Employment Attorneys in Glendale, CA

Doing your job and getting paid for it should be a straightforward matter. If you are lucky, you can go through your entire career without thinking much about the laws that govern your employment. This is especially true in California, where employment laws do a considerably better job of protecting workers from injustice than the analogous employment laws do in other states.

Whether you have an employment contract or you are employed on an at-will basis, federal and state laws protect you from unsafe working conditions, wrongful termination of employment, discrimination, and unfairly low pay. The Glendale employment lawyers at Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. help employees start their jobs in a strong position and resolve disputes with their employers over pay and working conditions, among other issues.

Glendale Employment Lawyers

Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. is a law firm that exclusively represents workers in disputes with their employers. We have office locations in Glendale and throughout California. These are some of the types of cases in which we have helped workers get justice after experiencing unfair treatment from their employers:

• Wage theft, including disputes about overtime pay
• Employer retaliation against whistleblowers or employees who complained about discrimination
• Breach of contract
• Discrimination based on race, sex, age, religion, disability, or caste
• Wrongful termination of employment
• Disputes over family leave or medical leave

Whether you need a lawyer to review an employment contract or have been experiencing discrimination at work and want to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the employment attorneys at Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. can help.

California Employment Discrimination Laws

Employment discrimination is one of the most common reasons that employees seek out employment lawyers. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that lays the foundation of workplace discrimination laws, and since then, other federal and state laws have expanded on it; notable among these is the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

The legal definition of employment discrimination is an employer taking adverse action against an employee based on a protected characteristic of the employee. An adverse action is something that would be justifiable if it were a response to misconduct or poor performance by the employee but would otherwise be unfair. The following are examples of adverse actions by employers:

• Refusal to hire
• Unusually close supervision
• Undesired reassignment of duties, work schedule, or work location
• Denial of raises or promotions for which the employee is eligible
• Termination of employment

Harassment, also known as a hostile work environment, also counts as discrimination when it is related to a protected characteristic of the employee targeted by the harassment. It is still covered under discrimination laws, even though it is never professionally acceptable for an employer to harass an employee, not even in response to poor job performance or misconduct.

As for protected characteristics, these are stable characteristics of the employee which relate to the employee’s body, family background, or personal history. These are examples of protected characteristics:

• Race, skin color, ethnicity, or national origin
• Age
• Military status
• Religion, sect, or lack of religious affiliation
• Sex, gender presentation (perceived masculine or feminine appearance or behavior), or sexual orientation
• Marital status, family status, or pregnancy
• Immigration status, as long as the employee is legally eligible to work in the United States
• Country of citizenship, except for certain public sector jobs open only to U.S. citizens
• Disability

The civil courts are meant to be accessible to everyone, but in employment discrimination cases, you cannot just walk into the courthouse and file a lawsuit against your employer. First, you must get authorization from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It is a good idea to have an employment attorney represent you in your interactions with the EEOC.

Resolving Disputes With Your Employer in Glendale, California

Most employees in California do not have employment contracts. This is because California, like almost every other state, recognizes at-will employment. In an at-will employment relationship, you can quit your job whenever you choose. You do not even have to give two weeks’ notice; people just do this to be polite. Your employer also has the right to end the employment relationship at any time and for almost any reason. Employers sometimes offer severance pay, even if the employee does not have an employment contract, but this is not a legal requirement.

Even if you were hired and fired from an at-will employment arrangement, you still have the right to sue your employer for wrongful termination of employment if you think that your employer fired you for discriminatory reasons, that is, because of a protected characteristic of yours. Wrongful termination also applies if your employer fired you in retaliation for engaging in a protected activity, such as reporting workplace misconduct, taking a family leave or medical leave, filing a workers’ compensation claim, requesting accommodations for a disability, or complaining about discrimination.

Contact the employment attorneys at Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. if you think that your employer fired you from your job unfairly or used corporate downsizing as an excuse to discriminate against you. Likewise, if your employer offered you a separation agreement that includes a severance package, you should have an employment lawyer review it before you decide to sign it.

Contact Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. About Employment Disputes

Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. is dedicated to helping workers in California get justice after suffering unfair treatment at work. Contact Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. in Riverside, California, to schedule a consultation.