Los Angeles Employment Discrimination Attorney

Both California and United States law says it is your right to not have to face discrimination when you are applying for a job or while working for an employer. If you are discriminated against in the workplace by co-workers, supervisors, hiring agents, vendors, or anyone else, you have the right to bring an employment discrimination lawsuit.

Discrimination is Illegal.
State and federal laws have determined that people who have certain characteristics often are victims of discrimination by employers so they need specific legal protections. These are called “protected categories,” and people who fall into these categories are protected from discrimination by law.

If you have been fired, not hired, not promoted, or mistreated because you belong to a “protected category” – whether you are a job seeker or an employee – you may have an employment discrimination lawsuit. Protected categories include:

• Race
• National Origin
• Religion
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation
• Gender
• Age
• Pregnancy
• Disability
• Whistleblowing

Your employer also may not discriminate against you if you report discrimination in the workplace or if you participate in a discrimination investigation. If your employer demotes you, lays you off, or fires you because you file a discrimination claim against them or if you testify or support someone who makes a discrimination claim, they can get in additional legal trouble for retaliating against you.

Discrimination Does Not Belong in the Workplace
The law does not allow employment discrimination in any area, including:

• Hiring and firing
• Compensation, assignment, or classification of employees
• Transfer, promotion, lay-off, or firing
• Job advertisements
• Recruitment
• Testing
• Use of company facilities
• Training and apprenticeships
• Fringe benefits
• Pay, retirement plans, or disability leave

If You Are Discriminated Against
If the court finds that you are the victim of employment discrimination, your employer may owe you:

• Back pay
• Future pay
• Damages
• Being hired
• Being promoted
• Being reinstated
• Reasonable accommodations made for you
• Attorney’s fees
• Court costs

Employment Discrimination Deadlines
There is a deadline (statutes of limitation) by which you must file an employment discrimination lawsuit. If you miss the deadline, you are giving up all rights to ever bring that case to court. Deadlines vary, depending on your situation. They can range from 180 days to 300 days from the time of the initial violation.

Contact an Employment Discrimination Attorney
For the best result, it is important that you contact Santa Monica employment discrimination attorney David Olan as soon as possible. Santa Monica employment discrimination attorney David Olan will immediately begin collecting and preserving evidence, talking with witnesses, and investigating your complaint.

At Olan Law, people who are victims of employment discrimination are represented on a contingency basis. This means you pay nothing until your case is resolved.

Contact Santa Monica employment discrimination attorney David Olan at Olan Law for a free, confidential consultation.

Employment Discrimination
Questions & Answers

Q:  If I was laid off from my job and it was filled by a younger person, do I have an employment discrimination case?
A:  You may have a case for age discrimination. If you are over the age of 40 and the person hired is younger than you are and is doing the same job you were doing, that may be age discrimination.

Q:  Do discrimination laws apply to small businesses with only 2 employees?
A:  Most of the federal and California FEHA discrimination laws may not apply to businesses with so few employees. Usually the discrimination laws apply to businesses with 15 or more employees. The exception is the Equal Pay Act, which applies to all businesses regardless of their size. There also my be state and local laws that protect you from discrimination.

Q:  Do discrimination laws apply to independent contractors?
A:  Usually anti-discrimination laws do not apply to independent contractors. But the laws for what is considered an independent contractor have changed recently. Regardless of what you are called, or what you call yourself, you actually may be an employee. If you are an employee than you are protected by anti-discrimination laws. If you find out you are an employee and not an independent contractor, you may be owed back wages, overtime, and benefits, too.

Contact David Olan for a free, no-obligation, and confidential consultation.