When it comes to employment discrimination in California, according to the state of California, there are state laws in place that prohibit discrimination in all types of business, including the following:
- Advertisements
- Interviews, applications and screenings
- The hiring process, transferring, promoting, terminating and laying off employees
- Work conditions, including compensation
- Participating in apprenticeship and training program, unions and organizations
The Fair Employment and Housing Act, also known as FEHA, concerns public and private employers, employment agencies and labor organizations.
Which employers fall under the law?
Employers who employ at least five employees are subject to FEHA. Those employers are forbidden from discriminating against any people who apply for positions in those businesses because they fall into a protected category. The employer is also not legally allowed to discriminate against those employees because they have exercised their rights according to the law. Other people who are also protected by the law are unpaid interns or volunteers and contractors. This is considered harassment according to California law and businesses with fewer than five employees are also protected.
Under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), the employer is required to protect all employees (this applies to businesses of at least five employees) and to provide all eligible employees with job-protected leave to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild or brother or sister who has a major health condition or if the employee has a major health condition. The employee also has the right to take protected leave to bond with a new child by birth, adoption or foster child within one year of when the child has started to live with the employee.
What other situation is considered for the employee?
Employers in California of five or more employees are also obligated to provide up to four month of disability leave for an employee who has become disabled because of pregnancy, childbirth or another related medical condition. The employer is also required to provide training for sexual harassment to people who are in both supervisory and nonsupervisory roles in the business.
Protecting your rights as an employee
In the workplace, employment discrimination is way too common, in California as well as across the United States. If you have had an experience where someone violated your rights, that person or people should be held accountable and you should protect your rights at all times. Employment discrimination can come in many form, including the following types of discrimination:
- Age
- Gender
- Sexual harassment
- Retaliation
- Racism
- Religious
All types of discrimination are wrong, both legally and morally. There is absolutely no reason for you to be subject to such treatment now or in the future. You deserve so much more.