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Employees should never have to deal with harassment, discrimination, or unpaid wages. Unfortuanately, despite legal protections at both the state and Federal levels, employers, and sometimes other employees, mistreat workers every day throughout Orange County.
If you have been wronged in the workplace, we may be able to help. Walker Law, P.C. is equipped with skilled attorneys in each of these employment law matters to help employees in Orange County assert their rights. Our Orange County employment law attorneys understand that no employee should have to needlessly suffer gross injustice for going about their day-to-day job. Call us today for your free consultation.
Employment law covers a variety of issues that occur at the workplace. Common examples of matters under employment law include workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour issues.
If an employee has not been paid overtime or not given enough lunch or meal breaks, they may have a wage and hour claim. If an employer has made inappropriate sexual advances, this may constitue a sexual harassment lawsuit. If an employee has been fired or otherwise treated unfairly because of their color, disability, family or medical leave, pregnancy, age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, they may file an employment discrimination lawsuit.
Being let go at work might come as a surprise, but no employee can be let go for reasons personal to their being rather than to their job performance. While California follows at-will employment laws, there are still protected classes that cannot be the reason for dismissal. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) forbids discrimination based on age, pregnancy, gender, family or medical leave, sex, religion, and sexual orientation, among other factors. An employee also cannot be legitimately fired for being a whistleblower or for protecting another person’s rights against employment discrimination or misconduct. An employee that was unlawfully terminated is entitled to collecting damages.
Employment discrimination happens when an employer takes a negative action against an employee because he or she belongs to a protected class. It is illegal for an employer to refuse to hire, demote, or promote someone based on their membership in a protected group under federal or state law, or to pay differently or give different terms or circumstances of employment. The Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Age Discrimination in Job Act are all federal statutes that ban employment discrimination. In California, FEHA is the principal anti-discrimination statute in California.
Race discrimination is forbidden under Title VII and FEHA. Discrimination might not just apply to discriminatory actions in the workplace against an employee, but also includes policies that have a discriminatory impact. Racial harassment is also against the law for behavior that creates an uncomfortable work environment.
Sexual approaches, groping, remarks, jokes, memes, and assault are all examples of sexual harassment. Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when a boss or supervisor promises employment or perks in exchange for sexual favors.
Employees depend on their wages for food, mortgage or rent payments, and other essentials. Employers must pay their employees at least minimum wage and if not exempt, pay overtime whenever applicable. Companies in California are generally obligated to pay qualified employees twice their regular pay rate if they work more than twelve hours in a work day or more than eight hours on their seventh consecutive work day.
The workplace deserves to be free from distractions. Work is inherently a stressful activity, and behaviors of discrimination, withholding salary, or harassment just adds the anxiety for indiviudals. The behavior should not be tolerated, and luckily our legislators have provided fundamental rights that employees should expect to be respected in the workplace. At Walker Law, we’ll do everything we can to make sure your rights are upheld. Contact our Orange County employment lawyers today for your free consultation.