Helpful Legal Information
Discrimination and Wrongful Termination
By law, your employer may not discriminate on the basis of Race, Color, Religion, Gender, National Origin, Age (over 40), Citizenship, Pregnancy, Disability or Sexual Orientation. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based upon these factors.
Discrimination means applying employment decisions such as hiring, firing, promotion, pay raises, benefits, work assignments, leaves of absence or almost any other aspect of employment in a discriminatory way based upon one of the prohibited bases.
Employer Investigations
Be aware that you also have a responsibility to inform your employer of the discriminatory treatment (i.e.. complain). Doing so is important as the law requires that the employer investigate all claims of discrimination and take immediate and appropriate action to remedy the situation. If the employer is not made aware of the discriminatory treatment, a court may not find them liable for the conduct of their employees. [For more information see Employer Investigation].
It is Illegal for an Employer to Retaliate Against a Victim of Discrimination. Employers do sometimes retaliate against an employee for raising claims of discrimination -- but they do so at their own peril. Retaliation is considered firing, denial of promotions, denial of pay raises, work assignments, denial of leaves of absence or adverse action in almost any other aspect of employment. [for further information on retaliation see Retaliation and Wrongful Termination]. Any such adverse action taken against an employee within a relatively short time period after the employee makes a complaint of discrimination will be considered suspect. This is especially so when the employee is terminated shortly after making the complaint. If it is later found to be retaliation for the complaint, the employer will be subjected to separate liability for violation of federal and state laws - whether the discrimination is proven to have occurred or not. An employee has an absolute right to complain about harassment without fear of retaliation by her employer.
Complaining of Discriminatory Treatment to the Federal and/or State Authorities.
Before any lawsuit can be filed against an employer for discrimination, an employee must file a complaint with either the federal or state authority charged with investigating such complaints. This is designed to give the employer time to remedy their conduct prior to being sued. In many cases, it is simply a formality that must be taken care of prior to a lawsuit. [For more information, see Complaining to State and/or Federal Agency]
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is the state agency which investigates complaints of violations of state employment discrimination laws. The DFEH has offices throughout the state. Below are the addresses of several DFEH offices in the Northern California/Bay Area:
| DFEH 1330 Broadway, #1326 Oakland, CA (510) 622-2941 |
DFEH 30 Van Ness Ave., #300 San Francisco, CA 94102 (800) 884-1684 |
DFEH 111 No. Market St., #810 San Jose, CA 95113 (408) 277-1277 |
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency which investigates complaints of violations of federal civil rights law (Title VII) in employment. The EEOC has offices throughout the country. Below are the addresses of several EEOC offices in the Northern California/Bay Area:
| EEOC 901 Market St., #500 San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 356-5100 |
EEOC 1301 Clay St., #1170 Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 637-3230 |
EEOC 96 N. Third St. Ste. 200 San Jose, Ca. 95112 (408) 291-4231 |
Filing Suit
If your complaint goes nowhere, You can still Strike Back In Court. The complaint process both within companies and through the federal and state agencies charged to investigate complaints often leaves employees empty-handed and feeling that justice was not done. This is often our law firm's experience when we attempt to get a company or an agency to investigate a case of discrimination. It can be a frustrating and disappointing exercise.
But thankfully the law does give you the right to go to court.
Both Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the state Fair Employment and Housing Act give employees a right to sue an employer for violations of their rights. If violations of the law are shown, the employee's recovery may include his/her past lost wages and benefits, future wage loss, attorneys fees and punitive damages. Punitive damages are calculated in part on the earnings of the company.
If you believe you have taken all the necessary steps and are still unsatisfied with the result, please complete and submit to us a Case Submission Questionnaire. If your case is accepted, you will be contacted by one of our qualified lawyers about your case.