Los Angeles gender discrimination attorney

Pay Secrecy in California: Understanding Your Employee Rights

June 17, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

A prominent, national law firm is facing a growing number of lawsuits pertaining to its secretive compensation system that former attorneys say hides systematic pay discrimination against women. Some of those include claims, filed in 2018, included plaintiffs who worked for the firm in California, as the ABA Journal reported.

In that case, the lawsuit alleges there was an enforced “code of silence” with regard to pay and productivity wherein partners kept compensation information confidential. That left female attorneys out in the cold, unable to discover or attempt to equalize their pay. Guidelines at the firm were reportedly changed to discourage – but not outright forbid – discussions of pay among partners and employees.

Recently, a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the law firm’s motion to dismiss these lawsuit, though the court did dismiss several of the pregnancy discrimination claims. Continue Reading ›

Transgender Discrimination Illegal in California, Championed by White House

April 8, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Discrimination of transgender professionals is nothing new, though Californians may not realize the employment protections trans workers are afforded in this state don’t apply to all.

That’s because even as the California Fair Housing and Employment Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of one’s sexuality, gender and gender identity, the federal government does not. But military personnel who are transgender went from being told at the tail end of the Obama administration that they could serve openly and have access to psychological and gender-affirming medical care, the Trump administration has effectively ushered in a new “don’t ask, don’t tell” phase for service members who are transgender.

As noted in a report by the non-partisan Palm Center, while this is not a “ban,” neither was “don’t ask, don’t tell” under former President Bill Clinton. Nonetheless, both policies did/will have the impact of systematically removing transgender individuals from the military or, just like DADT, ensure their gender identity is kept silent and invisible.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission still continues to insist (as it was prior to Trump’s election) that LGBT discrimination in employment was a form of gender discrimination under Title VII. That stance has been resisted by the Department of Justice under Trump, though several courts have sided with the EEOC on this. Nonetheless, the transgender military policy formally went into effect this month. Continue Reading ›

Employer Discrimination Lawsuits: Facebook Job Ads Allow Unlawful Hiring Bias

September 15, 2018 | by Nassiri Law

When an employer sets out to recruit young people, men, white people, Christians, those without disabilities or other groups, this can be a violation of federal and state labor laws against employment discrimination. Specifically, such claims might be filed under the following umbrellas:

Age discrimination
Gender discrimination
Racial discrimination
Religions discrimination
Disability discrimination

A number of lawsuits filed recently against social media giant Facebook and numerous employers who advertise and head-hunt for workers on its platforms accuse the defendants of discriminatory advertising and hiring. If a person in a protected class is denied opportunity in the workforce because of their membership in that class, this is illegal.

In California, state law (specifically the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Family Rights Act) prohibits employment discrimination in the process of hiring, promotion/ demotion, transfers, wages, termination and other aspects of employment. Los Angeles employment discrimination law firms work to combat these types of acts by holding offenders accountable. Continue Reading ›