Huntington Beach Workplace Discrimination Lawyer

Workplace discrimination can often be subtle, and any type of discrimination in your employment can make work unbearable. Employment discrimination takes a severe mental and emotional toll on employees. You have the right to a safe workplace and should not have to bear discriminating actions.

Orange County has strict anti-discrimination laws, and as an employee in a Huntington Beach, California workplace, you’re protected by state and federal laws. Anti-discrimination laws prohibit employers from treating employees unfairly due to certain protected characteristics. This may include gender, race, sex, religion, or other characteristics. You could face discrimination through your employer refusing to promote you, wrongfully terminating you, limiting your benefits, decreasing your pay, or making your job or job duties so unappealing that you feel forced to quit.

This legal protection doesn’t prevent discrimination in the workplace, and it’s unfortunately common. However, you have the right to file a claim and receive compensation if you suffer from discriminating actions in your place of work. Depending on your circumstances, your compensation could be lost benefits or wages, emotional and psychological damages, and even punitive damages.

How the Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams Can Help You

If you’ve faced a wrongful termination because of your race or gender or otherwise been harmed because of another aspect of workplace discrimination, we want to help. At the Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams, we understand how upsetting and stressful it can be to deal with the effects of employment discrimination.

We’ve represented employees and their workers’ rights for many years, and we know the difficulties that come with discrimination claims. Our legal representation aims to bring you reassurance and confidence in your case, as we work together to determine what your best path forward is for your claim. Our substantial experience with these cases enables us to know how to handle the unique situation of your case.

What Is Workplace Discrimination?

In Huntington Beach, there are both state and federal anti-discrimination laws in effect. The state’s law is the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The FEHA prevents employers from discriminating against employees or staff based on protected characteristics, including:

• Race
• Religion
• Color
• Gender or sex
• Sexual orientation
• National origin, ancestry, language, culture, or birthplace
• Short-term or long-term mental or physical disabilities
• Medical conditions
• Age
• Marital status
• Pregnancy
• Gender identity
• Gender expression
• Genetic information
• Military and veteran status

Federal laws cover many of the same protected characteristics across a number of laws. Some anti-discrimination federal laws include:

• Title VII of the Civil Right Act. This places anti-discrimination protection for race, gender, color, national origin, or religion.
• American with Disabilities Act. This prevents discrimination based on disability.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act, where employees over 40 cannot be discriminated against based on their age.
• The Equal Pay Act, where men and women must be paid equally for doing the same job.
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act. This prohibits discrimination against employees who are pregnant or dealing with childbirth.

If you feel you’re facing discrimination at work based on one of these protected characteristics, you should file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC is a federal agency that handles regulations and rights for workers. Filing with the EEOC will enable you to begin the process of filing a claim. An employment attorney can help you with this process.

Understanding Preferential Treatment Vs. Discrimination

Dealing with favoritism in the workplace can be irritating. If an employer always passes by you for another coworker for benefits and promotions regardless of their work capability, it can create resentment. However, it’s not necessarily illegal. Your employer may be related to one of your coworkers, or may simply prefer them, but neither of those reasons makes their preferential treatment illegal.

It only becomes illegal if they’re passing over you specifically because of your race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics. Then, it becomes employment discrimination. Even if discrimination is one of several reasons that your employer is treating you this way, it’s still illegal. However, it can be difficult to determine when it is legal preferential treatment or illegal discrimination.

Why Do I Need an Employment Discrimination Lawyer?

When you file for employment discrimination against your employer, you will likely find yourself working against your employer. Few employers want to admit to wrongful or illegal discrimination practices. They may try to cover up their actions by claiming your wrongful termination or lack of promotion was due to your work performance. It can be helpful to have an employment attorney working with you to find concrete evidence of discrimination and to represent you against your employer. Evidence often includes proof that your work output was good, or proof that your employer has a negative bias against your protected characteristic.

The process of filing for workplace discrimination is itself complex. Paperwork must be written correctly and filed with the correct state or federal agencies to even receive the Right to Sue notice. Even then, you still have a claim to file within the right time frame and then go through civil claim procedures. Legal counsel can not only determine the ideal steps for your case from the beginning, but they can assist you with the paperwork, deadlines, and represent you during your claim.

When you hire an employment lawyer who’s experienced with employment discrimination, they will know what the best option for your situation is, because they’ve dealt with similar cases before. Legal counsel will provide you comfort and lessen the stress of legal procedures. It may also severely increase the compensation you receive and will maximize your chances of a positive outcome to your claim.

What Is Considered to Be Discrimination?

