Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

Family Leave, Discrimination Lawsuits Likely in Wake of COVID-19

July 30, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

The coronavirus pandemic forced schools and businesses across the country to close, though education and work continued remotely where possible. That left a significant number of parents juggling the responsibilities of being an employee, as well as their child’s caretaker/teacher. Most companies recognized that with schools and day cares closed, they’d have to be flexible in understanding that employees may not be able to devote 100 percent of their attention to work during work hours. However, some of that understanding is waning. For example, Florida State University released communication indicating that beginning next month, the university will no longer allow workers to care for their children while they’re working remotely – an announcement made while COVID-19 cases in that state spiked five-fold.

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, a single mom with an 11-year-old son has filed an employment lawsuit after she was reportedly fired after being denied a request to flex two hours daily so she could focus on her son during the work day. The Washington Post reports the airline revenue management director was given the option of either taking leave or resigning. When she asked about the workplace protections available under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, her supervisor reportedly told her he was “well aware of the various new laws that you’ve had time to look up while at home.” Days later, she was fired, allegedly under the pretext of having a conflict with other workers, something she denies.

As our Orange County wrongful termination attorneys understand it, that is believed to be one of the first employment lawsuits filed under the FFCRA, the goal of which was to expand paid sick leave and family medical leave. Yet it’s probably a sign of things to come as working parents (mothers especially) try juggle employment responsibilities and family obligations. Some employment law attorneys anticipate an uptick in coronavirus-related litigation, once the courts are back in full swing, particularly among workers who have reportedly been denied leave or paid time off to manage child care. Continue Reading ›

Racial Discrimination Alleged by Black Worker at Facebook

July 20, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

A Black employee for Facebook, represented by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has alleged in a complaint he experienced racial discrimination at the firm, being denied promotions and pay raises and receiving unfair evaluations, despite “excellent” work performance. Meanwhile, two job applicants say they were denied the opportunity to work for the company – despite being qualified – because of their skin color.

According to the Associated Press, the employee was employed as an operations program manager at the social media firm. Facebook said it is committed to investigating allegations of racism. The AP reports that like many Silicon Valley companies, Black workers are underrepresented, accounting for less than 4 percent of the total number of Facebook employees and only 1.5 percent of the company’s technical workers.

Allegations of racial discrimination have been leveled before at the company. Although CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared last month that, “Black lives matter,” previous employees say the tech firm hasn’t made racial diversity a priority. Continue Reading ›

Supreme Court Sides With Religious Schools in Employment Discrimination Lawsuit

July 9, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some employees of religious schools, social service centers and hospitals will not be allowed to sue for employment discrimination, due to the ministerial exception. The 7-2 decision (with two liberal justices siding with the conservative majority) pointed to a unanimous ruling eight years ago that found “ministers” could not sue churches for employment discrimination.

But this ruling not only solidified that previous ruling, it expanded the protections these companies have against nondiscrimination litigation. The ministerial exception holds that the First Amendment protects churches and other religious organizations from government interference in employment decisions of “ministers” because, as Chief Justice John Roberts concluded, that would strip the church over control of those who personify its beliefs. But the question the court didn’t answer in 2012 was who, exactly, was a minister? Here, the majority decided that teachers are among those who can be considered”ministers,” in turn opening the door for countless other employees.

Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyers recognize that this was a significant blow to the hundreds of thousands of employees who work for these organizations (by some estimates, there are more than 300,000 private school teachers alone). Continue Reading ›

Is Caste System Discrimination Illegal in California Workplaces?

July 5, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

Recently, California employment law regulators filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against Silicon Valley technology company Cisco, Inc., accusing the multinational firm of failing to intervene in harassment experienced by an Indian-American employee by two of his managers because he’s from a lower Indian caste than they are.

The Indian caste system is an ancient one that divide’s the country’s Hindus into four different social hierarchy groups. Privilege is bestowed on the higher castes while prejudice and repression is sanctioned against lower castes. India’s constitution banned caste-based discrimination in 1950, but much like the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, enforcement has been a process.

As our Orange County employment discrimination attorneys can explain, neither Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 nor the California Fair Housing and Employment Act bars discrimination on the basis of one’s caste. However, it does protect against discrimination on the basis of religion. What regulators in the case against Cisco are alleging is that the caste system stems from the Hindu faith, and thus this type of discrimination can be covered against discrimination on the basis of religion.

The court’s position on this is being closely watched by many of the hundreds of thousands of Indian immigrants living and working in California. Continue Reading ›

$2.8 Million California Pregnancy Discrimination Settlement Reached

July 2, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

A supermarket chain has agreed to pay nearly $3 million to settle a class action California pregnancy discrimination lawsuit for its refusal to allow pregnant workers to go on light duty – something it allowed other temporarily disabled workers to do.

