California Discrimination Lawyers
Helping Clients Seek Justice and Recover from Workplace Discrimination
No one should have to endure discrimination in the workplace. This includes bullying, denial of benefits, wrongful termination, or being denied during the hiring process. If you have suffered employment discrimination for gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, pregnancy, or any other protected reason, you may be eligible for an employment discrimination claim.
Discrimination claims are complicated. Proving unlawful discrimination can be difficult without an attorney by your side. If you have experienced discrimination in the workplace, you need a California discrimination lawyer to help get you the results you deserve. Our legal team is highly familiar with state and federal laws, making us excellent allies in your workplace discrimination claim. We also handle Spanish calls and consultations and can support your case in Spanish every step of the way. Call 818-230-7502 today for excellent counsel and representation regarding your employment law issue.
Who Is Protected from Discrimination in California?
Federal anti-discrimination laws, as well as the laws of California, provide protection for people based on many different factors. The protections initially focused on race and color and expanded to other well-known factors such as religion, sex, and national origin. Since those early days, laws prohibiting workplace discrimination have expanded to include additional protected classes of individuals. A knowledgeable California discrimination lawyer can now help workers who have faced discrimination based on a wide array of factors.
Age Discrimination
In our youth-oriented society, employers often make false assumptions about older employees and discriminate against them in actions involving hiring, termination, promotion, education, and other opportunities. The impact of this type of discrimination can have considerably significant and complex long-term consequences than some other forms of discrimination. When discriminatory actions against older workers violate federal and state laws, the team at Justice Law Corporation may retain expert witnesses who can testify to the extent of harm suffered by older workers, including damage to earning capacity and other factors.
The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits employment discrimination against workers over the age of 40. This includes paying older employees reduced wages to encourage them to leave employment. The law also does not allow employers to comply with the law by reducing all workers’ wages to the lower level paid to older employees.
This law applies to most employers who retain 20 or more employees for a certain percentage of the year. In addition, other federal laws also provide protections for older workers.
In California, older workers are also protected by California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). This law prohibits a range of discriminatory actions against older workers. The provisions of this law apply to all public employers and most private employers if they retain five or more employees.
Discrimination Based on Race, the Color of Your Skin, or Your National Origin
Despite over a century of legislation to protect people on the basis of race, we see racial discrimination continuing to occur far too often in the workplace. Employers may take discriminatory actions against certain employees or allow harassment from supervisors or co-workers to create a hostile work environment because of the race or ethnicity of those employees, or just because of the way they look. In addition to the economic losses endured by workers facing this type of discrimination, they also suffer emotional anguish that can haunt them far into the future.
California’s FEHA prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or ancestry. At the national level, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate against an employee because of their race, color, or national origin. Employers cannot treat their workers unfavorably because of these characteristics or because they have been associated with or are married to someone of a particular race, color, or national origin. A California discrimination lawyer at Justice Law Corporation can assess an employee’s individual situation to determine whether it would be most effective to bring a claim under federal or state laws to gain optimum relief.
Discrimination Based on Disability, Medical Conditions, or Genetic Information
A worker’s health often suffers due to factors beyond their control. It is not fair to allow employers to deny rights to employees because of medical conditions or disabilities, or because their genetic markers show they are at an increased risk of an inherited disorder. State and federal laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of physical disability, mental disability, medical conditions, or genetic information.
Applicable federal laws include the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is essential to comprehend how each of these laws defines a protected factor, the requirements imposed on employers by each law, and the exceptions employers are permitted to invoke in specific situations. In many cases, employers are required to make accommodations to enable an individual with disabilities to function in the work environment and when they fail to do so, employees are entitled to seek remedies.
California law provisions safeguarding workers on the basis of these protected factors are found primarily in FEHA. This law has general prohibitions against discrimination based on physical disability, mental disability, reproductive health decision-making, medical condition, or genetic information. The law does allow employers to refuse to hire or to discharge an employee if their medical condition prevents them from performing essential duties safely. However, employers sometimes use the exceptions to the requirements as justification for unnecessary discrimination, and our team can call attention to this misuse of the law and seek fair compensation for workers who have suffered as a result.
Religious Discrimination
Workers in California often experience discrimination in the workplace due to their religious beliefs and practices or because they refuse to follow religious practices promoted by their employers. California’s FEHA prohibits discrimination on the basis of “religious creed,” and the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating because of a worker’s religion.
Employers may be required to provide accommodations for certain religious beliefs. For instance, an employer should not terminate an employee because they asked for time off work to observe religious holidays.
Discrimination on the Basis of Gender, Sexual Orientation, or Gender Identity
In California, the state’s FEHA specifies that employers may not discriminate against employees based on their sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. In addition, the Transgender Work Opportunity Act, officially known as Senate Bill 396, adds further protections for transgender individuals in the workplace.
Statutes at the federal level are less comprehensive with respect to protection for some of these protected factors. The Supreme Court extended anti-discrimination provisions of Title VII to cover sexual orientation and gender identity, but a California discrimination lawyer might find it advisable to proceed with a claim under state law when discrimination is based on a factor such as gender expression.
Parental and Marital Discrimination
Employers often perceive employees with children or spousal connections to be less dedicated or to have the potential to cause problems purely on the basis of their family relations. For that reason, federal and state laws prohibit employers from taking certain discriminatory actions based on marital status, pregnancy, reproductive health decisions, and parental status.
