Los Angeles Discrimination Attorney

California's discrimination laws were written to provide better protection for employees than federal law. Discrimination can be as bold as firing someone for speaking Spanish. It can also be subtle as refusing to promote an older worker who may be nearing retirement.

Discrimination at work can come in the form of harassment. While we often think of harassment as being sexual in nature, it can take on many forms. Harassment can be described as insults and gestures that communicate hostility towards someone based on their membership in a protected class.

Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, LLP can handle any discrimination case, including employers discriminating based on:

• Age: The law protects people over the age of 40 and makes many types of negative treatment of that person because of their age unlawful. Employers cannot subject an employee to negative treatment due to their age. They also cannot pass over employees for promotions and other benefits purely due to an employee's age.
• Race, ethnicity or national origin: A person’s race or ethnicity is a characteristic that they can neither choose nor change. Our firm’s attorneys have worked extensively to defend the rights of racial and ethnic minorities. A person’s national origin deals primarily with a person’s country of origin or that of their ancestors.
• Sexual orientation: A person’s sexual orientation (heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, asexual, etc.) is protected under California law. Our firm is particularly committed to protecting the rights of LGBT employees. We want to ensure they are able to work in an environment where their sexual orientation is a nonissue.
• Gender identity: A person’s sex or gender is simply a person’s gender identity or orientation (man, woman or transgender) or biological sex (male, female, transgender or intersex). The attorneys in our firm have handled dozens of cases involving sex and gender harassment and discrimination, including sexual orientation.
• Pregnancy or family leave: Federal laws along with similar state laws of California prohibit both private and government employers from engaging in pregnancy discrimination in regards to the hiring, compensation, promotion or termination of employees. California laws are among the most generous in the entire nation. Pregnant employees can “take leave for a reasonable period of time, not to exceed four months” after the birth of the child.
• Disability or medical conditions: Disability in California encompasses a broader spectrum of medical conditions than we traditionally think of when we think of disabilities. Under California law, a disability includes any medical condition that impairs a major life activity. This includes the ability of an employee to work.
• Religion or profession of no faith: A person’s religion is one of the most fundamental aspects of their identity. The law protects a person’s religious beliefs and practices from undue or unwarranted interference by their employer.
• Retaliation against whistleblowers: When an employer penalizes an employee for engaging in a legally protected activity, the employer can be held liable for retaliation.