Anaheim Employment Discrimination Lawyers

What workers do your Anaheim employment attorneys represent?

Our employment lawyers represent public and private employees, including first responders, when your employer judges your work abilities on your appearance and personal background and not your ability to perform your job.

Our Anaheim employment lawyers routinely help the following types of workers:

• Law enforcement officers. At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, we represent all law enforcement employees, including police officers and sheriff’s deputies, who make Anaheim safe from crime and, provide help when accidents happen and provide other types of aid.
• Firefighters. Our attorneys fight for firefighters and their support staff who regularly risk their health and lives to extinguish residential fires, commercial fires, and wildfires.
• First responders. Our Anaheim employment lawyers represent all first responders, including paramedics, EMTS, corrections officers, park rangers, and other Anaheim workers who provide first aid, security, and other types of emergency assistance.

Our lawyers represent employees, independent contractors, and volunteers.

What types of employment claims do you handle in Anaheim?

At McNicholas & McNicholas, we provide a full range of employment services. Our employment lawyers handle the following types of claims:

• Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. Employees who belong to a protected class (such as race, national origin, sex, or disability) can file these claims if their employer adversely affects their employment due to their class and not their job skills. We discuss these claims in much more detail below.
• Wage and hour claims. We understand how much workers in Anaheim need every dollar. We file lawsuits to hold Anaheim employers to their duty to pay you everything they owe you according to collective bargaining agreements, employment contracts, and the applicable Federal, state, and Orange County laws, such as the Federal Labor Standards Act and the Equal Pay Act.
• Executive compensation claims. Our Anaheim employment attorneys represent supervisors and uniquely skilled workers who have written employment contracts to ensure their employers comply with the terms of their contracts. Some of these terms include salary, vacation time, insurance coverage, pensions and other retirement benefits, stock options, and severance pay.
• Qui tam/whistleblower claims (and retaliation claims).Employees in Anaheim have the right to file claims pursuant to federal and California False Claims Acts, which provide if the government obtains a recovery because of the whistleblower’s disclosure of fraud, the whistleblower can receive a percentage of any recovery. Our Anaheim employment lawyers also file retaliation claims when employers retaliate to punish or intimidate whistleblowers.
• Family medical leave claims. We file employment claims against employers if they retaliate because you request medical leave to care for a family member according to the federal or California family medical leave laws.
• Retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim. At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, we represent employees when their employers retaliate because you assert your right to workers’ compensation benefits.
• Wrongful termination. Nothing is worse professionally than losing your job because your employer failed to comply with the laws or your employment contract. At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, we file wrongful termination lawsuits if you lose your job due to discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or any other improper way.

What is employment discrimination?

Workers who belong to a “protected class” can file a discrimination claim if their employer adversely affects their employment. There are numerous federal discrimination laws. The main state discrimination law is California’s Fair Housing and Employment Act (CFEHA).

Protected class

At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, we’ll explain if you are a member of a protected class. Generally, the various federal laws and California’s Fair Housing and Employment Act protect workers due to the following protected class characteristics, among others:

• National origin, race, and color
• Sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity
• Age (40 and older)
• Physical or cognitive disability
• Genetic or medical Information
• Pregnancy
• Religion or creed
• Military/veteran status
• Marital status

Adverse employment conditions

Adverse employment conditions include:

• Terminating your employment
• Denying a promotion you deserve
• Not reviewing your job application
• Not providing opportunities for advancement
• Transferring you to an undesirable work location
• Reducing your pay
• Denying a pay raise
• Failing to provide reasonable workplace accommodations if you have a disability or a pregnancy
• Other adverse employment conditions

What is employment harassment?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines harassment as conduct that is not welcome “based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, older age (beginning at age 40), disability, or genetic information (including family medical history).”

The two types of harassment claims we file are the following:

• A hostile work environment. We file claims when offensive conduct (including verbal comments and physical contact) becomes so intimidating or abusive that it makes it difficult to perform your job or makes you uncomfortable. Employers are responsible if they should reasonably know that any of their managers, workers, or anyone with access to the workplace are harassing another worker, and the employer fails to take corrective steps. You do not have to be the target of the harassment to file a hostile work environment claim.
• Quid pro quo harassment. This type of harassment involves sexual harassment. Quid pro quo harassment occurs when anyone who controls your employment conditions your employment on sexual favors or sexual advances.

What is employment retaliation?

When Anaheim employers try to threaten, intimidate, or punish you (adversely affect your employment) because you assert your legal rights or support another worker’s legal rights, our Anaheim employment lawyers will file a retaliation claim on your behalf.

Some employee rights that might result in retaliation by your employer (and retaliation lawsuits by our lawyers) include:

• Filing a discrimination, harassment, or retaliation complaint/lawsuit
• Refusing to comply with discrimination or harassment at your job
• Resisting or refusing sexual advances
• Requesting reasonable workplace accommodations if you have a disability or are pregnant
• Filing a qui tam/whistleblower claim
• Filing a worker’s compensation claim
• Requesting family medical leave
• Assert any other legal right

What federal and state laws protect Anaheim employees?

At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, the following federal and state laws protect Anaheim employees from discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other employer wrongs:

California law:

• California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act(FEHA)
• The California Family Rights Act
• The California False Claims Act

Federal laws:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act(ADEA)
• The Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• The Equal Pay Act of 1963
• The Family Medical Leave Act
• The federal False Claims Act
• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
• The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)

How do you fight for Anaheim employees?

At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, we file employment claims with the following agencies and courts (depending on your type of claim):

California:

• California Civil Rights Department (CCRD)
• Superior Court of Orange Court

Federal:

• S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC)
• Southern Division of the Central District of California