Los Angeles Employment Law Blog

So, you are applying for jobs while pregnant or, at some point near or far, plan to become pregnant. Of course, you want an employer who treats pregnant employees fairly! The fact is, even if you have no plans to become pregnant, it is still a good idea to seek out employers who treat everyone fairly and in accordance with the law. With that in mind, what are some pregnancy-related warning signs that could give you pause about continuing with a job application process?

While an employer can terminate a worker for many different reasons, workers do have some protections against wrongful termination. For instance, a worker in California cannot be terminated because he or she reported a potentially illegal workplace activity. This is true whether the activity was reported to a state or federal agency or a representative of the company. It is important to point out that the employee must legitimately believe that a violation occurred.

Women in California may have good reason to be concerned about pregnancy discrimination on the job. While the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 was intended to address this issue (the act amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to designate it as a form of sex discrimination), women continue to report significant problems in the workplace. Even after many large companies advertise benefits like parental leave and work-life balance, many expecting mothers have found that their workplaces continue to pass them over for responsibilities and promotions.

A complaint filed by a former California employee of Wells Fargo Bank has been reinstated by a federal appeals court after a divided ruling. The former employee filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the bank, arguing that she had been subject to discrimination and retaliation as well as violations of the California Family Rights Act. While she was on leave after giving birth to her child, she was fired from her position as a loan officer at the bank.

Finding work can be difficult for transgender people in California and around the country. About a quarter of the transgender people polled by the National Center for Transgender Equality in 2015 said that they had been denied work, passed over for promotion or fired because of their gender identity, but more recent research conducted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation suggests that American workplaces are becoming more tolerant and welcoming to those who do not identify with the genders they were assigned at birth.

In California, experienced workers may be subject to a specialized work experienced targeting method where the upper limit on an employee’s work history could be used for employment discrimination. The EEOC is examining the practice of using a person’s work experience when used for the purpose of age discrimination. The language used in job descriptions may be used to filter out protected groups; the terminology may have been used to discourage older workers or those who may not be a proper fit for a company’s culture.

As the discussion of sexual harassment continues to dominate headlines, many California employees are still having to deal with uncomfortable situations on the job. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 72 percent of workers who experienced harassment on the job did not share their experiences with their employers. Of those who reported sexual harassment, nearly 54 percent report not confronting the offender.