For example, the California Family Rights Act and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act prevent employers from terminating an employee for taking family leave to care for a child who is ill or to bond with a new child. California provisions also require employers to provide leave when an employee needs time off due to circumstances such as family violence or reproductive loss. If an employer tries to retaliate against a worker who exercises their rights under these or other laws, then an employment discrimination lawyer at Justice Law Corporation can fight for compensation and other remedies.
How Do You File a Discrimination Claim?
Filing discrimination claims can be overwhelming, especially if you worry about your employer retaliating against you. Your legal rights include protection against retaliation, so your employer cannot reduce your pay, deny benefits, pursue an adverse employment action, or terminate your employment following a workplace discrimination claim. There are several steps when bringing workplace discrimination claims, including:
- Speaking with an employment lawyer about your experience
- Filing a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or filing a right to sue letter with your state
- Seeking a lawsuit to pursue justice with the help of knowledgeable attorneys
You deserve to have your voice heard and your legal rights protected. At Justice Law Corporation, we protect workers who are unfairly treated for many reasons. We will stand by your side throughout the legal process to handle the details so you can focus on providing for your family.
How Can a Lawyer Help Me Win My Discrimination Case?
If you experience discrimination, we can help you fight back. By speaking up and seeking justice, you can find peace of mind and prevent other employees from suffering in a similar way. One of the best ways to achieve a successful claim is by hiring an employment lawyer. Your attorney will investigate to uncover evidence of workplace discrimination and determine how this illegal activity has affected you. They can work to recover lost wages and damages for pain and suffering as a result of workplace discrimination. A lawyer can also advise you on how various state and federal laws impact your case. At our law firm, we operate under a contingency fee arrangement, so you don’t owe us anything until we win. Call now for peace of mind about taking legal action for your discrimination case.
FAQs About Workplace Discrimination in California
With so many different laws addressing workplace discrimination, it can be hard for employees to understand their rights and how to enforce those rights, so we receive a wide variety of questions about discrimination claims. The answers often depend on the specific circumstances of a case, so we can’t provide a complete answer without knowing the details. But here are some overall answers to questions we receive most frequently.
What Actions Are Considered to Be Unlawful Discrimination?
While an employer may illegally discriminate against an employee by doing something obvious, such as terminating employment, many times, discrimination is often much more subtle. It may involve giving preferential treatment to employees of one race but denying the same treatment to workers of other races. It could involve allowing employees to make frequent jokes about an employee’s ethnic background, sex, or gender expression.
Or an employer might deny a promotion to an employee solely because the employee exercised their rights to take family leave, file an EEOC complaint, or cooperate with a wage and hour investigation. That type of discrimination is often described as illegal retaliation.
Essentially, any time an employer treats an employee differently and that treatment has a negative impact, it can be considered discriminatory. When discrimination is based on an illegal factor, it becomes illegal.
What is Illegal Harassment in the Workplace?
Harassment is a form of illegal discrimination. It involves unwelcome conduct that is based on a protected factor such as gender, race, age, or religion. That conduct could include threats of violence or acts of physical assault or requests for sexual favors. But often harassment occurs in the form of “jokes” targeted at those of a protected class.
Someone might post offensive cartoons or provocative images. Or supervisors or co-workers might call someone by a derogatory nickname. If an employer allows this type of conduct to occur without taking adequate steps to stop it, then the employer is allowing a hostile work environment to exist. A California discrimination lawyer at Justice Law Corporation could help the targeted employee recover compensation and other remedies.
Can an Employee Be Fired for Accusing Their Employer of Discrimination?
The answer is an emphatic “no.” Employers are prohibited from terminating employment if an employee files a complaint alleging any wrongdoing, including violations of anti-discrimination provisions. Not only are employers prohibited from this type of retaliation, but they are also not allowed to take any negative actions motivated purely by retaliation for an employee reporting suspected wrongdoing.
When Is it Time to Consult an Employment Discrimination Lawyer in California?
If you suspect that you are being treated differently because of a protected factor, such as race, or that you are experiencing negative treatment because you have attempted to exercise your rights under the law, it is advisable to consult with an employment discrimination lawyer as soon as possible. An experienced legal advisor can help you collect evidence to support your claim for relief, and you usually need to act quickly to secure evidence while it is still available.
How Much Does It Cost to Talk to a California Discrimination Lawyer?
At Justice Law Corporation, you can talk to a lawyer who can explain California employment discrimination laws for free with no obligation. Just contact us to set up a consultation. If you decide you want to work with our team, our fee will be deducted from the amounts we recover from your claim, so you’ll never have to pay us out of pocket.
Should You Hire Our Discrimination Lawyers in California?
Victims of discrimination based on protected classes deserve to be heard and defended. When you hire an experienced lawyer at our law firm, you can rest assured that we will act aggressively in your best interest at every step of the way. We will fight to recover lost wages, punitive damages, and other compensation for the suffering you’ve gone through.
Our team of lawyers has extensive experience fighting for female workers, members of the LGBTQ+ community, victims of discrimination based on national origin, and other protected classes. We are also equipped to handle related employment cases such as family leave violations, meal and rest break issues, and wage and hour disputes. We are prepared to handle your case no matter what obstacles you’re facing. We will listen compassionately to your story and help you understand your legal options.
Please don’t go it alone when seeking justice following an experience with discrimination in the workplace. You deserve the best help when it comes to recovering damages for your suffering. Reach out to our caring, capable legal team today by calling 818-230-7502. We offer a free consultation, so you have nothing to lose by calling today. También ofrecemos servicios en español.