Pasadena Workplace Discrimination Lawyer

How California Law Protects Workers From Discrimination

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act generally prohibits covered employers from making employment decisions based on protected characteristics. For discrimination claims, the law generally applies to public and private employers with five or more employees, as well as employment agencies and labor organizations.

These protections include race, religion, and age. They also cover disability, sex and related conditions, gender identity or expression, and other statuses defined by current law.

An adverse employment action is a decision that materially affects a worker’s job or employment conditions. Unlawful conduct may arise during recruitment, hiring, assignments, training, compensation, promotion, discipline, accommodation, or termination.

Conduct that may warrant a legal review includes:

• Unequal treatment: Employees outside the protected group receive better assignments, discipline, pay, or promotion opportunities under similar circumstances.
• Biased evaluations: Performance reviews become negative after management learns about a disability, pregnancy, religious need, or other protected status.
• Shifting explanations: Management gives inconsistent reasons for a significant employment decision.
• Disparate impact: A facially neutral policy disproportionately harms members of a protected group.
• Workplace retaliation: An employer takes adverse action after an employee reports discrimination or participates in an investigation.

A claim may overlap with harassment, retaliation, or failure to provide a legally required reasonable accommodation. No single fact proves unlawful conduct, so we assess the full sequence of events, the available records, and the employer’s justification.