The set of laws FEHA contains is state-specific and only applies to California. As an employee, it’s wise to know the legal shielding you have. Here’s a closer look at the protections the CA Fair Employment and Housing Act offers.
Protection Against FEHA Discrimination
Employees aren’t always the only targets of discrimination. It also happens to job seekers. That’s why the CA Fair Employment and Housing Act offers protections for job applicants.Companies choose their hires. However, a company’s reason for not hiring a worker must not involve a job seeker’s protected characteristics.
You may know some of these characteristics. However, there are likely more of these characteristics than you think.
A company can commit FEHA violations when discriminating based on any of the following protected characteristics:
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- Gender
- Religion
- Race
- National Origin
- Age
- Marital Status
- Sexual Orientation
- Veteran Status
But that's not where these violations end. FEHA discrimination officially occurs once a company acts on discriminatory beliefs. For example, a hiring manager may discriminate during the hiring process in many ways.
Discrimination examples:
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- Firing a worker for discriminatory reasons
- Hiring a less capable employee
- Skipping over qualified candidates
A job applicant or current employee could also face FEHA pregnancy discrimination. Imagine a worker excitedly announcing she’s having a baby. Then, she’s fired.
Providing Reasonable Accommodations
Employees may have various reasons for requiring special work conditions. Some need customized work conditions due to mental or physical impairments. Others could require accommodations based on their religious beliefs or because they are pregnant.The California Fair Employment and Housing Act requires any business with five or more workers to provide accommodations that are within reason.
Reasonable accommodation examples:
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- Reducing an employee’s hours
- Providing more flexible shifts
- Reassigning specific tasks to others
- Completing workplace-related changes (wheelchair ramps, bathroom modifications, etc)
- Purchasing work-assistive equipment
However, asking for accommodations doesn’t mean an employer can or will provide them. As written in the California Fair Employment and Housing Act reasonable accommodations are those that don’t cause “undue hardship” on an employer’s financials.
If you asked an employer to make $10 million worth of renovations to accommodate you and they didn’t, this wouldn’t likely be an applicable FEHA violation.
Do you need help determining whether or not a denial of accommodations violates California FEHA regulations? Schedule a consultation with Melmed Law Group. Our law firm is a strong team of skilled and experienced labor and employment lawyers.
A Safeguard Against Harassment
Harassment isn’t as common as it once was. Unfortunately, news stories continue breaking about harassment happening behind closed workplace doors. And that’s only the incidents that get reported.You or someone you know may be experiencing harassing behavior or actions that no one knows about. This is a violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. It’s also wrong.
Harassment of any kind is against the law, especially in the workplace. As is the unfortunate case with work-based discrimination, harassment can come in many forms.
Harassment examples:
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- Telling lewd jokes or stories
- Making inappropriate gestures
- Using racial slurs
- Mocking someone’s religious beliefs
- Intentionally misgendering someone
Additionally, harassment affects those who are direct victims of these immoral behaviors or actions. It also has indirect victims. Additionally, when it takes place, sexual harassment can and often leads to a hostile work environment between harassers, harassed people, and others who witness what’s happening.
Family and Medical Leave
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) overlaps with California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act in favor of employees. Eligible employees in California have the legal right to take unpaid time off for family or medical-related reasons without fearing losing their jobs.Valid reasons someone can take FMLA leave may include:
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- A child’s birth and bonding (otherwise called maternity or paternity leave)
- Any eligible health condition deemed severe
For example, Company XYZ tells a pregnant employee her job will be waiting for her after she gives birth and spends time bonding with her child. After several months, the same employee returns to her job and finds her position filled. This situation can violate FEHA pregnancy discrimination guidelines and a right to parental leave.
Protections as a Whistleblower
Discrimination and harassment aren’t the only potential illegal behaviors and actions employees may observe or be victims of at work. Legally, any employee who witnesses unlawful behavior has the right and is encouraged to report what’s happening to the authorities.For whatever reason, your employer may deduce that you’re a whistleblower. A whistleblower is someone who speaks out against illegal workplace actions. Thanks to the CA Fair Employment and Housing Act, employees in this state have protections from any retaliation an employer attempts against whistleblowers.
The Protection to Receive Equal Pay
Another type of discrimination FEHA protects against involves pay. While FEHA isn’t as extensive about equal pay as California’s Equal Pay Act, the former does support all workers being paid equally for performing the same work or serving in identical roles. These protections extend to all employees regardless of their sexual orientation, gender/gender identity, race, or other protected characteristics.
Protection From Retaliation
Learning that a person or company violates your rights under the CA Fair Employment and Housing Act can understandably feel shocking. Things can go from bad to worse when retaliation enters the picture. Retaliation is any party that takes an adverse action against an employee. Fortunately, California FEHA regulations offer protections against employer-based retaliation.Retaliation examples:
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- FEHA pregnancy discrimination after reporting an employer
- Being reassigned to unpleasant work duties
- Getting demoted or fired
- Receiving suddenly negative performance reviews
- Unexplainable increase in surveillance
- Loss of work-related privileges
If any of the previously mentioned CA Fair Employment and Housing Act violations sound familiar, you should consider seeking legal representation.
Stopping Housing-Related Discrimination
Some people think that FEHA discrimination only involves work. It doesn’t. A significant portion of this act contains regulations designed to prevent housing discrimination.FEHA violations occur when property owners or those making such determinations refuse to lease or sell a home to someone based on protected characteristics. These are the same characteristics we presented in the section on discrimination.
The CA Fair Employment and Housing Act also protects people's right to request reasonable accommodations from landlords they rent from. Additionally, tenants have protection against retaliation if a property owner attempts something unlawful after a tenant reports them.
Do you suspect an employer or landlord committed FEHA violations? Schedule your free consultation with Melmed Law. Our FEHA discrimination law firm only represents employees. We’ve recovered over $125 million for hard-working adults like you. We want to discuss whether you dealt with an unequal employment opportunity or were fired unjustly.