Los Angeles Employment Law Blog

In California, labor laws protect women from workplace harassment or discrimination by employers on the basis of pregnancy. Pregnancy discrimination occurs when a pregnant employee or job applicant receives less favorable treatment because they are pregnant or may someday become pregnant. Retaliation laws are in place to protect anyone who reports or opposes any pregnancy-related discriminatory workplace practices, even if they are not a direct victim of the unlawful conduct.

In our first article, we discussed the steps California has taken to ensure equal pay for equal work and what managers and executives need to do to stay compliant with these laws in California. However, in the entertainment industry as well as other venues (even sometimes law firms), equal work can be difficult to define or prove, as highly skilled and creative individuals carve out specialized roles within the industry.

For years we have fought for gender equality on all levels of employment.  From equal pay to equal opportunity in hiring, there are many fronts on which we seek gender equality. However, one experience is unlikely to be available to all genders, at least in this lifetime: pregnancy.

The gender wage gap is real. In short, women earn less than men for doing the same work. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the gender wage gap in California has ranged between 10% and 17% over the last 20 years.

In a previous post, we briefly touched on the passage of Assembly Bill 1947 (AB 1947), which California Governor Gavin Newsom signed on September 30, 2020. This new anti-retaliation legislation amends California’s Labor Code regarding employer retaliation against whistleblowers. The law provides a longer period of time for whistleblowers to file a retaliation claim and allows courts to award attorney fees to whistleblowers.

If you were offered a job, but it required you to give up certain rights, including the right to sue your prospective employer over future employment law violations, would you take it? You’re competent, easy to get along with and professional, so if that offer has the right number of zeroes behind it, you probably would, right? Now what if you found out that giving up those rights enabled your employer to cover up multiple employee claims of sexual impropriety on the part of an executive spanning a decade or more?

According to the United Nations International Labor Organization, the economic crisis and the continued decline in working hours caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will impact 1.6 billion workers, or half the global workforce.