Los Angeles Racial Discrimination Lawyer

Racial Discrimination Lawyers in Los Angeles, CA

Azadian Law Group, PC regularly represents clients throughout Los Angeles who are the victims of racial discrimination at work.

The Los Angeles Race Discrimination Employment Lawyers at Azadian Law Group, PC, know that, even in today’s “modern workplace,” where diversity should be celebrated, race discrimination still regularly occurs to employees. We understand how being discriminated against or harassed at work due to your race is a degrading, humiliating, and offensive experience for employees. Employers often refuse to take adequate measures to protect employees from racial discrimination by supervisors and co-workers. Employees who are brave enough to complain about being treated differently due to their race or discrimination are often the target of retaliation and discrimination due to their complaints. Race discrimination can be based on stereotypes held by employers or supervisors as well as their desire to promote employees who they feel are more similar to themselves. The award-winning employment lawyers at Azadian Law Group, PC, fight employers aggressively to make sure they secure the maximum recovery for employees who have been discriminated against at work.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits harassment and discrimination in employment because of race, color, and national origin (in addition to other protected categories). It is illegal to treat an applicant or employee unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). In addition to race discrimination, color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color. National origin discrimination involves treating applicants or employees unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world, because of ethnicity or accent, or because they appear to be of a certain ethnic background (even if they are not). Discrimination can occur when the victim and the person who inflicted the discrimination are of the same race, color, or national origin.

It is also illegal for an employer to discriminate with respect to hiring, firing, recruitment, or referral for a fee based on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status. The law prohibits employers from hiring only U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents unless required to do so by law, regulation, or government contract. Employers may not refuse to accept lawful documentation that establishes the employment eligibility of an employee or demand additional documentation beyond what is legally required when verifying employment eligibility (i.e., completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9) based on the employee’s national origin or citizenship status.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits harassment and discrimination in employment because of race, color, and national origin (in addition to other protected categories). It is illegal to treat an applicant or employee unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). In addition to race discrimination, color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color. National origin discrimination involves treating applicants or employees unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world, because of ethnicity or accent, or because they appear to be of a certain ethnic background (even if they are not). Discrimination can occur when the victim and the person who inflicted the discrimination are of the same race, color, or national origin.

It is also illegal for an employer to discriminate with respect to hiring, firing, recruitment, or referral for a fee based on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status. The law prohibits employers from hiring only U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents unless required to do so by law, regulation, or government contract. Employers may not refuse to accept lawful documentation that establishes the employment eligibility of an employee or demand additional documentation beyond what is legally required when verifying employment eligibility (i.e., completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9) based on the employee’s national origin or citizenship status.

LOS ANGELES RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CASES: UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISPARATE IMPACT & DISPARATE TREATMENT

Again, racial discrimination in the workplace can take many forms. However, it’s sometimes broken down into two basic categories: disparate impact and disparate treatment.

DISPARATE TREATMENT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN LOS ANGELES

Disparate treatment, as the name implies, is a form of racial discrimination in which employees are treated differently from others due to their race. Examples of disparate treatment racial discrimination include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Refusing to hire or promote employees based on race
• Accounting for an employee’s race when deciding whether to fire them
• Allowing racial jokes or slurs in the workplace
• Assigning less-desirable shifts and tasks to employees of a certain race
• Disciplining employees of a certain race more harshly than others
• Requiring employees of a particular race to abide by rules that employees of other races don’t need to abide by
• Preventing employees of a particular race from taking advantage of professional development opportunities

This isn’t an exhaustive list. If you suspect you’ve been the victim of disparate treatment in the workplace, but you’re not completely certain this is the case, schedule a consultation with a Los Angeles racial discrimination attorney. A legal expert can help you better understand your options in these circumstances.

DISPARATE IMPACT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN LOS ANGELES

When an employer engages in the disparate treatment form of workplace racial discrimination, they are often consciously targeting employees based on their race. However, it’s also possible for employers to passively (and even unintentionally) engage in workplace racial discrimination if they enforce policies that serve no legitimate business purpose but do serve to negatively impact some employees based on their racial background.

This form of racial discrimination is known as disparate impact. The Supreme Court case which established our current understanding of disparate impact racial discrimination is Griggs v. Duke Power Co.

This case was brought when Black employees of a power company realized that certain workplace policies limited their earning capacity. At the power company, employees could work in one of four departments. In the department with the lowest pay, the highest-paying position still paid less than the lowest-paying job in any other department.

The company required employees to pass certain intelligence tests and earn high school diplomas to work in any of the three departments that paid more than the lower-paying one. Unfortunately, given the historical and cultural context of the time, many of the Black employees at the company had not graduated from high school. This prevented them from taking jobs in departments where they could earn more money.

It was determined that the policies requiring employees to earn high school diplomas to qualify for jobs in the higher-paying departments didn’t serve legitimate business purposes because many of the jobs in these departments involved duties that someone without a high school education could fulfill. It was, therefore, ruled that the policy had a disparate impact on Black employees.

These types of policies may still be enforced in other workplaces. If you believe your employer has enacted policies that don’t serve a genuine purpose but do negatively impact employees of a certain race, schedule a consultation at a Los Angeles racial discrimination law firm to learn more.

Call The Race Discrimination Employment Lawyers At Azadian Law Group, PC For A Free Case Review

If you believe that you have been terminated due to your race, we want to hear from you. Azadian Law Group, PC serves the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas and offers free consultation. To speak to one of our knowledgeable race discrimination attorneys today, please call 626-449-4944, 213-229-9031, or 949-662-5405

As we never charge our clients a penny out-of-pocket, you can rest assured that when we accept a case, we are standing behind our clients 100% and will fight aggressively for their rights.

Employers cannot discriminate against employees or applicants based on their race. However, this kind of discrimination happens regularly, and it can have a major emotional and psychological impact on those who experience it. At the Azadian Law Group, PC, our qualified and experienced team is ready to step in and help when you need a Los Angeles race discrimination attorney. Today, we want to answer some of the most common questions we receive regarding this type of workplace discrimination.