Though not expressly mentioned in the Constitution, the right to work is fundamental to most Americans. In recognizing this, a multitude of federal and state statutes have been enacted to protect an employees’ rights in the workplace. Such laws prohibit, among other things, discrimination in connection with job-related benefits (i.e., hiring, firing, promotion, raises, etc.) on the basis of suspect classifications like gender, age, disability, religion, national origin and race.

If you feel that you have been discriminated against, whether on the job or during the application process, you may be entitled to damages. At The Gillam Law Firm, we represent clients in diverse types of discrimination cases, and have successfully pursued claims against individuals and companies for failing to provide the proper protection for their employees. Our discrimination legal team consists of capable attorneys experienced in the investigation, negotiation and litigation of discrimination in the workplace. The Gillam Law firm has successfully pursued claims for clients alleging discrimination on the basis of:

Age Discrimination

Gender / Sex Discrimination

Race / Religious / National Origin Discrimination

Disability Discrimination

Our experienced attorneys will carefully process and screen all discrimination claims prior to filing and negotiating these claims with the proper administrative authority. If you believed that you have been denied employment, a promotion, pay raise, vacation on account of age, race, gender, or disability, or otherwise believe that you have been the victim of discrimination in the workplace, please contact The Gillam Law Firm to schedule a consultation.

Under both federal and state statutes, employers are prohibited from taking adverse employment actions against employees on the basis of several protected class designations. To ensure the effectiveness of these protections, employees who lawfully report harassment, discrimination or otherwise engage in other protected activity cannot be penalized for their actions. The following is a non-exhaustive list of other circumstances that may prompt your employer to retaliate against you:

You filed or attempted to file a worker’s compensation claim;

You took leave for a disability, family emergency or pregnancy;

You reported the illegal conduct of your employer, such as the failure to pay overtime or grant meal or rest breaks;

You complained of racial discrimination or harassment occurring in the workplace;

You testified in support of a co-worker’s complaint of discrimination or harassment;

You cooperated in an investigation conducted by state or federal authorities into the affairs of your current (or former) employer.

Employers may not fire or penalize employees for exercising their rights under federal or state law. Termination is just one form of retaliation. Other examples include, without limitation, a demotion, wage and hour issues, relocation to an undesirable workplace, denial of training or opportunity for advancement, and a hostile work environment. Under the law, retaliation is anything that changes the terms and conditions of your employment. There is a limited time period within which to assert a claim based on retaliation. Certain procedures must also be followed depending on the type of case and harm allegedly suffered. Please contact The Gillam Law Firm so that our experienced attorneys can carefully evaluate your case, and protect your rights under the law.

The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits harassment on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, color, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, or marital status. The FEHA also requires employers to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent harassment from occurring.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to: verbal harassment (epithets, derogatory comments, or slurs on the basis of a protected characteristic); physical harassment (unwanted touching, rubbing against someone, assault, or any physical interference with normal work or movement); visual harassment (derogatory posters, cartoons, or drawings on the basis of a protected characteristic); sexual favors (unwanted sexual advances which condition an employment benefit upon an exchange of sexual favors).

Hostile Work Environment

To establish a claim of hostile environment harassment, an employee must show that the harassment complained of was (1) on the basis of a protected characteristic (such as sex, sexual orientation, race, national origin, religion, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, or marital status) and (2) so severe or pervasive as to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment. Under the FEHA, there is no requirement that an employee suffer a loss of tangible job benefits or actual injury.

Occasional, isolated, or trivial acts are usually not enough to meet the standard for a hostile work environment claim. A hostile environment may exist even if some of the hostility is directed at other workers, such as a case where racial slurs directed at other minorities contributes to the overall hostility of the working environment.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a serious matter than may present serious consequences. It can happen to both men and women, irrespective of their position within a given company, and can be committed by people of the same gender as the victim. Sexual harassment in the workplace may take the form of either quid pro quo harassment or the creation of a hostile work environment. Quid pro quo harassment is when an employee’s subjection to sexual conduct is linked to the grant or denial of job benefits, such as getting or retaining a job, or receiving a favorable performance review or promotion. A hostile work environment is created when sexual conduct in the workplace has the effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has defined sexual harassment to include harassing behavior in the job such as requests for sexual favors, unwelcome sexual advances and other verbal or physical conduct that is sexual in nature. But the term encompasses a broad range of behaviors by supervisors, clients and co-workers. The following represents a non-exhaustive list:

sexual gestures;

derogatory comments, jokes and slurs;

sexual advances and propositions;

leering, touching, obstructing movement;

threatening verbal abuse of a sexual nature;

unwanted sexual advances;

displaying suggestive objects, pictures or cartoons.

No matter how it manifests itself in the workplace, sexual harassment can have a significant mental and physical impact on victims. These victims often feel powerless, vulnerable and afraid to speak out about the wrongs they suffered. The Gillam Law Firm is sensitive to the needs of sexual harassment victims. Our lawyers are experienced in defending the rights of employees whose dignity has been violated by the misconduct of supervisors and co-workers. At The Gillam Law Firm, we act immediately upon accepting your case, and are committed to serving the legal needs of employees in matters of sexual harassment in the workplace. Please contact our office today to schedule a consultation and case evaluation.

