Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

Teacher Who is Lesbian Wins California LGBTQ Lawsuit

April 23, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

California is known for its progressive stances on a myriad of issues, including civil rights of LGBTQ individuals. That doesn’t mean they don’t face down discrimination at work or everyday life. What it does mean, though, is that workers LGBTQ workers can successfully fight back on such injustices, a goal to which our LGBTQ employment discrimination attorneys in Los Angeles are committed.

Recently in Hesperia, a teacher was awarded a significant financial settlement after she was allegedly retaliated against with termination for helping LGBTQ students blow the whistle on their mistreatment by school administrators. The former high school English teacher was awarded an $850,000 settlement – and a promise to improve school policies.

The case was filed in 2015, when the ACLU of Southern California contacted the district with allegations of a hostile learning environment for gay and lesbian students. The district has since agreed to review and alter its policies, mandating administrators and staff undergo training on discrimination and clarifying its anti-discrimination procedures and policies. Continue Reading ›

Disability Discrimination in Hiring: What California Job Applicants Need to Know

April 17, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Employment discrimination against workers and applicants with disabilities unfortunately remains an all-too-common reality, despite California and federal law prohibiting such practices. Statutes require companies to give fair consideration of applicants regardless of disability, so long as the individual can perform essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodations. Proving disability discrimination, however, can sometimes be difficult though because, as our Los Angeles disability discrimination employment attorneys can explain, employers aren’t always blatant about it.

Report: Teen Refused Job by Manager Who Explained, “We Don’t Hire People With Disabilities”

Not so for an incident recently reported by a 19-year-old Virginia man with cerebral palsy. As reported by a local television station, the recent high school graduate explained he arrived for a scheduled interview or an associate position at a home decor retail store. He’d confirmed the appointment via text message before arrival. However when he got there, he said the store manager took one look at him and stated, “Oh, no, we don’t hire people with disabilities.”

EEOC Reports Sexual Harassment Claims Spiked Last year

April 15, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Last year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission secured the first budget increase nearly a decade, with $16 million allocated by Congress to allow the agency more resources to focus on claims of workplace sexual harassment. California sexual harassment attorneys in Orange County recognize this is at least partially the reason the agency is now reporting an uptick in sexual harassment claims in the last year.

Preliminary statistics as of October 2019 indicate claims of job-related sexual harassment and gender discrimination rose sharply last fiscal year, which ended in September.

There is more to it, though. The #MeToo movement that has swept the country in recent years amid revelations of numerous, high-profile executives, politicians, celebrities and media members were repeatedly accused of patterns of sexual harassment and abuse. The fact that several corporations were found to be complicit in concealing such occurrences revealed the obstacles accusers faced for many years. So it’s not that we’re seeing an increase in people being sexually harassed at work, but rather improved awareness, earlier reporting and more thorough investigations.

By the Numbers: EEOC Reports Uptick in Sexual Harassment Claims

Is California Age Discrimination Hard-Wired in Facebook Ads?

April 13, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Facebook recently vowed to rewrite its systems to ensure that employment discrimination wasn’t baked into its advertising platform, excluding workers on the basis of federally-protected classes like race, gender, age, religion and nationality. But there is evidence to suggest that whatever the company’s efforts, the type of discrimination that’s been occurring will continue.

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A recent study published by computer science experts at the University of Southern California, Northeastern University and a non-profit think-tank called Upturn analyzed the algorithms responsible for ascertaining which users see which ads. In other words, where previous criticism of the social media giant largely focused on its targeting (the audience ad buyers sought to reach), these researchers looked at the algorithms responsible for advertisement delivery (who those ads were ultimately going to reach).

California Employee Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Leads to $2.75M Settlement

April 11, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Recently, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California approved a $2.75 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by workers workers alleging their technology company employer shorted them anywhere from $250 to more than $53,000 each in overtime compensation.

Some 150 workers, all internal sales reps, cited alleged violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (better known as FLSA) in their filing.

Transgender Discrimination Illegal in California, Championed by White House

April 8, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Discrimination of transgender professionals is nothing new, though Californians may not realize the employment protections trans workers are afforded in this state don’t apply to all.

That’s because even as the California Fair Housing and Employment Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of one’s sexuality, gender and gender identity, the federal government does not. But military personnel who are transgender went from being told at the tail end of the Obama administration that they could serve openly and have access to psychological and gender-affirming medical care, the Trump administration has effectively ushered in a new “don’t ask, don’t tell” phase for service members who are transgender.

