Los Angeles Employment Discrimination

Located in a basin in Southern California, Los Angeles is the largest city in the state. It’s widely known for its diversity and mild, temperate weather. The city is home to Hollywood, and therefore also home to entertainers, singers, celebrities, actors and others. As the seat of Los Angeles County, it covers 469 square miles. Notable employers in the area include the Walt Disney Company, Farmers Insurance Exchange, Molina Healthcare, Mattel, Edison International, The Cheesecake Factory, and Skechers. If you need to pursue damages due to adverse treatment by the company for which you work based upon a protected aspect of your identity or background, you should discuss your situation with the experienced Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyers of The Calderone Law Firm. It is crucial to have legal counsel when you go up against your employer, who is likely more powerful and endowed with greater resources than you. Moreover, not every instance of unfair treatment is actionable, so it is important to talk to legal counsel about the specifics of your situation.

Federal and state laws prohibit employment discrimination. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) tends to provide greater protection than federal antidiscrimination laws that are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Federal laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Generally, laws enforced by the EEOC only apply to employers that are midsize or large. For example, Title VII only applies to those employers that have at least 15 employees and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex. The ADEA applies to employers with at last 20 employees. However, in some instances, there are both federal and state grounds to sue. If we represent you, our attorneys will examine the facts to figure out the strongest strategy with which to represent you and pursue all potential avenues to recover damages on your behalf.

FEHA prohibits workplace discrimination based on:

• Race
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Color
• Religion
• Marital status
• Age when 40 or older
• National origin
• Ancestry
• Physical and mental disability
• Medical condition
• Denial of family and medical leave
• Denial of pregnancy disability leave.

You’re protected not only if you possess any of these protected characteristics, but also if you are perceived to have these characteristics. For instance, if your boss perceives you to have HIV, you are protected under the law, even if you don’t. And among other protections, your employer should reasonably accommodate you for your disability unless doing so would present an undue hardship.

FEHA prohibits employment discrimination not only on the job but also in job advertisements, screening, interviews, hiring, transferring, terminating, promoting, compensation, training, apprenticeships, and union participation. It is illegal for employers of 5 or more employees to discriminate against a job applicant or employee because she belongs to a protected category or retaliate against them because they have asserted their rights under the law.

FEHA applies to private employers, as well as public employers, employment agencies and labor organizations. For example, if you work for a Fortune 500 company and you are not promoted because you are Mormon, you may have grounds to bring a religious discrimination lawsuit under FEHA. Similarly, if you work as a temporary administrator and come out as gay to the employment agency that sends you to companies, and as a result, it no longer assigns you to companies, you might have grounds for a suit.

Under FEHA, supervisors and coworkers cannot be sued individually for discrimination. However, they can be held personally liable for prohibited harassment under FEHA. State law forbids workplace harassment based on a protected characteristic in all workplaces in the state, regardless of their size.

If you believe you were treated adversely in the workplace due to a characteristic protected by law, you should call the Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyers of the Calderone Law Firm. The knowledgeable principal of our premiere Southern California employment law firm is Vincent Calderone. He has more than two decades of experience representing clients in court. Contact us online or call us at (424) 348-8290.