Pasadena Employment Lawyer

Expert Pasadena Employment Lawyer: Your Legal Advocate

California employees enjoy some of the most robust labor protections in the country. Unfortunately, the law alone isn’t enough to prevent employers and other wrongful actors from violating Californians’s basic rights to make a living.

Under California law, employees who face harassment, unpaid wages, and dangerous working conditions can hold perpetrators accountable and potentially recover financial compensation for the harm they’ve suffered.

If you feel unsafe or mistreated at work, it’s best to contact a Pasadena employment lawyer for help. The legal team at Starpoint Law has spent years providing quality legal support to California employees facing workplace legal disputes large and small.

If you’re concerned about misconduct at your job, our Pasadena employment lawyers can help you understand your rights and options for getting justice.

Types of Claims We Handle

Federal and state employment laws protect employees in California. These laws include:

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA),
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),
• Occupational Health and Safety Act,
• California Family Rights Act (CFRA), and
• Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

Federal laws like the FLSA and FMLA are the basis for many fundamental employee rights and safety standards. However, the California Labor Code and other statewide employment laws grant employees additional protections. When you face illegal misconduct at work, you have the legal right to hold employers accountable under the relevant state or federal employment laws.

Our Pasadena employment lawyers see many different types of employment law violations every year. Let’s examine some of the most common issues employees face.

Wage and Hour Violations

Employees have the right to timely and accurate payment of wages for all the hours they work. If your employer withholds your compensation or other promised benefits, they could be committing wage theft. Other ways that employers violate California’s wage and hour laws include:

• Denying required meal and rest breaks,
• Paying employees who work over 40 hours a week the regular instead of overtime rate,
• Rejecting requests for qualified sick leave or promised vacation,
• Taking deductions from employee paychecks without consent, and
• Refusing time off for employees to serve on jury duty or vote.

Employee misclassification also often includes wage and hour violations. Employers sometimes improperly classify employees as independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime and other benefits.  

Wrongful Termination

California law prohibits employers from firing employees in certain situations. When an employee is fired for illegal reasons, it’s called wrongful termination. Wrongfully terminated employees can take legal action against their employer for unlawful dismissal. 

Your termination could be illegal if based on your:

• Race, religion, nationality, or other protected characteristic,
• Complaint about sexual or other harassment at work,
• Request for family or medical leave,
• Report of hazardous working conditions,
• Participation or testimony in an investigation into illegal activity, and
• Application for workers’ compensation.

Wrongful termination can also happen when your dismissal breaks the terms of an employment contract. 

Aidin Ghavimi - Employment Lawyer Helping Those in Pasadena

Mr. Ghavimi received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from USC, with Honors. He received his Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. While at Loyola, Mr. Ghavimi Externed with the Hon. Chief Judge George H. King in the United States District Court, Central District of California.

Learn More About Aidin Ghavimi

Disability Discrimination

California protects employees from discrimination based on physical or mental disability through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and FEHA. These laws prohibit employers from using an employee’s physical or mental disability as a factor in job decisions, including:

• Hiring and firing,
• Wage rate or salary,
• Opportunities for advancement or training,
• Discipline, and
• Access to employee health benefits.

California anti-discrimination law broadly defines disability as any physical or mental impairment that limits a major life activity. Under the law, employers must provide reasonable accommodations to the work environment to allow disabled employees to perform their essential job functions.

Gender Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and FEHA ban employment discrimination based on gender. Employers must accommodate and treat employees of any sex, gender identity, and gender expression equally. It’s illegal to:

• Assign work roles based on gender stereotypes;
• Exclude employees of one gender identity or expression from informal networks;
• Prioritize employees of a specific gender for promotions or management roles;
• Offer higher salaries or better benefits to employees based on gender;
• Prevent employees from using the bathrooms that align with their gender identity; and
• Withhold gender non-conforming employees from public-facing roles.

FEHA provides employees with greater protection than Title VII when it comes to gender discrimination. Employees who experience gender discrimination at work may have better results pursuing claims under California rather than federal law.

Pregnancy Discrimination

It’s illegal under state and federal law to discriminate against employees who are pregnant or considering having children. The law prohibits employers from using pregnancy status as a basis for making decisions about hiring, layoffs, bonuses, or advancement.

If you’re a pregnant employee, you can receive reasonable accommodations that let you do your job safely while expecting. Reasonable accommodations can include:

• Additional bathroom or rest breaks,
• Time off for medical appointments,
• Job modifications to avoid heavy lifting,
• Access to a chair or reduced standing time, 
• Schedule alterations, and
• Unpaid, job-protected leave.

Employers who refuse to make reasonable adjustments to allow employees to work could be engaging in pregnancy discrimination. Pregnancy discrimination can happen before you’re hired. It’s illegal to ask job applicants about their pregnancy status or plans to grow their family.

Sexual Harassment

Sex-based harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of discrimination California employees face, regardless of industry or job role. Sexual harassment can take many forms, some of which are more challenging to identify than others.

When your boss or supervisor asks you to perform sexual favors in exchange for a promotion or raise, that’s a relatively straightforward instance of sexual harassment. However, you could also have a legal claim of sexual harassment caused by a consistently offensive and disruptive work environment. Hostile work environment sexual harassment includes:

• Offensive jokes and explicit stories,
• Pornographic images or videos,
• Inappropriate comments about your appearance, and
• Unwanted physical contact.

California employers have a legal duty to protect employees from harassment based on sex. If your boss doesn’t immediately address the harassment you’re facing at work, you can hold them legally responsible.

Whistleblower Retaliation

California law protects employees who report employer misconduct or illegal activity to the authorities. If you blow the whistle on wrongdoing you see at work, your employer can’t punish you.

Unlawful retaliation can include demotion, cutting wages, threats, harassment, and even termination. If you face backlash after raising the alarm about suspicious behavior at work, you could be the victim of employer retaliation.

How a Pasadena Employment Attorney Can Help

Many California employees don’t realize when mistreatment crosses the line and violates their rights. It’s essential to consult with an employment attorney if you suspect that your employer has broken the law.

A qualified lawyer can listen to your concerns and evaluate whether you have a legal claim. They can also help you understand your options for taking legal action. With the help of a skilled Pasadena employment lawyer, employees with successful employment claims can recover compensation for unpaid wages, denied job opportunities, emotional distress, and attorney’s fees. 

Starpoint Law: Legal Advocacy with Empathy and Integrity

Taking action against workplace wrongdoing can feel like an uphill battle for employees. At Starpoint Law, we understand the high stakes for Californians dealing with harassment, discrimination, and wage theft at work. If you’re facing abusive or illegal treatment at work, you don’t have to take on that burden alone.

Our team has helped hundreds of employees navigate their legal rights and options after an employer’s harmful acts. We offer complimentary one-on-one consultations for workers dealing with employment-related disputes. Contact our office online or by phone today to discuss your case with a legal representative. 

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