As noted in a report by the non-partisan Palm Center, while this is not a “ban,” neither was “don’t ask, don’t tell” under former President Bill Clinton. Nonetheless, both policies did/will have the impact of systematically removing transgender individuals from the military or, just like DADT, ensure their gender identity is kept silent and invisible.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission still continues to insist (as it was prior to Trump’s election) that LGBT discrimination in employment was a form of gender discrimination under Title VII. That stance has been resisted by the Department of Justice under Trump, though several courts have sided with the EEOC on this. Nonetheless, the transgender military policy formally went into effect this month. Continue Reading ›

Gender Disparity in Los Angeles Workplaces Continues Despite Established Law

April 6, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

A few months ago, Hollywood took on a depiction of the first-ever gender discrimination case argued in the U.S. Supreme Court by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was later appointed to that same court as a justice by President Bill Clinton. The film is about a little-known tax case, Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in which Ginbsurg successfully argued that a $600 caregiver tax credit shouldn’t be denied to a man solely on that basis.

While it’s difficult to imagine in 2019 that so many laws – employment and otherwise – once distinguished so blatantly between men and women, what may be even more troubling is the fact that gender discrimination is still such a problem in practice. Our Los Angeles sex discrimination employment attorneys know that these cases still abound in all aspects of employment, including hiring, firing, wages, assignment of jobs, promotions, layoffs, benefits and other conditions of employment. Although these cases can be difficult to win, often plaintiffs – like the man in the $600 tax credit case – don’t do it looking for a windfall. They do it to ensure they and others won’t continue to face the same disparity.

Recently in Los Angeles, a charter school agreed to an $8,000 settlement in a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over an alleged gender-based disparity in pay among school tutors.

California Supreme Court: Payroll Company Not Liable in Employee Wage-Hour Dispute

April 4, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Payroll processing companies can’t be held liable for the errors that employees of other firms claim resulted in their being shortchanged, the California Supreme Court ruled recently, reversing an appellate court’s decision.

In a case that originated in Los Angeles Superior Court, employees filed a third-party claim for damages against the payroll company contracted by the worker’s employer. Defendant payroll company attorneys argued California’s Labor Code doesn’t allow employers to assign duty for accuracy in wage statements to third parties. Bloomberg reported in December an estimated there are 1,100 payroll process service companies statewide.

Los Angeles employment lawyers had been watching the case closely, knowing that if the high court ruled in plaintiffs’ favor, it would have meant those firms could be subject to liability in California wage-and-hour employment litigation. Continue Reading ›

Report: Discrimination Against American Jews on the Rise

April 2, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Los Angeles religious discrimination attorneys know that the disparate treatment received by Muslims has been on the rise the last two decades. What is also now being reported by the Pew Research Center is that many now also perceive a substantial rise in discrimination against those of the Jewish faith and nationality.

The percentage of Americans saying Jewish people face “at least some” discrimination spiked by 20 percent just in the last three years. It is now up to 64 percent. The share of those saying Jewish people face “a lot” of discrimination at work, in education and housing nearly doubled in that same time frame, going from 13 percent to 24 percent. Although views on this are varying depending on party lines (with Democrats being more likely than Republicans to indicate they’ve seen a spike in discrimination) both sides see a shift.

The survey was conducted this month among more than 1,500 adults, who also stated there is either some or a lot of discrimination in America against those who are Muslim, black, Hispanic, gay, lesbian and women. Muslims in particular are recognized as suffering discrimination, with more than 8 in 10 respondents agreeing they face some discrimination and more than half saying they face a lot. Among the nine groups about which respondents answered, this was the highest.

Talk to a Private L.A. Employment Attorney Even if Required to Start With EEOC

March 30, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

There are many types of Los Angeles employment discrimination cases wherein you, the worker, must first file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before you are free to take your case to court. Yet there is no requirement indicating you can’t hire a private employment attorney, and the truth is, you may be entitled to more than the EEOC will provide. When you discuss this possibility with a job discrimination attorney ahead of time, you’ll be able to glean some guidance on what to report, what evidence to bring and suggestions for wording your complaint in ways that could give you a stronger stance.

This may be especially important in light of the recent findings of a dual-published report by the Center for Public Integrity and VOX, indicating that the EEOC may not have enough personnel to adequately investigate each claim.

Report: EEOC Falls Short in Settling Discrimination Claims

Race discrimination claims are among the most commonly-filed. In fact, black workers alleging racial discrimination comprised 25 percent of all EEOC claims, which is notable because there are many different kinds of discrimination. Only 15 percent of those are resolved with some compensation being returned to the complainants. Continue Reading ›