What Every California Employer Needs To Know About Discrimination Laws
Being familiar with California Discrimination Laws could save your business thousands of dollars and possibly bankruptcy…
Of course I hate to sound like a broken record… but I have to say again that an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure for California Employers. The best, most inexpensive way to reduce your risk from employee discrimination claims is to have professional, attorney drafted Employee Handbooks. Studies consistently show that employees are much, much less likely to sue an employer over any issue that is covered in their employee handbook. Ok stepping of my soap box now. : ) You can get an inexpensive, professional employee handbook here that you can easily customize for your business.
There are both Federal and California state laws that prohibit discrimination against employees by employers. California discrimination law is known to be more pro-employee then the Federal law and CAN be VERY TOUGH on California employers! Discrimination Law is based on “protected characteristics” and California’s includes, race, religion, disability, medical condition, sex and age among many others.
You need to be familiar with the California discrimination laws because it can help you set your expectations and can guide you in formulating company policies that would help avoid costly litigation in the future. We are going to talk about two types of common discriminations, disparate treatment and disparate impact.
Disparate Treatment
California discrimination laws states that, disparate treatments involve employer actions such as promotions and terminations which are based on the employees’ race, color, age, sex, or disability to name a few. Treating a person differently because of a protected class or saying offensive jokes or comments are in the disparate treatments category.
Disparate Impact
Unlike disparate treatments, a disparate impact involves employer policies in which greatly impact a certain group of people. For example, if you were to require all employees to be a certain religion before promoting them, then you would be open for lawsuits based on disparate impact because your actions are affecting employees based on group preferences.
California Discrimination Laws Cover “Whistle Blowing”
California discrimination laws are created in order to protect the employees’ rights against abuse and violations. Therefore, including the rules for whistle blowing helps employees defend their rights. Whistle blowing happens when your employees inform the government or the law enforcement agency about your violations. Because of this, you cannot terminate, demote, or perform any action against your employees who file any lawsuit regarding employer violations.
Understanding California discrimination laws is critical to decreasing the associated risks of employee lawsuits against your business. If you do find yourself in the unfortunate position of facing a discrimination lawsuit against your business you will want to retain an experienced law firm that specializes in protecting employers!
Contact us today if you need an attorney who specializes in helping employers with California Discrimination Laws!
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