Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

Worker Says California Pregnancy Discrimination at Amazon Caused Her to Miscarry

August 29, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

A former employee alleges Amazon’s pregnancy discrimination against her and failure to provide accommodations led her to suffer a miscarriage.

According to Vice, the packer was 7 weeks pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage at the fulfillment center where she worked. In the weeks prior, she said she’d begged her warehouse manager and human resource office for lighter duty. She provided a doctor’s note requesting pregnancy accommodations, which indicated she was not to lift, push, pull or carry more than 20 pounds. She was also not to walk or stand for more than half of her shift. Her job involved loading packages onto delivery trucks. The bins she was responsible for lifting could be up to 50 pounds, repeatedly, over a 10-hour shift.

The worker said that when she provided the doctor’s note, she was told verbally that there were no specific areas for light work that wouldn’t require 15 pounds or more of lifting or for her not to be on her feet. Subsequently, her manager began repeatedly questioning why she was sitting, taking longer bathroom breaks and moving more slowly.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that the risk of miscarriage can increase when workers routinely engage in heavy lifting, standing on their feet for long hours and bending at the waist. Plaintiff said her manager was not accommodating of any of this. Although workers are only allowed 10 minutes of “time off task” daily, the size of the warehouse means it takes six minutes just to talk to the bathroom and back. It would be virtually impossible to take more than one bathroom break daily with those kind of restrictions. Continue Reading ›

Do TikTok Job Recruit Tactics Violate Age, Gender Discrimination Laws?

August 21, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

Employers using social media platforms to advertise jobs and recruit potential employees is nothing new. Some did run into trouble tailoring their job ads to certain audiences (by age, gender, location, etc.), but most of those fields have been eliminated. Now, some employers are shifting their recruiting efforts to TikTok, a wildly popular video-sharing social networking service.

Last month, the company even launched its own pilot program with its own website that allowed people to apply for jobs through the app, which offered resources, tips and how to make a good pitch. Meanwhile, many employers, facing significant worker shortages, are using the app to reach out to potential workers.

By virtue of the fact that it is a video-based provider, it does leave prospective employees vulnerable to looks-based discrimination, sometimes referred to as appearance discrimination or lookism.

Of course, one’s appearance is not an indication of their work ethic or character. That said, society often puts a significant value on one’s appearance. Certainly, that’s not fair, but is it illegal? Appearance discrimination isn’t a category that is technically recognized as being protected by employment laws in California, but it could be actionable when the employer’s conduct amounts to gender discrimination, age discrimination, racial discrimination or disability discrimination. Continue Reading ›

Employer Racism, Retaliation, Alleged By Sony Worker Who Says She Was Used as a “Token” Minority

August 15, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

Sony, multinational conglomerate corporation, is being accused of racial discrimination against Black employees. Some had been invited to appear in a Black History Month video earlier this year to speak as “Sony shining stars” about the power of Black voices in the company. Yet at least one of those workers now alleges that the company’s representations of diversity failed to match reality.

According to Buzzfeed, plaintiff said she raised concerns about racist remarks by her supervisors. Instead of addressing those, management for the company allegedly retaliated against her by excluding her from meetings, taking away certain prime accounts and then terminating her while she was on sick leave after contracting the coronavirus. She now believes she was used by the company to bulk up its diversity numbers, and had no intention of actually living up to the image it portrayed.

The company declined to comment on the specific lawsuit, Buzzfeed reported, but insisted dedication to equity, inclusion and diversity, adding all such complaints are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.

Our Los Angeles racial discrimination employment lawyers know this is far from an isolated incident in terms of employees of color closely considering whether the racial inequality reckoning that’s reverberated across the country over the last year has actually resulted in meaningful changes – particularly in terms of employment. Continue Reading ›

California Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Spurs Activision Blizzard President’s Ouster

August 6, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

A new California sexual harassment lawsuit has rocked the gaming world, with an avalanche of dissent and claims of “frat boy culture” dominating descriptions of Activision Blizzard, the video gaming company that own games like “Call of Duty,” “Candy Crush” and “World of Warcraft.”

