Wrongful Termination, Discrimination, and Harassment

Even though California is an “at will” state, employers cannot terminate for reasons that violate the law. If you have been terminated based on any of the following reasons, however, you may have a legal claim against your employer for wrongful termination:

Race

Ethnicity

National origin

Religion

Disability (including pregnancy)

Age

Sex or Gender

Sexual Orientation

California and federal law protect workers from being harassed because of your sex, race, age, disability/medical condition, pregnancy, religion, nationality or sexual orientation. This includes protection from jokes or derogatory comments made to you in connection with these items, including offensive statements, unwanted sexual advances, sexual comments, unwanted touching, requests or demands for sex or threats if such demands are not met. Inappropriate photos in the workplace, emails or comments in the workplace may give rise to a harassment claim.

Your situation may give rise to legal claims that are not listed here. The best way to assess whether or not you have legal claims to pursue is to give us a call and explain your circumstances. Please fill out your information under the “Contact Me” tab, and we will get back to you.

You may even have a claim if you were not terminated, but were harassed, demoted, suspended, disciplined, refused a promotion or forced to quit based on such wrongful conduct by your employer. If you think you have been fired or otherwise treated unfairly at work based on one of the above reasons, and your employer did not have a legitimate basis for firing you, you may have a legal claim against your employer. Similarly, both California and federal laws protect you from being subjected to derogatory remarks at work based on your race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability (and pregnancy), age, sex/gender, or sexual orientation. These include any comments or jokes made by your employer, your co-workers or

your supervisors, whether made to you in person or in writing, on social media, photographs or anything that is visible to you and/or other co-workers. You are further protected from any unwanted comments or conduct of a sexual nature including, touching, jokes, advances, propositions, demands for dates or sex or any other kind of comment or conduct that would be personally offensive to a reasonable person. Any termination that is illegal may trigger a claim for wrongful termination. If you are unsure or have more questions about your situation, please contact us –one of our attorneys can assess whether or not you have a legal claim. You will not be charged for inquiring—the consultation is free and the conversation is entirely confidential.