Articles Posted in Discrimination

“Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear.” “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.” In today’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, the Supreme Court made clear that the anti-discrimination protections of Title…

The EEOC has provided good news for workers who are at high-risk for COVID-19. High-risk employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic! High-risk employees include any employees over 65 years of age. High-risk employees also include employees who have conditions the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has found make…

We know many employees are facing uncertainty about their jobs in light of the current pandemic. You may have questions about what you can do if you are sick, or if you have been laid off due to cuts that have been made as a result of COVID-19 /Coronavirus. Many government agencies have put out…

Just ahead of the bill-signing deadline in October, Governor Newsom signed several worker-friendly bills including AB 51, AB 9, SB 142, and AB 749. When an employment situation sours and an employee pursues his rights, usually at some point there is talk of settlement. Almost routinely, employers include a no-rehire provision in any settlement agreement…

As employers across the country reckon with the impacts of the #MeToo movement, the California legislature and Governor Newsom took decisive action to extend the statute of limitations on certain workplace claims, acknowledging that those who have been targeted by discrimination, harassment, and retaliation do not always come forward immediately. The California Fair Employment and…

For years, the battle over arbitration clauses and agreements has raged on in courts and legislatures throughout the country. The latest development in arbitration in employment in California came on Thursday in California when Governor Newsom signed AB 51. The governor’s approval of AB 51 is a victory employees throughout California- it effectively prohibits employers…

Three Laotian correctional guards were subject to racial and national origin discrimination and harassment. They filed a civil lawsuit for discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and also filed claims under California’s Workers’ Compensation Act. Ly v. County of Fresno (October 12, 2017). This sounds like the beginning of a very typical…

Recently, it has been reported that campaign staffers were encouraged to “dress like women” while on duty. So what can an employer require of an employee with respect to his or her appearance? Employers are permitted to set grooming standards for their employees and those standards may differ for male and female employees. Over ten…

In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., 575 U.S. ____ (2015), the United States Supreme Court delivered the straight-forward rule that employers “may not make an applicant’s religious practice, confirmed or otherwise, a factor in employment decisions.” In this case, Abercrombie refused to hire a young Muslim woman named Samantha Elauf…

Proving discrimination cases by the standard of a “substantial motivating factor” is now clearly the law of the land – at least in the land of California. Let’s look at why this is so, and what it means. First, in May 2013, the California Supreme Court declared that the standard of “substantial motivating factor” would…