Employment Discrimination Case can range from shouting and insulting employees to bad reviews, demotions, and providing generally poor working conditions.
Do I Have An Employment Discrimination Claim?
It is an unfortunate situation when an employer permits or even facilitates highly adverse working conditions. Bad acts at work can range from shouting at and insulting employees to giving bad reviews, demotions, and providing generally poor working conditions. But, are all adverse working conditions legally actionable as discriminatory? This area of law is very tricky and one that requires careful analysis.
What is Discrimination?
Employment discrimination in California is governed by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, a part of the California Government Code. Specifically, California Government Code section 12940 (a) provides the following law that describes specific prohibitions against discrimination in employment:
“It is an unlawful employment practice, unless based upon a
bona fide occupational qualification, or, except where based upon
applicable security regulations established by the United States or
the State of California:
(a) For an employer, because of the race, religious creed, color,
national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability,
medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender,
gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or
military and veteran status of any person, to refuse to hire or
employ the person or to refuse to select the person for a training
program leading to employment, or to bar or to discharge the person
from employment or from a training program leading to employment, or
to discriminate against the person in compensation or in terms,
conditions, or privileges of employment.”
This law, as backed up by numerous court decisions, sets forth the following three basic rules:
1. An employee who has characteristics of race, religious creed, color,
national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability,
medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender,
gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or
military and veteran status is in a “protected class.” (Sometimes employees are
in multiple “protected classes.”)
2. An employer may not act adversely against an employee or potential employee because the employee is in one of the protected classes.
3. Adverse actions by an employer include refusal to hire, refusal to employ, refusal to select for a training program leading to employment, to prevent employment, to end employment or participation in a training program, to discriminate against the employee in any terms, conditions, privileged, or compensation because of the employee’s protected characteristic(s).
All three components are necessary to uphold a claim for discrimination. Usually, the adverse acts are the easiest to prove. The second easiest component to prove is a targeted characteristic. However, the most difficult component to prove is that the employer’s conduct was done because of the identified characteristic.
To make and prevail on a claim of discrimination requires that there are facts and evidence that would demonstrate that all three components were present. The employee has to be in one of the protected classes. The employer had to act adversely toward the employee. The adverse actions against the employee had to be done because of the protected status of the employee.