The upheaval and high-profile exit is reminiscent of what our Los Angeles sexual harassment lawyers have noted in the culture of the gaming industry (long noted for its misogyny), but some are speculating this could have reverberations throughout the tech world and even corporate America.

This all started with a California sexual harassment lawsuit filed last month by the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing. According to the complaint, multiple female employees were subjected to gender discrimination, sexual harassment and unequal pay. Company executives reportedly were aware of the harassment and other problems, but failed to take reasonable steps to halt illegal conduct. Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the company retaliated against the complainants. Continue Reading ›

Los Angeles Employment Lawyer: Can My Boss Force Me to Get the COVID Vaccine?

August 3, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

Are COVID-19 vaccine mandates legal in California? It’s a query increasingly being asked of our Los Angeles employment attorneys.

Employer vaccine mandates may soon become the norm, at least in California, if not beyond. Large employers – particularly those in California and New York – are moving to have their employees get vaccinated or tested regularly for COVID-19. Recently, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mandated vaccines for its health care workers and President Joe Biden is expected to announce that all federal employees will be required to either be vaccinated or regularly tested. Masking mandates are also coming back into effect. As of right now, many private sector employers have stopped short of requiring vaccines as a condition of employment, but the growing thread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus may compel them to shift course. A growing number of L.A. bars and restaurants are going so far as to require patrons – let alone employees – to prove they are vaccinated.

Generally, employers can mandate vaccines, but it depends on where you live. Further, as a Los Angeles employment lawyer can explain, accommodations must be made for those with religious exemptions and disabilities, as well as those in unions.

The thinking behind these initiatives is that unless and until more people are vaccinated, infections, hospitalizations and deaths are likely to increase drastically across the country. With this, many major companies such as Lyft, Google and Facebook are requiring worker vaccines, as are universities. The only exceptions are those with medical or religious exemptions.

In response, we’re starting to see some employment lawsuits (wrongful termination) crop up. In Texas, for example, a hospital faced a lawsuit from more than 100 employees who were vaccine averse. There are also university students in Indiana who allege the school’s vaccine mandate is unconstitutional.

However, the history of vaccine mandates in the U.S. is actually a long one. Continue Reading ›

Pregnancy Discrimination Protections Tested in Pending Case

July 30, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

It’s been less than one year since the U.S. Supreme Court waded into the question of pregnancy discrimination versus religious rights in a case involving a Catholic school and its teachers. In the 7-2 ruling, the court held that federal employment discrimination laws aren’t applicable at church-run schools to teachers whose duties include religious instruction. Now, the boundaries are being tested again.

In a case out of New Jersey, an unmarried elementary art teacher in a Roman Catholic school was reportedly fired because she was pregnant and unmarried. The woman sued, alleging gender discrimination and sexual double standards. As her pregnancy discrimination lawyer explains it, the school’s only proof of a moral code violation was the pregnancy itself. For that, only a woman can be punished, not a man.

While the archdiocese in that area says the legal argument is a “must-win fight for the fundamental freedom of religion,” the principal, a nun, testified in depositions that she’d made no effort to ascertain whether other staffers (including men) were engaged in sex outside of marriage. The school, however, pointed to one case in the same archdiocese wherein a male teacher was fired when the woman he was dating became pregnant.

California Attorney General Slams Pre-Employment Medical Screening as Discriminatory

July 21, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

In a federal appeal involving a class action lawsuit alleging discriminatory medical inquiries and exams as a condition of hiring, the California attorney general has filed an amicus brief decrying these practices and outlining the state’s robust anti-discrimination laws. The AG also noted the possible repercussions – particularly for those with disabilities – if a lower court’s ruling is allowed to apply to all Californians.

The lawsuit, pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, alleges that a health care company – one of the biggest providers of occupational health services in the country – unlawfully required applicants to to answer “highly intrusive, non-job-related and discriminatory” questions about their health. These reportedly have included information on prospective applicants’ hair loss, menstrual issues, sexually-transmitted diseases, mental illness, HIV, hemorrhoids and disability status.

