Los Angeles Wrongful Termination Law Blog

This blog recently discussed the serious nature of sexual harassment in the workplace. It can be helpful to be armed with the facts concerning sexual harassment if a worker is experiencing it or concerned about it. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII applies to companies with greater than 15 employees, state and local governments and some others. It protects workers in the workplace from sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other physical or verbal conduct that is sexual in nature when the conduct impacts the individual's employment; unreasonably interferes with the individual's work performance; or creates a hostile, offensive or intimidating work environment. It is important to keep in mind that sexual harassment is illegal and victims have remedies.

Workers who do not receive the overtime pay they have earned can struggle to support themselves and their families. It is important they are familiar with their rights and how to enforce them. Workers who work overtime have a reasonable and understandable expectation that they will be compensated for their efforts and hard work.

When overtime work goes unpaid or underpaid, it can be problematic for workers. It is important workers are fairly compensated for the work they put in. Workers who work more than 40 hours per week and do not receive overtime pay may have the right to receive it. It is important for employees to be familiar with when they qualify for overtime pay and that they do not simply rely on their employer to tell them if they qualify or not for overtime pay because the employer may not be correct. Workers in movie theaters, computer programmers and marketing and business professionals, among others, are workers that may all qualify for overtime pay.

Both federal and state laws provide protections that prevent employers from discriminating against employers on the basis of age. The Age Discrimination Employment Act or ADEA provides protections that prohibit employers from discriminating against applicants that are 40-years-old or older on the basis of age. The ADEA applies to different situations and stages of the employment process, such as the application process, job advertisements, apprenticeship programs, hiring and firing.

The ADEA seeks to protect older workers from age discrimination in several ways. The ADEA prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of age throughout the employment process including application, interview, hiring, promotions and termination. ADEA protections are thorough and apply to the manner in which employers advertise open positions, conduct the application process, including the interview, conduct the hiring process, compensate workers, perform work evaluations, offer promotions or extend demotions, assign job duties; administer discipline in the workplace and terminate employees.

Protections against discrimination in the workplace are important, but many workers may wonder exactly what protections they enjoy and what the legal basis for those protections is. Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, commonly referred to as anti-discrimination laws, prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from engaging in discrimination based on race, national origin, gender or religion.

Based on the employee's race, national origin, gender or religion, the employer is forbidden from refusing to hire, from firing, from failing to promote, from paying less or demoting, from denying training, from disciplining or from harassment. Discrimination based on pregnancy is also prohibited and employers are not permitted to adopt procedures or policies that have a significant impact on one group of workers protected by Title 7.