Los Angeles Employment Law &
Wrongful Termination Lawyers
Wrongful Termination Lawyers
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Azadian Law Group, PC regularly represents clients throughout Los Angeles, CA who are the victims of age discrimination in the workplace.
At Azadian Law Group, PC understands how age discrimination impacts the life of older employees and the employees’ families. When older employees are terminated they also face much more difficulty than younger employees in finding a new job, which can cause severe financial damages and also emotional distress to employees. The age discrimination lawyers at Azadian Law Group, PC fight employers aggressively to make sure they secure the maximum recovery for victims of age discrimination.
Often referred to as “out with the old and in with the new,” age discrimination involves treating an applicant or employee less favorably because of his/her age. Age discrimination is a common form of wrongful termination. The Los Angeles Age Discrimination Attorneys at Azadian Law Group have successfully handled numerous age discrimination cases.
What qualifies as age discrimination? Example of age discrimination in the workplace can include:
However, discriminating in favor of older workers is not illegal. It is not illegal for an employer to favor an older worker over a younger one, even if both workers are age 40 or older. For example, an employer is free to say it is only hiring employees age 40 or older.
Azadian Law Group has some of the best Los Angeles Age Discrimination Attorneys. We offer free consultations to see if what an employee has experienced is illegal age discrimination. When an employee is still employed, we also work with the employee to ensure that their concerns related to age discrimination are documented appropriately. Our Los Angeles Age Discrimination Attorneys have successfully handled numerous age discrimination claims and claims of retaliation related to complaints of age discrimination.
The law forbids age discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. These laws include the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), along with regulations issued by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).
Asking older employees when they plan to retire or pressuring them to retire may also be age discrimination. See France v. Johnson, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 17915 (9th Cir. Oct. 14, 2015) (summary judgment improper because the supervisor’s “retirement discussions with [employee] . . .[are] circumstantial evidence showing [supervisor’s] bias in his decision-making process”).) However, a few jobs do have valid mandatory-retirement ages (such as air-traffic controller and pilots). Even an employment policy or practice that applies to everyone, regardless of age, can be illegal if it has a negative impact on applicants or employees age 40 or older and is not based on a reasonable factor other than age.
Employees who complain about age discrimination cannot be retaliated against due to their complaints. These complaints often are made by employees to their supervisors or to human resources and include complaints relating to favoring younger employees or asking older employees to retire. In a retaliation claim, it is irrelevant whether age discrimination actually occurred – all that matters is whether employee reasonably believed he or she was the victim of discrimination and complained about it. See Flait v. North American Watch Corp., 3 Cal. App. 4th 467, 477 (1992) (“An employer may not “fire an employee because he opposed discrimination against a fellow employee, even if he was mistaken and there was no discrimination.”).
It is also unlawful to harass a person because of his or her age. Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person’s age. Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren’t very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted). The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.
If you believe that you have been terminated or harassed due to your age, we want to hear from you. Azadian Law Group, PC serves the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas and offers free consultations. To speak to one of our knowledgeable discrimination attorneys today, please call 626-449-4944 or 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 client 100% and will fight aggressively for their rights.