Wage and hour rights in the workplace are guaranteed by both federal and state law. Fortunately, California law extends even greater protection and affords more benefits than federal law. As compared with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, California requires employers to pay a minimum of $8.00 per hour. Other wage and hour rights include, without limitation, the right to a 15-minute break for every four hours worked and the right to a meal break. An employer’s failure to abide by the above laws may constitute a wage and hour violation. Other wage and hour disputes may result from the following:

improperly calculated overtime

unpaid wages

inadequate meal and rest periods

misclassification of an employee’s overtime eligibility

failure to pay vacation pay

failure to reimburse expenses, including travel costs, mileage and equipment

Employment law further mandates that each employee be classified as either “exempt” (salaried worker) or “nonexempt” (hourly worker). Such nonexempt employees must be paid one and a half times their regularly hourly rate if they work more than 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a given five-day work week. However, the rules governing whether an employee is considered exempt or nonexempt are complex, and employees are sometimes misclassified as exempt depending on the nature of their work. At The Gillam Law Firm, we are committed to educating our clients about their wage and hour rights under the law. Our attorneys possess comprehensive knowledge concerning hourly wages, salary and compensation, overtime law and other pay dispute matters. Contact an attorney at The Gillam Law Firm today to ensure that your rights are protected.

To promote the reporting of illegal activity in the workplace, federal and state laws encourage employees to identify improper conduct at work without the concomitant fear of reprisal. Originally, the term “whistleblower” described an individual who reported the illegal activity of a corporation engaged in efforts to defraud the government. Since then, that term has been expanded to cover employees who reasonably believe that the activity they are reporting is in violation of the law or public policy. The following is a non-exhaustive list of disclosures protected by current laws aimed at protecting whistleblowers:

a violation of the law or other rules and regulations

sexual harassment, deceptive or unfair business practices

racial discrimination and other violations of employment law

gross waste of funds

gross mismanagement

abuse of authority

a specific and substantial danger to public health and safety

tax fraud

falsification of loan documents, invoices and other financial documents

violation of obligation to partners in a business or shareholders

qui tam (The term “qui tam” refers to a civil lawsuit that alleges fraud against either the federal government or federal contractors.)

The whistleblower statutes prohibit a broad range of retaliatory conduct against the reporting employee, including demotion, termination, failure to hire or promote, intimidation, denial of benefits, and other actions that negatively affect the terms and conditions of employment. If a whistleblower prevails in his or her cause of action, he or she may be entitled to back pay, front pay, compensatory damages and other litigation costs, including attorney’s fees. Some statutes even award exemplary or punitive damages to a prevailing party.

But the decision to pursue a whistleblower retaliation claim under state or federal law can be complex, and many claims can have a short statute of limitations period. It is therefore critical to retain skilled counsel to determine which statutes are best suited for your whistleblower claim. With decades of combined experience, our attorneys are prepared to advise you at any stage of a whistleblower action – whether you are considering disclosure or have done so already and now face retaliation in your workplace. Our attorneys will work tirelessly with you to determine the best course of action, and help you reach a just resolution.

California is considered an at-will state. This means that an employee can quit his or her job for any reason or no reason, and can be fired for any reason or no reason, even if the reason offered is dubious. But there are exceptions to this general rule. A host of federal and state law prohibits employers from discrimination against employees on the basis of several protected designations, including race, age, gender, disability, religion and national origin. This means that employees may not be terminated because of their race, age, or any of the other protected classifications. Doing so is illegal, and may constitute wrongful termination entitling the employee to damages. Other illegal reasons for termination include, but are not limited to, the following:

termination in violation of federal or state statutes

termination as a form of sexual harassment

termination in violation of oral or written employment contracts

termination in violation of labor codes

termination in violation of a collective bargaining agreement

termination in response to an employee’s filing of a complaint against the employer, or for reporting any illegal activity

If you have been recently laid off or fired, and you believe that you lost your job for unlawful or pretextual reasons, contact our office to discover your legal recourse. One of our knowledgeable attorneys will assist you in determining if you have a viable claim for wrongful termination against your former employer. Depending on the nature of your case, you may be entitled to money damages. If you have not been officially released, our attorneys can negotiate an appropriate severance package on your behalf and work to ensure that you receive adequate compensation. To learn more about your rights after losing your job, and to ensure the preservation of those rights, contact a skilled and dedicated attorney today at The Gillam Law Firm.

There are some claims for unlawful employment practices that affect large groups of employees in the same or similar ways, such as off-the-clock work, misclassification of employees as independent contractors, or as exempt from overtime, or where one group is favored over another on a discriminatory basis. The Gillam Law Firm brings such claims as class actions, collective actions or mass actions. In such cases, one or more lead plaintiffs sue on behalf of themselves and others who are similarly affected. This allows employees to collect damages who might otherwise not be able to sue on their own.

The Gillam Law Firm has collected millions of dollars for these employees, and brought classwide relief by changing employers' practices so that they comply with the law. The firm is often asked to join other law firms to bring such cases.