Employment Discrimination Lawyer San Francisco

Employment Discrimination Lawyer San Francisco

There are many types of unlawful discrimination in the workplace. Discrimination creates an unsafe, unhealthy, and unfair working environment for everyone. It is important to hold employers accountable for the discrimination they allow so that all California workplaces can be made safer for our state’s workers. 

It is also important for individual employees to get legal advice from their own employment discrimination lawyer in San Francisco. Remember, your employer’s HR director or legal department is there to protect the company, not you. Learn more about your legal right to be free from discrimination in the workplace: 

What Is Employment Discrimination?

Employment discrimination is any adverse action taken by an employer against an employee (or prospective employee) based upon their membership in a protected class. Adverse actions can include: 

• Not hiring a candidate
• Hiring the employee at a lower rate of pay (or refusing to give them pay raises)
• Refusing the employee opportunities for advancement
• Refusing the employee opportunities for overtime pay, bonuses, and other compensation
• Adverse working conditions (for example, a bad shift schedule)
• Treating the employee differently in disciplinary decisions
• Terminating the employment entirely

There are many actions that can be considered discrimination. For this reason, it is critically important for employees to consult with their own employment lawyers to determine whether the legal definition of discrimination applies in their circumstances. It is also important to determine your membership in a protected class – and to be able to prove that this is the reason you faced adverse employment actions at your job. 

Protected Classes Under Federal Employment Law

Federal law states that employees cannot be discriminated against based on their race, skin color, religion, sex (gender), national origin, age, or disability. The law is constantly developing. For example, gender discrimination now includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and based on pregnancy. 

Protected Classes Under State Employment Laws

Here in California, employees have even more protection from discrimination in the workplace. New statutes have expanded discrimination laws in key areas. Gender discrimination has been expanded to include gender identity: employers cannot discriminate against an employee based upon their gender identity or expression, and they must allow employees to use the bathroom and locker facilities that affirm their gender identity. 

Racial discrimination has been expanded to protect the use of braids, twists, locks, and other natural hairstyles. These are a few of many examples where California employment laws offer more comprehensive protection against discrimination than federal laws. Consult with an employment lawyer to learn what protections apply in your case.

The Right Employment Discrimination Lawyers For All San Francisco Cases

The experienced San Francisco employment lawyers at Olivier & Schreiber P.C. have years of experience handling all types of discrimination cases. Call (415) 484-0980 or visit our website to schedule your consultation today.