An employment discrimination claim must prove that your employer took negative actions against you. Your claim must also prove that the negative actions taken against you were partially motivated by discrimination against a protected characteristic. These negative actions may include:

• Wrongful termination,
• Forcing you to quit,
• Demoting you,
• Denying you a promotion or advancement,
• Lowering your pay,
• Reducing your benefits,
• Failing to hire you,
• Failing to reinstate you,
• Denying reasonable accommodation,
• Harassment,
• Retaliation,
• Transferring you to or giving you unfavorable jobs, or
• Otherwise negatively impacting your employment through discriminating acts.

Though you may know these actions were done because of a discriminatory attitude, it can be hard to prove that during your claim. These actions in themselves are not discrimination. A Huntington Beach employment lawyer can help you determine how substantial your claim is, and what evidence is needed to prove these actions were done because of discrimination.

How Do You Prove Workplace Discrimination?

Your employer may commit a negative action against you for both legal and illegal reasons. Even if they were only partially motivated by discrimination, it’s still illegal. You have to prove that their actions were motivated by discrimination and provide evidence. Generally, employers aren’t going to admit they did something illegal like discriminate against an employee. You and your employment attorney will need to pull together essential evidence if you go forward with a claim.

• • Direct Evidence
    Direct evidence may be statements directly from your employer that demonstrate their discriminatory attitude. Often, employers are careful to not have such obvious statements in writing. Direct evidence may also include witness testimony from your coworkers. Evidence of your being ignored for benefits or raises may also be useful.
  • Indirect Evidence
    Indirect evidence may show that other employees in the same protected group as you faced similar treatment. Or, if your employer said you were passed over or terminated for other reasons, such as your work ability, indirect evidence may prove that to be inaccurate. This may show that discrimination was the true motivation of your employer. There may have even been a change as to how you were treated by your employer if your status in a protected group is hard to discern upon first meeting.

How to Begin an Employment Discrimination Claim

Beginning a claim for workplace discrimination can be done at the state or federal level.

In California, filing a claim at the state level is done with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). This department was previously known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Your complaint needs to be filed within a year of the most recent event of discrimination. The CRD may act against your employer, or it may send you a Right to Sue notice. This means you must handle your claim without the CRD and may want to get in touch with an employment attorney.

Filing a claim on the federal level is done with the EEOC. They will also either act on your complaint or send you the right to sue. The EEOC’s deadline is 180 days since the last discriminatory action, or 300 days if the claim is also protected by state law. If the EEOC receives multiple complaints about the same employers, they’re more likely to act themself on the matter. The EEOC will then launch a deeper investigation, which will likely end with more severe outcomes for the employer.

Do I File With a State or Federal Agency?

You are required to go through an administrative process before you file a claim. Both the EEOC and CRD are part of the administrative process, and there are only some exceptions to this requirement. There are several legal reasons why you may want to file with the EEOC or CRD. These include:

• • • State law provides broader protections than federal law, including transgender and sexual orientation as protected categories in anti-discrimination laws. Federal law provides protection for gender orientation only.
    • Federal law requires fifteen employees for you to file for federal protection, while state protection only requires five employees.
    • The deadline for filing with the EEOC is 300 days when compared to the year offered by the CRD.
    • Filing a claim with the EEOC gives you access to federal court, which may move more

For many claims, you can request that one agency forward the complaint to the other agency. That way, your claim is reviewed by both agencies.

FAQs

Q: How much is a discrimination case worth in California?

A: It can be difficult to determine the outcome of a claim, as many cases are settled outside of court. If your claim is successful with the EEOC, you could receive compensation for court and legal fees, as well as for damages done to you because of your employer’s discrimination. The damages you receive depend on the size of the company you work for. Companies with 15 to 100 employees will award $50,000 per employee who filed a claim, while a company with more than 300 employees will have to pay $300,000 per employee.

Q: How hard is it to win a discrimination lawsuit?

A: It’s much easier to navigate the process and proceedings of a workplace discrimination case with strong evidence, documentation, and a qualified attorney. The most difficult aspect to prove is that your employer acted out of discrimination. Collecting documentation as these events occur increases your chances of success. The best way to maximize positive outcomes to your claim is to hire a lawyer who understands the process ahead of you and can help you be prepared.

Q: How do I report unfair treatment at work in California?

A: If you are facing discrimination from a coworker, your employer is only held liable if they were negligent in addressing an issue they should have known about. Discrimination from your employer should be reported to the EEOC federal agency or CRD state agency by filing a complaint. From there, your attorney can determine whether litigation or settlement is the best option for your situation.

Q: How does an EEOC complaint hurt an employer?

A: An employer who has discrimination complaints against them is likely to face legal complications such as investigations, legal bills, and bad publicity. If the discrimination claim is found to be true, the employer will also have to handle the extreme fees for damages. The EEOC may interview employees at work with the employer’s permission, or outside of work.

The Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams Will Handle Your Workplace Discrimination

The sooner you begin working with our firm, the more effectively we can provide you with counsel, support, and legal advocacy. Contact the Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams today to protect your worker’s rights.