As our Orange County pregnancy discrimination lawyers can explain, both federal and state law provides protection for pregnant workers. The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employers to treat women affected by pregnancy or related medical conditions the same way they would non-pregnant workers or applicants who have a similar ability/inability to work. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender – which includes pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions. FEHA also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation for a known physical disability of an employee unless they can show doing so would create an undue hardship. Continue Reading ›

BLM Spurs Companies to Disavow Racial Discrimination, Critics Note Lacking Diversity

June 25, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month sparked a global outcry over policing practices and a notable shift in the conversation over the Black Lives Matter movement. It also set off an avalanche of response from corporate America, which rushed to express solidarity with the black community, some promising billions of dollars collectively to advance the causes of racial equality and justice. Public reaction to this has been mixed, in part because it’s unprecedented; companies have been largely silent on this issue before now, despite the fact that it’s not a new one (as those of us in Los Angeles well know). But the other skepticism stems from the fact that many firms don’t appear to be as vigilant on equity and diversity within their own ranks.

Social justice advocates point out that racial disparities go far beyond policing and are calling on these companies to closely examine their hiring and promotion practices for possible racial bias.

As our Los Angeles racial discrimination lawyers can explain, lots of companies have committed to diversity in years past, some on their own and some because a court ordered them to do so. But in many corporations, there remains significant unchecked structural bias for people of color and also women. Continue Reading ›

Pay Secrecy in California: Understanding Your Employee Rights

June 17, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

A prominent, national law firm is facing a growing number of lawsuits pertaining to its secretive compensation system that former attorneys say hides systematic pay discrimination against women. Some of those include claims, filed in 2018, included plaintiffs who worked for the firm in California, as the ABA Journal reported.

In that case, the lawsuit alleges there was an enforced “code of silence” with regard to pay and productivity wherein partners kept compensation information confidential. That left female attorneys out in the cold, unable to discover or attempt to equalize their pay. Guidelines at the firm were reportedly changed to discourage – but not outright forbid – discussions of pay among partners and employees.

Recently, a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the law firm’s motion to dismiss these lawsuit, though the court did dismiss several of the pregnancy discrimination claims. Continue Reading ›

Civil Rights Law Protects LGBT Workers From Job Discrimination, SCOTUS Rules

June 15, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

In a landmark civil rights case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that existing law protects gay, lesbian and transgender workers from workplace discrimination – a huge win for LGBT equality that The New York Times characterized as “stunning.”

As our Orange County employment lawyers can explain, the question in this case was whether the provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barring discrimination on the basis of sex extends to lesbian, gay and transgender workers. In a 6-3 vote, justices ruled that it does. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the 172-page majority opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. This has the potential to benefit millions of gay and transgender workers.

While previous LGBT rights cases in recent years have been concerned with constitutional law, this new ruling, which covers two sets of cases – Bostock v. Clayton County and Stephens v. R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. – is concerned primarily with statutory interpretation. The first were two lawsuits filed by gay men who alleged they were terminated from their jobs because they are gay. The second was a lawsuit filed from a transgender woman who allege

Examining the Trend of Delivery Driver Overtime Lawsuits

June 10, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

Delivery drivers across the country have been filing lawsuits in recent years demanding they have been cheated out of overtime and other benefits. As our L.A. overtime lawyers know, delivery service drivers are too frequently victims of wage theft. This can come in numerous forms, including:

Not being paid their full, earned wages.
Not properly reimbursed for car expenses when they own the vehicle they drive.
Improperly categorized as a contractor when they are an employee.

Sometimes workers in this industry are paid daily rates for a certain number of hours when in reality, their work takes longer than the hours they’ve formally logged. Continue Reading ›

L.A. Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Filed Against Criminal Minds Producers, Studios, Execs

June 3, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

The studios, producers and executives from the show Criminal Minds are facing an L.A. sexual harassment lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The complaint alleges that a director of photography for the show (which ended earlier this year after 15 seasons) engaged in repeated instances of sexual harassment which went unchecked by the defendants. The director was personally sued last year by a cameraman for sexual harassment. Now, the state is pursuing claims against CBS, ABC and Disney, claiming that not only was the director’s conduct not addressed, but anyone who “resisted or tacitly evaded” his abuse or advances.

Among the claims laid out in the L.A. sexual harassment lawsuit:

A technician was fired after he resisted a butt slap and reported it.
A video playback department worker corroborated the technician’s claims – and was subsequently fired.
More than a dozen men were fired at the photography director’s request.