Such inquiries, state Attorney General Rob Bonta asserts, run contrary to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and underscore how potentially harmful pre-employment screenings can be.

The lawsuit, Raines v. U.S. Healthworks Medical Group, centers around an employer’s contract with a corporate third-party agent responsible for pre-employment screening. Plaintiffs allege that when they refused to answer certain questions, such as one relating to menstruation, offers of employment were revoked. Continue Reading ›

California Racial Discrimination Alleged by Long Beach Employees

July 15, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

Racial discrimination at California workplaces can be grounds for employment litigation. Recently, according to The Los Angeles Times, numerous current and former workers for the City of Long Beach alleged they have been victimized for years by systemic racial prejudice at work.

Among the allegations set forth in the class action lawsuit against the city:

Black workers were reportedly kept disproportionately in lower-paying and unclassified positions.
Black workers not given equal pay or equal opportunity for promotion.
One worker told she was part of her department’s “problem children.”
One worker’s raise was revoked because of a purported mistake in salary calculations.
An “anti-black culture” within numerous city departments.

They allege that these actions individually and collectively contributed to a hostile work environment and held them back in their careers. One of those involved said Black workers for the city had been meeting privately for years, discussing their difficulties and trying to find a way forward.

A 2018 report commissioned by the city revealed 65 percent of Black workers in the city were paid less than $60,000 a year, compared with about one-third of the city’s White workers in the same pay range. While 9 percent of Black applicants who sought work in the city were hired, 33 percent of White applicants were hired.

The class action litigation currently names five plaintiffs, but employment attorneys in the case say as many as 1,000 could ultimately claim damages. Continue Reading ›

California Sexual Harassment Claims Against Actor Settled for $2.2 Million

July 6, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

California sexual harassment claims against Oscar-nominated actor James Franco by former film students were recently settled for $2.2 million. The students allege that they were sexually harassed and coaxed into performing increasingly explicit on-camera sex scenes. They further alleged that as students at his film school, they were victims of fraud. Plaintiffs include one of five women who went on the record with the Los Angeles Times in 2018 to detail allegations of on-set behavior that was sexually exploitative or at least inappropriate.

Franco, 43, has denied the allegations repeatedly. But allegations of his inappropriate and possibly predatory behavior with young women were swirling even before the #MeToo movement gained traction. For example, in a 2014 Instagram exchange, he pursued a 17-year-old girl from Britain he’d met outside a theater, asking her about details of the hotel room where she was staying – even after he found out how old she was. When those messages later when public, he released a statement saying he was “embarrassed” and calling social media “tricky.”

In the most recent lawsuits, plaintiffs allege Franco set up his educational institute as a means to pursue young women and sexually exploit them. Those who cooperated with him were reportedly led to believe that doing so would land them roles in his movies. Plaintiffs allege the defendant coerced them during a “master class on sex scenes” into participating in sexual activity that was gratuitous while denying them protections actors and actresses would typically have as professionals with nudity riders. (Such riders protect film professionals from coercion and exploitation.) Continue Reading ›

Bill to Protect Older Americans from Age Discrimination Passed by House

July 2, 2021 | by Nassiri Law

Age discrimination is an ongoing problem in workplaces throughout California and the U.S. Recognizing this, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill aimed at protecting older Americans, potentially making it easier to file suit for violations.

The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act was introduced earlier this year as part of a bipartisan effort. The goal is to restore workplace protections for 40-and-older workers that were undercut in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That ruling made it tougher to prove age discrimination.

In that case, the high court held that plaintiffs alleging disparate treatment under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 must prove that one’s older age was the “but-for” cause of the adverse employment action. In other words, as our Los Angeles age discrimination lawyers can explain, the burden doesn’t shift to the employer to prove the action would have been taken regardless of age – even if the worker produces evidence that age was one motivating factor. The court held that ADEA doesn’t authorize a so-called “mixed-motives age discrimination claim.” Rather, it states that claims may be brought when an employer took some adverse action “because of age” and that age was the “reason” the employer decided to act. Continue Reading ›