Both California and the federal government have passed laws that prohibiting discrimination on the basis of certain protected characteristics. Under state and Federal law, both private and public employers in Sonoma County can be found liable for discrimination, depending on what type of trait originally prompted the discrimination.

How Does Employment Discrimination Occur?

Employment discrimination occurs when an employer treats you wrongly because of your membership in a legally protected class. Employers can not base their evaluations of you on certain traits including religion, race, age, gender, national origin, and familial status. Plaintiffs in Sonoma County, California are required to show that their employer treated them unfairly due to their protected status in order to prevail on an employment discrimination claim.

How can Employment Discrimination be Proven in California?

This may be shown if the employer has treated others of the same status similarly, or when people testify to specific statements made by the employer that would indicate bias when heard by a reasonable person. Furthermore, employers are in clear violation of the law when they fire someone or retaliate against them because they filed a discrimination lawsuit.

Procedures for filing an employment discrimination claim are complicated, because they involve filing the claim with the corresponding agency. Sonoma County, California has many lawyers available to help you in filing in a timely fashion, and they can also help you pursue any remedies that might be available to you while your case is being processed.