Quick questions
- What types of workers do your Orange County employment attorneys represent?
- What types of employee rights claims do you handle in Orange County?
- What is employment discrimination?
- What is employment harassment?
- What is employment retaliation?
- What employment laws protect workers in Orange County?
- Where do you file my employment discrimination claim?
- How much is my Orange County employment case worth?
- Do you have an Orange County employment discrimination lawyer near me?
What types of workers do your Orange County employment attorneys represent?
At McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, we understand how hard you worked to obtain your job and how much effort goes into performing your role. Our employment lawyers represent all employees of Orange County, including all first responders, when employers make employment decisions based on your personal identity characteristics – and not how good you are at your job.
Our Orange County employment discrimination lawyers primarily represent public service employees, including the following:
- Law enforcement officers. Our team of lawyers represents police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and other law enforcement employees who protect Orange County residents from crimes, come to the aid of vehicle accident victims, resolve domestic disputes, and perform a broad range of community services.
- Firefighters. Firefighters risk severe burns, exposure to dangerous toxins, falls, being struck by objects, and other dangers. Our lawyers represent these brave workers who protect Orange County’s private and public property from fires, including structural fires and wildfires.
- First responders. At McNicholas & McNicholas LLP, we fight for EMTS, paramedics, corrections officers, and other Orange County first responders who come to the aid of local residents, businesses, and the public in all types of emergencies.
California permits employees, independent contractors, and volunteers to file discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. Generally, these workers can also file claims in federal court. We can explain what exceptions may apply.
What types of employee rights claims do you handle in Orange County?
At McNicholas & McNicholas, our employment lawyers handle the following types of claims:
- Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. These claims involve adverse employment decisions due to your identity characteristics and not your job qualifications or job performance. We discuss these claims in much more detail below.
- Wage and hour claims. Our lawyers understand just how much every dollar means to Orange County workers. We hold employers to the duty to pay their workers all the income (including overtime pay and pay according to the terms of collective bargaining agreements) that they’ve earned. We also use the relevant pay protection laws on your behalf, such as the Federal Labor Standards Act and the Equal Pay Act.
- Executive compensation claims. Our Orange County employment lawyers hold public and private employers to their duty to pay executives and workers with unique skills – who have written employment contracts – to their duty to comply with the terms of these contracts. These terms generally include salary, severance pay, insurance coverage, pensions and other retirement benefits, stock options, and other forms of compensation.
- Qui tam/whistleblower claims (and retaliation claims). Our lawyers represent whistleblowers who file claims under the federal and state False Claims Acts and other laws that provide that the whistleblower can receive a percentage of any recovery for disclosing fraudulent government activities. We also file retaliation claims when employers punish or adversely affect the employment of a whistleblower.
- Family medical leave claims. Our lawyers hold employers accountable when they retaliate against workers who request medical leave to care for a family member or spend time with a newborn or adoptee.
- Retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim. Our Orange County employment attorneys represent employees when their employers retaliate because the worker files a workers’ compensation claim for an occupational injury or illness.
- Wrongful termination. At McNicholas & McNicholas LLP, we demand compensation and job reinstatement when employers fire you due to discrimination, in retaliation for asserting your rights, in violation of your employment or collective bargaining agreement, or for other improper reasons. Our employment lawyers also represent employees when harassment forces them to quit.
What is employment discrimination?
Your right to file a discrimination claim depends on various federal laws or California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (CFEHA). These laws protect members of a protected class from adverse/negative employment decisions due to their protected class status.
Protected class
At McNicholas & McNicholas LLP, we can explain if you are a member of a protected class. Generally, the various federal laws and CFEHA protect workers due to the following characteristics:
- National Origin
- Race
- Color
- Age (40 and older)
- Disability – physical or cognitive
- Genetic Information
- Pregnancy
- Religion
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity
- Military/veteran status
- Marital status
Adverse employment conditions
Adverse employment conditions include:
- Not reviewing your job application even though you meet the experience and qualification requirements.
- Firing you even though you have good work performance credentials.
- Not providing the training and job opportunities you need to advance.
- Denying a deserved promotion.
- Transferring you to an undesirable work location.
- Reducing your pay or denying you a raise you deserve.
- Promoting less qualified workers instead of you.
- Failing to provide reasonable workplace accommodations if you have a disability or a pregnancy.
- Denying work benefits that others in your job category receive.
- Other adverse employment conditions
What is employment harassment?
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), harassment involves 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).”
Harassment is illegal if it becomes a condition of continued employment or is so pervasive and severe that it creates a hostile, abusive, or intimidating work environment. Also, harassment is illegal if it is in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge or helping out with any employer investigation, lawsuit, or proceeding.
Generally, employers are responsible for harassment by any executives, supervisors, or workers they control if they should have reasonably known about the harassment and failed to take corrective actions.
