Los Angeles Workplace Discrimination Lawyer

Workplace discrimination can take many forms, and typically involves employees being treated differently because of their membership in a particular group, including:

• Race
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation
• Disability
• Marital status
• Military/veteran status
• Whistleblowing
• Religion

Employers may not treat employees differently based on any of these characteristics (California Government Code Sec. 12940).

Yes. Employers have a legal duty to prevent discrimination, and there is no requirement that employees complain about it. In many cases, employees are worried about retaliation for complaining about discrimination, and we have handled several cases where the executives of the company charged with investigating discrimination complaints were the very people who were illegally discriminating against other employees in the first place. The bottom is line is that employers have a duty to “take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring” (Cal Government Code Sec. 12940(k)). Any employer who fails to take these steps violates California law.