California Employment Lawyers - Attorneys for Employees Only

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Contrary to what employers would have you believe, you do have rights. Employees are protected under both Federal and California law from being treated differently in the workplace, based on their age, sex, religion disability or because they complain of illegal or unfair conduct.

If you have been mistreated by an employer, please give us a call, we may be able to help.

Whistleblowing — Retaliation

Employment have the right to complain to government agencies and other authorities regarding illegal conduct that occurs in the workplace. This may include complaints of Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, violations of wage and hour laws, unsafe conditions and other situations that may arise that are in conflict with the policies and laws of the State of California.

Employers tend to not take well to this and may retaliate against the employee for filing complaints with government agencies, filing internal complaints or taking legal action. If the employer does take such retaliatory action, the law may be able to help the employee obtain any lost wages, re-instatement, attorneys’ fees and/or punitive damages.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment can include wide varieties of conduct, such as unwanted sexual advances, touching, comments, distribution or discussion of sexual material or requests for sexual conduct in exchange for employment benefits.

Employees who have been subjected to this type of conduct are protected by the law and should seek the guidance of an attorney immediately.

Disability Discrimination

California and Federal Laws prohibit discrimination against employees with disabilities or employees that are perceived to have a disability. An employer can only treat an employee with a disability differently if they are able to show that the employee is unable to do the essential functions of the job, and that with reasonable accomodations, the employee still could not do the essential functions of the job and/or the employee would pose a significant danger to himself/herself and/or others if allowed to continue working.

The typical employer excuse, that hiring a disabled person would cause there insurance rates to rise does not give them a right to discriminate.

When the employer finds out that an employee has a disability, the employer must explore all possibilities of in the form of reasonable accommodations, before deciding to make employment related decisions that are adverse to the employees interests. Reasonable accommodation can include, but is not limited to, such as leave, changes in job responsibilities, changes in work schedules or an other workplace aid or accomodation.

An employer may obtain help from government agencies and outside experts to determine whether accommodation is possible.

Disabled employees may have separate rights to unpaid leave under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act or the California Family Rights Act.

AIDS

Federal law, as well as California law specifically designates AIDS as a disability. Therefore, once an employer is aware that an employee has AIDS, the employer must provide reasonable accomodations to the employee that would allow the employee to continue working, as long as the employee can continue to do so.

This rule applies even if the employer simply believes the employee has AIDS and no tests or medical information has been provided.

Employees who are perceived as having AIDS or who have been medically tested as HIV positive are also protected (complaints from people who have a terminal illness are processed by the Department on a priority basis).

Pregnancy Discrimination

Although an employer is not required to provide health insurance to a woman that is out on pregnancy leave, the employer does have an obligation to do so if health insurance is provided to other employees who are out on disabilty.

However, an employer may be required to pay for the employee to have health insurance for up to 12 weeks of leave, if the pregnancy disability leave can also be deemed leave under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Employers can force an employee to use an of her sick leave during her unpaid portion or pregnancy leave.