What Kinds of Discrimination Are Illegal Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act in California?
The FEHA, which applies to any employer with more than five employees, makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee based on:
- Age
- Religion
- Disability
- Marital status
- Medical condition
- National origin
- Race or color
- Sex or gender
- Pregnancy
- Sexual orientation
A company’s decision to hire, promote, transfer or fire you cannot take into account anything other than your qualifications and your ability to do the job. If they base any of these decisions on any of the factors listed above, they are breaking California state law.
Discrimination can take many forms. Harassment, wage discrimination and gender discrimination like glass ceilings are all prohibited by the FEHA. For discrimination, this means you cannot be paid less than your coworkers or be passed over from promotion based on race, gender or another non-work related factor. If you are equally qualified and have equal experience, you should be getting equal pay and the same opportunities. One important difference between the federal laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the protections guaranteed by the FEHA concerns sexual orientation discrimination. California law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, while there are currently no federal laws in place that address this particular issue. If you have experienced sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace, our lawyers can put California state law to work to help you get the compensation you deserve.
