Workplace Discrimination

Treated differently because of who you are?

Discrimination at work is unlawful and wrong, period. Yet it still happens in workplaces all over California. Whether it shows up in a termination, a layoff you were improperly included in, or skewed hiring, pay, promotion, or bonus decisions, it costs you wages, opportunity, and peace of mind.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act gives employees some of the strongest protections in the country, going well beyond federal law. It is illegal for an employer to make job decisions based on:

• Race, color, national origin, or ancestry
• Religion
• Sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation
• Pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions
• Physical or mental disability, or a medical condition
• Age, for workers 40 and over
• Marital status

Disability: accommodation is the law

California requires employers to work with a disabled employee to find reasonable accommodations that let them keep doing their job, through a good-faith “interactive process” that begins the moment the employer learns of the disability. Too many employers decide it is easier to push out an employee who needs an accommodation than to provide one. That decision is illegal, and it is one Ashley has made employers pay for: her results include an $8,000,000 confidential settlement in an age and disability discrimination case and a $5.02 million jury verdict in a disability discrimination and retaliation case.

Pregnancy and new mothers

A pregnant employee must be treated as though she has a temporary disability: reasonable accommodations, protected leave before and after birth, and time for prenatal appointments. The protections continue after she returns to work, including the right to break time and space to breastfeed or pump. The requirements are specific, and employers get them wrong constantly. Ashley has recovered for exactly this, including a $180,000 settlement for a new mother denied accommodations to breastfeed.

Age 40 and over

Older workers are too often seen by employers as too expensive or too close to retirement. Both are illegal considerations. California goes a step further than most states: the law recognizes salary as an indicator of age, so making a termination decision based on someone’s higher salary can itself be age discrimination. Many national companies have no idea this rule exists. Ashley does.

What you may recover

Depending on the case: back pay, front pay, the raise or promotion you were denied, lost health and pension benefits, bonuses owed, emotional distress damages, attorney’s fees and costs, and in some cases punitive damages meant to punish the employer and deter others. Every case is different, and Ashley will give you a straight answer about yours.

Deadlines apply to discrimination claims. Talk to a lawyer promptly, and start documenting what is happening while it is fresh: dates, decisions, and who was involved.