Orange County Employment Lawyer

We Fight for Your Rights

 Employment law cases are very often going to be difficult, which is why you want to have an experienced Orange County employment lawyer by your side for this fight. You depend on your job for your livelihood, but your employer might see you as disposable and they have plenty of resources to fight cases like this.

The lawyers that we will be up against representing your employer are often ready to fight hard to protect the employer. They will try to intimidate you and get you to go away, but our attorney knows that you deserve justice no matter how much of a fight the other attorneys put up against us. We focus on those who have been wronged because you are the ones who deserve justice and we know that the law protects you from harassment, discrimination and more. We utilize our resources and knowledge to provide a fair outcome for you.

Wrongfully Terminated?

 Our Orange County employment lawyer often handles cases in which employees have lost their jobs for reasons that are unlawful.

Most people who work in California are considered to be at-will employees. That essentially means that you could be fired at any time for nearly any reason at all. There are, however, some ways in which employees like you are protected from being fired. Here are some reasons why you might be wrongfully terminated:

• Your employer violated the FEHA
• You are fired for whistle blowing
• You are fired for your political beliefs or activities that you do outside of the workspace
• You are fired because your employer did not want to provide you with accommodations for your disability within reason

Because of California’s WARN act, you may be entitled to back pay and benefits if you lost your job during a massive layoff and were not given 60 days notice.

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Wage Theft

 The law in California has a set minimum wage for hourly work as well as standards that the employer must meet for their employees, which include the following:

• Minimum wage or more in payment
• Mandated breaks for employees
• Overtime payment

If your employer does not give you the minimum wage or allow you to have meal or rest breaks, they will be in violation of this.

If you work over 40 hours in a week and are not receiving overtime payment, you may be entitled to file a claim.

Employers have tactics to try to avoid having claims filed against them, including listing employees as salaried when they should be listed as hourly employees, which would make them exempt from overtime. This misclassification goes against the law.

If an employer is asking you to perform tasks while you are off the clock, this is also a form of wage theft that would leave you eligible to file an employment law claim.

If you are filing a claim against your employer and have not quit your job, they are not allowed to fire you out of retaliation for bringing these claims to get your rightful wages.

Harassment in the Workplace

 In California, you are protected by FEHA from being harassed at work. Our Orange County employment lawyer is well-versed in these types of cases. A lot of people experience this type of hostile work environment and harassment can go beyond sexual harassment. You can be harassed for your age or nationality, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, disability, etc. In cases like this, usually your first step is to file a complaint with the DFEH. From there, you can bring your claim against your employer once you were given the right to sue via a notice from the DFEH.

Discrimination in the Workplace

 You are protected against discrimination under California law if you have been discriminated against based on your religion, sexuality, gender, sex, age, nationality, race or ethnicity, disability or pregnancy.

These cases are similar to harassment, as you have to go through the FEHA. The only difference is that discrimination is not based on the behavior of your coworkers or supervisors— it involves how your job functions, such as the hiring and firing of an employee. To be denied a promotion based on the protected categories is discrimination. To be fired based on them discovering that you are Islamic is discrimination. If you are not allowed in the break room based on your sexuality, that’s also discrimination.

Please note that if you decide to work with our Orange County employment law attorney to file a claim, your employer is not allowed to fire you in retaliation.

Family and/or Medical Leave from Work

 Under California law, you have a right to take leave as you need either for medical reasons or because of your family.

The state and federal laws that protect you include the following:

• Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
• CPDA which includes the New Parent Leave Act as well as Pregnancy Disability Leave

FMLA and CFRA allow you 12 weeks of leave that are unpaid to take care of your newborn or newly adopted child, for  family members who have serious illness or your own serious illness. You can only take this leave if the following applies to you:

• You have been an employee at this company for at least a year
• In the past year you have worked for this company for at least 1250 hours
• Your company has at least 50 people working at the company within 75 miles of the main worksite

If you’ve given birth to a child, then under CPDA you are given an extra four months of leave if you are incapacitated based on your pregnancy or haven’t gone through childbirth.

The other types of leaves that California law protects would include jury duty, leave based on being a victim of a crime including sexual assault, rehab for substance abuse, leave to be involved in your child’s curricular activities, etc. Please talk to our Orange County employment lawyer to see whether or not your leave is protected under state or federal law.

Again, if you were taking leave, your employer may not fire you in retaliation based on this need to take leave.

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Keeping Your Job Through a Lawsuit

 You can keep your job even if you are suing your employer. We do encourage you to get in contact with our Orange County employment lawyer in case you are being sued out of retaliation.

Of course, we encourage you to go through all levels of management with your company before you take your claim to the DFEH. We want you to be able to exhaust your options through HR or supervisors and bosses. Once you decide to file your lawsuit you need to be ready with all of your evidence including emails or text messages, as well as a list of possible witnesses and their contact information.

Statute of Limitations

 Depending on your type of claim you will be held to a certain statute of limitations in which period you are allowed to file your claim. If your claim involves discrimination or harassment you will have to get a right to sue notice from the DFEH and then you’ll have two years if there was a breach of an oral contract, three years if there was a wage issue, and finally four years if there was a breach of a written contract.

Getting Fired Based on How You Look

 According to FEHA employers are not allowed to discriminate against you based on your appearance, which would be categorized as your disability, race, age or sex. There are counties in California that prohibit you from being discriminated against based on your height and weight, as well. Whether or not you have means to file an unemployment lawsuit based on your termination depends on the details of your case.

Your company is allowed to have a standard of dress code; however, if they are letting you go because of a tattoo or a piercing that you have due to your religion, then that is likely something that the FEHA is going to protect you against.

Call Our Orange County Employment Lawyer Today

If you have an employment law matter that you need to be addressed by experienced representation, please get in contact with our Orange County employment lawyer today. We want to help you get the results that you deserve and we will fight tirelessly to give you that. Please call today to set up a consultation as soon as possible.