In light of recent events and the uptick in anti-Asian bias due to the pandemic, you may wonder what protections the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and others of Asian descent really have. Both California and federal law protect AAPI individuals...
No. It is not true that employers cannot discriminate against people because of any immutable characteristic. In California, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) lays out a limited number of characteristics that are protected by the law. Federal laws also apply,...
In California, it has been hard to tell who is legally considered an independent contractor vs. an employee. The distinction is significant. Independent contractors are not eligible for many workplace protections that employees take for granted, such as: Workers’...
It wouldn’t be the first time a big tech company thought it would have a better image if it hired younger workers. It wouldn’t be the first time a company tried to save money by shedding expensive older workers and replacing them with younger, cheaper ones....
Generally, the answer would seem to be no. However, a recent case cast some doubt on that. Earlier this year, Steven van Soeren, a product designer for Disney, was fired shortly after he took two weeks of paternity leave. Citing examples of anti-parent bias, van...
People from other nations are welcome to work legally in the United States. Nevertheless, some people face job discrimination or harassment based on their national origin or ethnic group. This is illegal. What does national origin discrimination look like? There are...
If you drive with Uber, Lyft or another “gig economy” company, you may not be an independent contractor. Instead, you may legally be an employee of the company you’ve been working with. A California superior court judge has ruled that the contract drivers for Uber and...
The state of California has been working for several years to ensure that people who drive for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies are properly classified. There had long been an argument that these drivers, and other workers in the “gig economy,” who pick up...
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is a state regulatory agency that fights discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. It enforces laws including the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the Unruh Civil Rights Act,...
Under California law, the question of whether someone is an employee or a contractor is a legal one. Your employer doesn’t just get to pick whether you are an employee or an independent contractor. To be considered an independent contractor, you have to have...
