West Hollywood

As of 2020, West Hollywood is a city with a population of 35,757. Located in Los Angeles County, California, it is known for its Sunset Strip, which features numerous trendy nightlife venues. The city is also home to Technicolor, Ticketmaster, Viceroy Hotel Group, Allied Wallet, the Trevor Project, the Universal Life Church, Intralink, Kapital Entertainment, Millarworld, Appian Way Productions, and Fortis Films, among other companies. Workplaces in West Hollywood, like workplaces in other cities, can be sites of discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, or wage and hour violations. If you are fighting with your employer about any of these matters, it’s important to call the seasoned West Hollywood employment attorneys of Calderone Law Firm. Our founder, Vincent Calderone, has more than two decades of experience litigating employment lawsuits and can put his insights to work for you. 

If you are a nonexempt employee like a secretary or server, you are protected by various federal, state, and local laws that cover wage and hour matters such as minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest breaks, uniforms, and equipment. In West Hollywood, the minimum wage is higher than it is in many other parts of the state. The citywide minimum wage for non-hotel employees is $19.65 from January 2025-December 31, 2025. For hotel employees, from July 1, 2025, minimum wage will increase from $19.61 to $20.22, and this wage will be in effect until June 30, 2026. The damages in a wage and hour lawsuit can be relatively small; as an individual worker, it may not seem worth pursuing a claim for wage theft. However, in some cases, an employer fails to follow wage and hour laws with regard to multiple employees, and then it can be appropriate to pursue damages in a plaintiff’s class action lawsuit against the employer. 

Whistleblowers play an important role in our society. These are workers who report their employer’s illegal conduct and legal or regulatory violations to an authority figure in the workplace or an official body or testify in an investigation related to a violation. The law recognizes that often workers are the only people in a position to know their employers are breaking the law. Accordingly, whistleblowers receive special protection against their employer’s retaliation against them when they report illegal behavior or misconduct in good faith. Multiple laws cover whistleblowers but the broadest is California Labor Code 1102.5. You may be protected under this law, for instance, if you report your employer for submitting a false claim to the government (there are also laws that cover false claims specifically, such as the California False Claims Act and the federal False Claims Act).

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), you are protected against workplace discrimination if you work for a company that has at least five employees. In contrast, you are only protected under federal antidiscrimination laws if you work for a midsize or large company. Workplace discrimination exists when an employer takes an adverse employment action against an employee based on a characteristic or trait that’s protected under the law. Protected characteristics under FEHA include color, race, religion, creed, disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, gender expression, military or veteran status, and marital status. Damages you may be able to recover if our attorneys are able to establish that you were harmed by workplace discrimination as defined under FEHA include actual damages such as back pay and front pay, compensatory damages for pain and suffering and embarrassment, punitive damages when an employer’s conduct was egregious, attorneys’ fees, and costs. 

You may be nervous, and rightly so, about entering into a formal dispute with your employer. If you are experiencing problems with your employer that are related to your wages, discrimination, or whistleblowing, call the seasoned West Hollywood employment attorneys of Calderone Law Firm to discuss your legal options. Please contact us online or call us at (424) 348-8290.