Hermosa Beach

Located in Southern California, Hermosa Beach is a popular beachfront city with an area of 1.4 square miles that stretch 40 blocks north to south. It has a population of 19,506. City residents have a median household income of $101,655. Hermosa Beach employers must abide by federal, state, and local laws. If you were subject to legal violations in the workplace, you should give the experienced Hermosa Beach employment lawyers of the Calderone Law Firm a call. Our tenacious founder Vincent Calderone brings more than 20 years of experience to clients’ cases.

Employers in Hermosa Beach must adhere to federal, state, and local employment laws that govern everything from wage and hour to employment discrimination, from rest breaks to whistleblowing. Companies that fail to abide by these complex rules may be held accountable in claims filed with governmental agencies or lawsuits for damages. Generally, wage claims initiate the process to collect on unpaid wages of benefits. If you are an employee who was discriminated against based on a protected characteristic, it may be appropriate to file a claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). There are also situations in which a lawsuit must be filed right away.

Your employer may not be forthcoming about evidence that supports your employment law case, which is why it is crucial to have legal representation. It is crucial to talk to a knowledgeable employment law attorney about whether you have a claim.

Wage and hour claims exist when an employee accuses an employer of withholding their wages or paying improper wages while they were on the job. Current or former employees may claim wage theft for various reasons. For example, you may have a wage and hour claim if your employer failed to pay you minimum wage. Similarly, employers must provide paid 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours they worked and can receive an unpaid meal break of 30 minutes after working at least five hours. If you work more than 10 hours as a nonexempt employee, you’re entitled to a second unpaid meal break of 30 minutes. Your employer may be accountable for a penalty of one hour of pay at your regular rate for every workday in which you were not given a meal break.

Employment discrimination occurs when a job applicant or employee is treated adversely by an employer because of a characteristic protected under federal or state antidiscrimination laws. Some of the major workplace anti-discrimination laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In most cases, federal laws are focused on protecting employees of larger companies; for instance, Title VII provides protection in workplaces that have at least 15 employees.

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) is the state law that prohibits workplace discrimination against job applicants and employees in Hermosa Beach. Protected characteristics include color, race, national origin, ancestry, religious creed, mental disability, physical disability, gender, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and veteran or military status. Job discrimination under state law may include failure to hire, termination, failure to promote, disparate pay, and other adverse actions taken because of an employee’s protected characteristic. FEHA is applicable to private employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations.

FEHA also prohibits harassment based on a protected characteristic, no matter the size of the workplace. For example, if you are a secretary whose boss touched you inappropriately, you may have a claim for sexual harassment. For another example, if your coworkers banded together to taunt you about your accent because you are Middle Eastern, you may have a claim for harassment based on national origin.

If your employer failed to pay you according to wage and hour laws or discriminated against you in when paying you, or perpetrated employment discrimination, you should call our experienced Hermosa Beach employment lawyers. The Calderone Law Firm is a pre-eminent Southern California employment law firm. Contact us online or call us at (424) 348-8290.