Our employment discrimination lawyers also file “quid pro quo harassment” claims in sexual harassment cases – in which a person who controls your employment opportunities conditions those opportunities on sexual favors.
Orange County employees can file a harassment claim even if someone else is the focus of the harassment – provided the worker witnesses the harassment.
What is employment retaliation?
Orange County employers should not negatively affect your employment because you assert your employee rights. When employers take this unconscionable step, we file retaliation claims against your employer. Common examples of employer retaliation include punishing or trying to intimidate you because you:
- File your own or support another worker’s discrimination, harassment, or retaliation complaint/lawsuit
- Refuse/resist sexual advances
- Refuse to comply with discrimination or harassment in the workplace
- Request reasonable workplace accommodations if you have a disability or are pregnant
- File a whistleblower claim
- File a worker’s compensation claim
- Request family medical leave
- Assert any other legal right
What employment laws protect workers in Orange County?
At McNicholas & McNicholas LLP, we understand the federal and state laws that protect employees from discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other employer wrongs. These laws include:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
- The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (CFEHA)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA);
- Equal Pay Act of 1963; and
- The FMLA and CFRA (federal and California medical leave laws)
- The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
- The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)
Typically, your employer must have 15 employees to file a federal claim and five employees for state claims. The county and city police, sheriff’s, and fire departments in Orange County and its subdivisions/cities likely have more than enough employees to justify your claim.
Where do you file my employment discrimination claim?
Most discrimination and harassment claims begin with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the California Civil Rights Department (CCRD).
We can appeal CCRD reviews to the Superior Court of Orange County. Orange County federal appeals are generally held in the Southern Division of the Central District of California.
Non-civil rights cases, such as executive compensation cases, can be filed directly in the state or federal courts without having to go before the EEOC or the CCRD.
How much is my Orange County employment case worth?
We understand how devastating it is financially and emotionally to lose your job or be deprived of the employment, pay and positions you deserve – just because of your background. Our Orange County employment lawyers demand compensation for all your past (back) damages and all your future (front) damages, including the following:
- Your income - wages, salary, and any other income
- Health, vacation, seniority, and other work benefits
- Retirement benefits
- Emotional distress and damage to your reputation
- Executive compensation benefits
- Lawyer fees and court costs
- Statutory damages
- Punitive damages
At McNicholas & McNicholas LLP, our lawyers also seek judicial orders that require your employer to reinstate you, promote you, review your application based on your job qualifications, provide reasonable workplace accommodations if you have a disability or a pregnancy and meet other requirements.
Do you have an Orange County employment discrimination lawyer near me?
McNicholas & McNicholas meets police officers, firefighters, first responders, and other public and private employees at our office located at 10866 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, 90024. Our team of lawyers also conducts consultations by phone and through online video conferences.
We’re here to answer your questions, explain your rights, and fight for all the employee compensation you deserve.
Contact our accomplished Orange County employment discrimination lawyers now
John, Patrick, and Matthew McNicholas and their team of lawyers have tried hundreds of cases to get jury verdicts on behalf of clients. We are respected across California for our advocacy skills, preparation, and record of impressive results in employee rights cases. Call us or fill out our contact form today to schedule a free consultation.
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I can’t express enough gratitude for the exceptional service we received from Attorney Brandon Castor during one of the most challenging times in our lives. Our family was affected by the devastating Paradise fires, and it felt like the weight of the world was on our shoulders as we tried to navigate the aftermath.
I can’t express enough gratitude for the exceptional service we received from Attorney BrandonI recently had a wage question and I was contacted by Jeff Ponting who grossly exceeded my expectations regarding the information he provided me. Not only did he share his expertise, but took the time to confer...
Juan Victoria and the McNicholas team deserve more than 5 Stars. Words can't describe how grateful I am to have received help from McNicholas law firm. Juan is very SHARP, calm strategic thinker with a very approachable, down to earth manner. He is so dedicated, very hard working. I could not imagine...
Juan Victoria and the McNicholas team deserve more than 5 Stars. Words can't describe how grateful I am to have received help from McNicholas law firm. Juan is very SHARP, calm strategic thinker with a very approachable, down to earth manner. He is so dedicated, very hard working. I could not imagine...
List of Agencies We are Suing or Have Sued
- LAPD
- LA Co Sheriff
- Berkely PD
- Riverside PD
- Huntington Beach PD
- Redondo Beach PD
- Ukiah PD
- Willits PD
- City of Richmond (Non LEO/Employment)
- Palo Alto PD
- Santa Barbara County Sheriff
- Chula Vista PD
- San Joaquin County Sheriff
- Fremont PD
- Walnut Creek PD
- Shasta County Sheriff
- Contra Costa Sheriff (Non LEO/Employment)
- El Segundo PD
- San Diego PD
- El Monte PD
- Pomona PD
- LAWA
- Culver City PD (Non LEO)
- Berkeley Fire/CoB (Non LEO)
- LAFD
