By now, almost everyone knows, or should know, that it is illegal to sexually harass someone in the workplace. Unfortunately, many California employees continue to be victims of sexual harassment, sometimes from their own bosses. When you are a victim of sexual harassment, you might keep it to yourself, afraid of the potentially negative consequences of speaking up. You may worry about being fired, demoted or treated differently because you are now viewed as a “problem worker.” You should not be worried to report being the victim of sexual harassment at your workplace, but it is understandable ..read more

Workplace discrimination continues to run rampant in California. Employees are frequently treated unfairly because of their age, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual identity. As a result, these workers face tremendous consequences that can impact their careers and their personal lives for years, perhaps even decades, to come. That’s why in this post we want to look at the true impact of workplace discrimination, not to scare you, but to highlight the importance of taking legal action to bring this behavior to a stop and to protect your future. What are the consequences of workplace discriminat ..read more

You deserve to be safe in your workplace. All too often, though, employers terminate employees for illegal reasons, including for discriminatory purposes and as retaliation for reporting harassment and other wrongdoing at work. If that’s happened to you, then you’re probably facing significant financial hardship, and your career growth may be stunted. To protect your interests and your future, you may have to take legal action in the form of a wrongful termination claim. How can you build your wrongful termination case? Wrongful termination claims are intricate, and you need persuasive evidenc ..read more

Many disability discrimination claims involve a dispute over what constitutes a “reasonable accommodation.” This can be a complex topic. In this blog post, we’ll briefly look at the term “reasonable accommodation” and its importance in protecting workers with disabilities. Request for reasonable accommodation Under California and federal law, workers who have disabilities have certain rights in the workplace. These include the right to a reasonable accommodation for their disabilities. Put simply, this means that when a worker’s disability interferes with their ability to do a job, the worker ..read more

Regardless of your age, you should enjoy equal employment opportunities. This means that when it comes to hiring, promoting, assigning work, and terminating, your employer should rely on your merits and your compliance with company policies rather than your age. Yet, as many as 40% of workers over the age of 40 report being discriminated against on account of their age. This highlights just how prevalent this issue is for workers across America, including here in the Santa Barbara area. Yet, most people who are subjected to age discrimination either don’t realize that they’ve been discriminate ..read more

If you are working in California, there are several laws that strictly prohibit retaliation and discrimination against you in the workplace. Let’s look at some of the major laws that will protect you and potentially make your situation at work more tolerable. Labor Code section 96(k): This law provides the California Labor Commissioner with the power to be designated claims because of lost wages that arise from retaliation against you even though you have behaved legally not during work hours and when you were not at work. In other words, this gives you the right to file a claim after your emp ..read more

All individuals deserve to enjoy equal employment opportunities. Yet, in far too many instances, employers engage in discriminatory behaviors that have tremendous ramifications for workers. Those who have been discriminated against may be demoted, passed over for a job or a promotion, face pay cuts and reduced hours, be subject to changed work assignments, or even wrongfully terminated. This is unfair, which is why those who have been discriminated against in the workplace need to be prepared to take legal action. But before you can do that, you have to know that you were actually discriminate ..read more

Some employers are reluctant to give workers the rights they are entitled to. They might do so overtly with clear indications that they do not want to adhere to the law, or they might do it subtly and discourage people from seeking assistance and taking time off they are perfectly entitled to take. This is particularly true when new laws go into effect. What rights to pregnant workers have? Recently, a new law went into effect to strengthen the rights of pregnant workers. The federal Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, or PWFA, went into effect June 27 of this year and requires covered employers to ..read more

Federal law prohibits employment discrimination in the workplace on the basis of a worker’s race, sex, religion, national origin and several other protected factors. California has its own protections on top of these. This has been the case for many years, and yet we still hear stories about unlawful discrimination in many workplaces. What’s going on? Are workers imagining this discrimination? Are employers ignorant about the law? To understand the state of discrimination today, it’s helpful to understand two concepts in employment law: disparate treatment and disparate impact. Disparate treat ..read more

If you feel like you’ve been wronged in the workplace, whether through discrimination, harassment or retaliation, then you might be considering legal action. After all, suing your employer may be the only way to find accountability and recover the compensation that you need to offset any losses that have been unfairly thrust upon you. The burden rests with you to prove that your employer has illegally acted against you, and you’re the one who is going to have to show how you’ve been harmed. Therefore, you’ll want to be thorough in the development of your case. Any misstep, even those that are ..read more