Los Angeles Employment Law Blog

Recently, the CEO of the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired found she was unable to fully use the website of any of the 2020 candidates for President. Among other reasons to remove the obstacles from their website, the campaigns are employers at a time when employers are seeing website accessibility lawsuits in record numbers.

Discrimination in the workplace can take many forms, including age discrimination. Older workers in California, rather than being respected for their experience and knowledge may find themselves being passed up for promotions, ridiculed for their age or even forced into early retirement simply due to their age. This is age discrimination, and it is against federal and state law.

However, one federal bill, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, may make it easier for workers to prove they have experienced age discrimination in the workplace. The bill would reverse a workplace discrimination ruling made by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009. In that ruling, it was determined that to prove age discrimination, workers had to show that their age was the primary factor in the adverse employment activity. Under this bill, workers would only have to show their age was a factor in the adverse employment activity, even if it was not the sole reason for the activity.

Many people in California utilize the services of Charter Communications, including its cable television, Internet and phone services. Thus, they may be interested to hear that Charter Communications Inc., has settled a disability discrimination claim brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The settlement amounted to $99,500.

Per the EEOC's lawsuit, a worker at Time Warner needed to take a leave of absence to have a cancerous lump removed. However, 10 days after the procedure was performed and three weeks before the employee was to return to the workplace, she was let go from her job.

Whenever an employer fires an employee for a reason prohibited by law or by an employment contract, the employee may have a case against the employer for wrongful termination. California law forbids employers from retaliating against an employee if the employee reports a suspected legal violation to the government. What does retaliation mean, and what kinds of behavior are protected from retaliation? Let's talk about this in a little more detail.

In California, it is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an employee when the employee gives information to law enforcement or a government agency and the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of law or noncompliance with a federal or state statute, regulation or rule. Employees can discuss the conditions affecting their working conditions with government agencies and law enforcement.