Glendale

Located in the San Fernando Valley, Glendale’s population as of the 2020 Census was 196,543, which was an increase from the 2010 census, spread out over 30.6 square miles. The city was a sundown town until the 1960s. In subsequent years, the city grew more ethnically diverse. Between 2009–2013, the city’s median household income was $53,020. Major employers or close by to Glendale include ABC7, IHOP, Baxter BioScience, Dreamworks Animation, The Walt Disney Company, and Avery Dennison. Whether you have been discriminated against or been the victim of your employer’s wage theft, it is imperative to call the seasoned Glendale employment attorneys of the Calderone Law Firm. Our principal Vincent Calderone has decades of experience representing workers in litigation.

Our firm represents clients who have faced discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower issues, and disability and family leave litigation, as well as wage and hour, overtime, and meal and rest break matters. Federal, state, and local laws may govern your particular case. Sometimes legal violations are inadvertent, but there are situations in which companies commit egregious acts in the name of profits.

If you’re not sure whether the way you’ve been treated on the job is fair, you should talk to a lawyer. Among the many issues we’ll consider during a consultation is your employment status and how you are classified under the law. The potential classifications are exempt employee, nonexempt employee, independent contractor and temporary worker. Your employer is not able to classify you simply according to its preferences or what would be good for the company’s bottom line. Rather, under federal and state law, employment is a legal question; employees receive special protections with regard to wage, discrimination, and leave among other matters.

Discrimination occurs in a workplace when an employer takes adverse employment actions against an employee due to a protected characteristic. Federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. If you were mistreated on the job because of your race, color gender, national origin, religion disability, or age over 40, you may have grounds to sue for damages in federal court. Our lawyers would first need to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). There is a limited window within which to do this and typically these laws apply only to midsize or large companies.

The California Fair Employment Housing Act (FEHA) provides stronger and broader protections in many situations. The law protects more characteristics than do federal antidiscrimination laws; protected characteristics include marital status, family leave, ancestry, medical conditions, and pregnancy disability leave. FEHA also covers more employees. It applies not only to large corporations but also to small companies that have at least 5 employees.

Often wage theft is inadvertent. A company may, in good faith, misclassify a worker as an independent contractor, and then fail to pay them minimum wage or trips, fail to pay their commissions, or fail to pay them for time worked off the clock. Companies may misclassify an employee as exempt, even though they are nonexempt, and therefore fail to obtain workers’ compensation coverage or provide them with overtime pay.

If you were the victim of wage theft, you should call our seasoned Glendale lawyers. We may be able to sue to recover damages. When the amount of money lost is small, but there is a group of fellow employees who also experienced wage theft, it may be appropriate to bring a class action lawsuit.

You may find it challenging to go up against your employer in court. In most cases, employers have significantly more power than their employees and employees rightly fear the company’s retaliation. Legal representation matters and evens the playing field. Contact the experienced Glendale lawyers of Calderone Law Firm by completing our online form or calling us at (424) 348-8290.