Working to Right the Wrongs for Employees in California
If you believe you have been the victim of a civil rights violation, you likely have the option of filing a lawsuit against those responsible for any harm suffered as a result. You should start by speaking with an experienced Oakland employee discrimination lawyers at Venardi Zurada, as the law and the facts are often complicated. In addition, employers do all they can to attempt to show that their actions were not unlawful.
If you believe you have been the victim of a civil rights violation, you likely have the option of filing a lawsuit against those responsible for any harm suffered as a result.
Discrimination can affect many areas of employment, including:
- Hiring
- Firing
- Compensation
- Overtime pay
- Meal and rest breaks
- Performance evaluations
- Promotion or demotion
- Severance
- Medical leave
The Oakland employee discrimination lawyers at Venardi Zurada LLP serve Oakland and all of the Bay Area. We are experienced and effective employment law attorneys who work on a contingency basis, which means you do not pay us until we recover money for you. We offer free consultations to evaluate whether or not you have a legal claim for discrimination. When we take a case believing that discrimination occurred, we are committed to proving that fact to a jury.
What Is Unlawful Workplace Discrimination?
While the word “discrimination” is often used to describe general unfairness or a “toxic” boss, it has a very specific and narrow definition under the law. In a legal context, workplace discrimination occurs only when an employer takes an adverse action against an employee because of their membership in a protected class.
It is a common misconception that California law requires employers to be “fair” or “civil.” Because California is an “at-will” employment state, an employer can legally fire, demote, or reassign an employee for almost any reason—or no reason at all—as long as that reason is not motivated by illegal bias or retaliation.
Understanding the “At-Will” Reality
Without a specific contract, your employer can terminate your employment because they don’t like your personality, because they want to hire a friend, or simply because they are moving in a different direction. However, they cannot make that decision based on your identity or your protected civil rights. Distinguishing between “bad management” and “unlawful discrimination” is the first and most critical step in a successful lawsuit.
What Type of Discrimination Is Unlawful?
Not every type of abusive or offensive conduct by an employer is prohibited by law. In a legal sense, discrimination only occurs when an adverse action is taken based on a specific protected characteristic.
While many employees feel targeted by a “mean” boss, those actions are only actionable in court if the unfair treatment is rooted in one of the following categories:
- Race Discrimination
- Ethnic Origin Discrimination
- Gender/Sex Discrimination
- Sexual Orientation & LGBT Discrimination
- Age (over 40) Discrimination
- Disability Discrimination
- Religious Discrimination
- Pregnancy Discrimination
- Being Overweight Discrimination
- Retaliation for a protected activity (whistleblowing)
These categories of “protected characteristics” are quite narrow. Consequently, a well-performing employee can be treated badly, fired, or denied a promotion, for no reason at all, for a false reason (e.g., the employer claims that the employee is performing poorly), or due to some unprotected characteristic (e.g., being too young, wearing an ugly tie, not being friendly with the boss) with no repercussions.
However, an employer acts unlawfully when it takes an adverse action against an employee based on a protected characteristic and then gives a false lawful reason (a pretext) for terminating the employee. For example, an employer may claim that it terminated a Hispanic woman due to her performance or personality (lawful reasons) when, in fact, this is just a pretext and in reality the employer terminated her because the manager dislikes Hispanics (unlawful reason).
This is why whenever harassment or an adverse employment action takes place (most frequently a termination, demotion or denial of promotion, or unpleasant conduct toward the employee) the first question to ask is what is the real reason for the termination? If the termination was primarily due to an unlawful reason, the second question is whether there is enough evidence in the form of documents and/or witnesses to prove this.
What Is Workplace Discrimination and How Does It Relate to Workplace Harassment?
Oftentimes discrimination and harassment are linked. The distinction is that whereas harassment creates a hostile work environment, discrimination means unequal treatment of the employee compared to other similarly situated employees. This could take the form of passing the employee over for promotions, assigning harder work to an employee, refusing to accommodate reasonable requests, and/or demoting or terminating the employee. These are called “adverse actions” and, as explained above, must be based on a characteristic that is protected by the law. Discrimination may exist without outward conduct constituting harassment but the two often happen together.
Contact Our Employee Discrimination Lawyers
If you are an employee who feels their rights have been violated, or you need help negotiating or reviewing your employee contract, please call to speak to one of our Oakland employment law attorneys at 833-893-6763 or submit our form.
