Discrimination

Los Angeles Discrimination Attorney

Helping California Employees Who’ve Been the Victims of Illegal Discrimination Seek Justice and Financial Compensation

Under California law, workers have the legal right to be free from discrimination and harassment in the work environment. Despite this, California employers infringe upon the legal rights of their employees every day, sometimes giving rise to claims of unlawful discrimination. Whether you are a qualified employee or a job applicant, if you were treated unfairly because of some protected characteristic you have as a person, you may have legal options for taking action against those guilty of job discrimination. However, filing an employment discrimination claim can be complex, and many employers will retain their legal representation to defend their interests. Suppose you are seeking to prove discrimination and hold parties accountable for their acts. In that case, it is highly recommended that you seek the legal services of attorneys well-versed in California’s anti-discrimination laws.

Our legal team has extensive experience assisting clients in employment discrimination-based cases. As your legal representative, our Southern California law firm will do everything possible to help you seek justice, potential financial recovery, and other remedies in your discrimination claim.

To learn more about the legal services offered by our Los Angeles employment lawyers, please get in touch with our law office to schedule your initial consultation today.

Are Employee Rights Protected by State and Federal Law?

Several anti-discrimination laws protect workers in California from unfair treatment at the hands of their employers, supervisors, and management staff. These laws are meant to protect members of a protected class against discrimination from the companies that employ them.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against employees and job applicants based on race, skin color, religious beliefs, sex, and national origin. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 protects male and female workers with similar qualifications and responsibilities from gender-based wage discrimination. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 further prohibits job discrimination against those with a physical or mental disability in the private sector and local and state governments.

California also has its own anti-discrimination legislation. Perhaps the most prominent law related to employment discrimination is the Fair Employment and Housing Act, which protects California workers from various other types of discrimination, including age discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, veteran disability discrimination, and more. However, not all employees in California may be protected by the Fair Employment and Housing Act, as the act only applies to employers with five or more employees. If you have experienced workplace discrimination in California, an employment lawyer can help you file a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

What Are Different Examples of Workplace Discrimination?

Common examples of employment or workplace discrimination in Los Angeles, CA, include the following:

  • Allowing or encouraging a hostile work environment where racial slurs, offensive jokes, derogatory comments, and lewd acts are allowed to continue
  • Assigning less favorable responsibilities and job duties to certain employees because of their sex, race, or other protected characteristic
  • Deciding not to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities, religious practices, or health conditions
  • Denying promotions to employees because of their disability, gender identity, or other protected personal characteristics
  • Firing or demoting employees after learning they are pregnant
  • Forcing older employees into early retirement
  • Not allowing an employee to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity
  • Penalizing pregnant women for taking maternity leave
  • Prohibiting religious attire
  • Refusal to hire older candidates despite their apparent qualifications
  • Retaliation against employees who file employment discrimination claims or who report sexual harassment in the workplace
  • Showing preferential treatment in the workplace or the hiring process based on an individual’s national origin
  • Taking adverse employment action against a worker who has undergone gender transition
  • Terminating or refusing to promote workers because they are transgender, gay, lesbian, or bisexual
  • The denial of time off work for religious holidays or religious observances
  • The refusal to hire a qualified candidate for a job opening based on their race, gender expression, military status, national origin, or other protected characteristic
  • Wrongful termination or undue hardship against employees of a certain race

What Types of Employment Discrimination Claims Does Our Law Firm Represent?

Lemberg & Castro Law proudly represents California workers in many different types of workplace discrimination cases, including the following:

  • Age discrimination
  • Disability discrimination
  • Gender identity and LGBTQ discrimination
  • Marital status discrimination
  • Medical condition discrimination
  • National origin discrimination
  • Parental status discrimination
  • Pregnancy discrimination
  • Racial discrimination
  • Religious discrimination
  • Sex and gender discrimination
  • Sexual orientation discrimination
  • Veteran status discrimination

If you have suffered a negative employment action from your employers or are treated differently from other employees because of your personal characteristics, you may have a valid employment discrimination claim. Contact our Los Angeles law firm to discuss your case today.

What is the Difference Between Workplace Discrimination and Harassment?

Workplace harassment can be a form of employment discrimination. Harassment involves unwanted or uninvited behavior, such as teasing, physical touching, jokes, lewd comments, slurs, and other remarks based on a protected characteristic.

Discrimination, meanwhile, involves mistreating employees and job applicants based on their protected class.

For example, failing to promote a qualified employee because of their gender identity or because of the employee’s disability would be considered discrimination. Spewing racial slurs at the employee would be regarded as workplace harassment, and intimidating or touching another person without their consent may be regarded as sexual harassment.

What is Preferential Treatment and When is it Illegal in Los Angeles County?

Favoritism and preferential treatment occur when a supervisor or manager demonstrates their preference and provides additional rewards to one type of employee over others for reasons unrelated to job performance or responsibilities.

It is not illegal for an employer to hire a close friend or family member or to provide preferential treatment to those they enjoy the company of. However, suppose preferential treatment rises when the management staff fails to promote or reward other employees because of their age, gender expression, sexuality, or other protected characteristics. In that case, their favoritism in the workplace may be considered illegal.

Preferential treatment and favoritism may become illegal when they violate any state policy or federal law regarding discriminatory practices. If your employer, supervisor, or manager treats you differently because of your age, race, gender, sex, disability, religion, or other protected class, that preferential treatment may be unlawful.

How to Prove Your Employment Discrimination Lawsuit?

It can be difficult to correctly identify workplace discrimination and hold employers accountable for their actions. Victims of discrimination are encouraged to retain the professional legal counsel of an employment attorney well-versed in anti-discrimination laws. As your lawyer, Irina Lemberg will work tirelessly to gather evidence that proves your case and makes a convincing argument to the jury.

Valuable evidence, including indirect evidence, that could be useful to your employment discrimination claim includes the following:

  • Attempt to show that your employer is overly subjective when criticizing or failing to reward your hard work. A lack of objectivity can render your employer an unreliable narrator in the courtroom case.
  • If you and your lawyer can show that there is a pattern of unequal or unfair treatment in the workplace against workers of a specific protected class, you may have a strong legal claim.
  • Some employers may make excuses that justify their discriminatory practices, such as claiming that you are an incompetent employee. If you can provide proof that you are competent and highly qualified, such as delivering performance reviews or receipts of communication where you were praised for your work, you may be able to disprove their excuses.

Our legal team can help you file your complaint and review the legal process.

Schedule Your Initial Consultation with Our Experienced Employment Discrimination Lawyer Today

If you are successful in winning your employment discrimination case, you may be able to recover a wide array of economic and non-economic damages, including potentially lost wages, lost benefits, emotional distress damages, and more. However, filing an employment discrimination claim can be complicated, and you should expect a fight from your employers. We advise you to seek legal representation from experienced attorneys knowledgeable in the practice area of employment law.

Our California law firm has years of experience representing clients’ interests in complex employment law cases, including job discrimination cases. To learn more about how we may assist you during this difficult ordeal, contact our North Hollywood law office to schedule your case review today.

You may reach us at 310-750-2580.