Employment law and discrimination claims are often complex and difficult to prove. There are many laws that address employment discrimination and wrongful termination. These laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), and others, as well as many state and local laws. However, if your employer doesn’t like you and fires you, it isn’t necessarily actionable discrimination. The employer must be discriminating on the basis of a “protected category” for the discrimination to be illegal. It is illegal to discriminate in hiring, promotions, termination, or other aspects of employment on the basis of a person’s race, gender, national origin, religion, disability, or age, or to retaliate against an individual for opposing such practices, or consulting an attorney or the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or equivalent state entity. Additionally, in California, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of the employee’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.
Employers must also accommodate the disabilities of their employees if those disabilities meet certain standards. If a company terminates an employee without considering an accommodation, this too can rise to an actionable claim.
To be successful in bringing a discrimination action against an employer, the employee must first show that he/she is a member of a protected class, and that he/she suffered an adverse employment action. The employer will almost always respond claiming there was a legitimate reason for the adverse employment action. The burden is then on the employee to show that the employer’s reason for the firing was not the legitimate reason. It used to be that that was enough. However, today even after the employee has successfully rebutted the employer’s claim, the employee must still prove that there was actual discrimination in the workplace.
Let the experienced professionals at CC Weaver & Associates help you navigate through this complex area of law. Call us today for a free, no-obligation initial consultation.
