential, and open 24/7 (988 Lifeline).

My boss hit me or threatened to

In a California civil case, assault means someone acted to cause a harmful or offensive touching, or threatened one, and you reasonably believed it was about to happen, even if they never touched you. Words alone are not assault (CACI 1301). Battery means someone touched you, or caused you to be touched, meaning to harm or offend you, without your consent (CACI 1300). A slap, shove or punch from a manager can be battery.

What you can do:

  1. Get safe and get medical care. Tell the clinic or hospital it happened at work.
  2. Report it to the police if you want to. You decide. A police report can matter for some immigration options (see below).
  3. Report the injury to your employer in writing and ask for a workers' compensation claim form. Your employer must give or mail you one within one working day after learning of the injury (Division of Workers' Compensation). Workers' comp covers workers whatever their immigration status (Labor Code 3351). See Hurt at work: workers' comp.
  4. Consider a lawsuit. Usually workers' comp is the only way to get money from your employer for a work injury. But there is an exception when the injury was caused by a willful physical assault by the employer (Labor Code 3602). Then you may be able to sue. The deadline for an assault or battery lawsuit is generally two years (CCP 335.1).

If a coworker or customer hurt you, your employer may also have a duty to protect workers. California requires most employers to have a written workplace violence prevention plan. See How to report unsafe conditions at work.

My boss will not let me leave

False imprisonment is the unlawful violation of another person's personal liberty (Penal Code 236). At work it can look like being locked in a room, having someone block the door, or being told you will be hurt, or your things will be harmed, if you leave. It does not have to be physical force.

Human trafficking is more. Under California law, it is a crime to take away someone's personal liberty to get forced labor or services (Penal Code 236.1). Forced labor means work obtained or kept through force, fraud, duress or coercion. The law counts things like:

  • Threats of serious harm if you do not keep working
  • Debts you are told you must work off and can never pay down
  • Abuse or threats of the legal system, like threats to call immigration
  • Taking, hiding or destroying your passport or immigration papers

You do not have to be locked up for it to be trafficking. If your boss holds your papers, controls where you live and go, or says you owe a debt you cannot leave, call the trafficking hotline or a legal clinic.

Getting money back. A trafficking survivor can sue for actual damages, up to three times actual damages or $10,000 (whichever is more), punitive damages, and lawyer's fees. The deadline is generally seven years from the day the person was freed, or 10 years after turning 18 if they were a minor. The deadline can pause in some situations, such as when threats kept the person from suing (Civil Code 52.5).

I was tricked into this job

Lies to get you to take a job can be against the law.

  • Moving for a job. No one may persuade you to move to, from or within California for work by knowingly lying about the kind of work, how long it will last, the pay, the housing, or whether there is a strike (Labor Code 970). If they do, you can sue for double damages (Labor Code 972).
  • Other job lies. A false promise about pay, bonuses, job security or safety, made to get you to act, can be fraud. To win, you generally must show the employer stated something as fact that was false, knew it was false or did not care whether it was true, meant for you to rely on it, you reasonably did, and that caused you harm (CACI 1900). The deadline for fraud is generally three years, counted from when you discovered it (CCP 338).
  • Unpaid promised wages. If you were promised a rate and paid less, you may also have a wage claim.

Keep every ad, text, message and contract about the job offer. Screenshots of social media posts and recruiter messages help.

Can this help my immigration case?

Possibly. Some crimes at work can open a path to protection.

Talk to a nonprofit immigration lawyer or DOJ accredited representative before you file anything with immigration. Every case is different.

Threats about immigration are illegal too. In California, an employer may not threaten to report you to immigration because you used a work right. A new law scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027, will also bar using your perceived status in a way that would scare you out of using a right, up to $10,000 per worker per violation (AB 2495, Chapter 748, Statutes of 2026). See If your boss threatens to call immigration.

What should I do next?

  1. Safety first. Leave if you can do so safely. Keep your phone charged and a trusted person's number memorized.
  2. Get care. See a doctor or clinic. Ask for copies of records.
  3. Write it down. Date, time, place, what was said and done, who saw it. Use your own phone or paper.
  4. Keep proof. Photos of injuries, messages, the job ad, pay records, names of witnesses.
  5. Get free advice. A workers' rights clinic for the job issues, and an immigration nonprofit for status questions.
  6. Watch deadlines. Some are as short as two years. Do not wait.

Who can help?

These are public offices, hotlines and nonprofit clinics. Contact them to confirm hours, languages and openings. Being listed here is not a referral or a promise of service.

Questions people ask

My boss yelled and screamed but never touched me. Is that assault? Words alone are not assault. A raised fist or a threat you reasonably believed was about to happen can be. Constant abuse may also be harassment. See What counts as illegal discrimination or harassment.

My boss keeps my passport "for safekeeping." Is that allowed? Holding someone's passport or immigration papers to keep them working is listed as duress in California's trafficking law. Ask for your papers back. If you are refused, call the trafficking hotline or a legal clinic.

Will calling the police get me deported? We cannot promise how any agency will act. California law limits how state and local police help with immigration enforcement, but it does not bind federal agents. Talk to an immigration nonprofit if you are worried, and remember that some crime survivors qualify for protection.

The recruiter who lied to me is in another country. Can I still do something? Possibly. "Fraud in foreign labor contracting" is on the U visa crime list. Talk to an immigration nonprofit.

Is there a checklist I can print?

You deserve to be safe and free at work. Take one step today.

Sources

Send this to someone

Only the page name and link go in the message. Nothing about you or your situation is added.

Printed from https://donotlosehope.com/guides/boss-hurts-traps-lies/. Facts checked October 21, 2026. Free information, not legal advice.

Need a place to turn?

Find an organization or try another starting point. You can return to this guide whenever you need it.