The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission holds employers in California and throughout the country responsible when federal laws protecting the civil rights of workers are violated. On Sept. 21, the agency filed a lawsuit against Walmart Inc. in federal court. The EEOC says that the nation’s largest private employer violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act by treating pregnant women more harshly than other workers.
Older women in California who have been discriminated against in the workplace due to their age may have legal recourse. However, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, just 3 percent of older workers in general who have seen or been a victim of workplace age discrimination have filed a complaint.
It’s been a little over 50 years since Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which is supposed to protect employees in California and elsewhere from age-related discrimination in the workplace. However, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, many employers still show bias against older workers. As a result, the agency has started aggressively combating the issue.
One struggle people in California might encounter in the workplace is the issue of subtle discrimination or harassment. While it may be easy to identify overt speech and action, this can be much more difficult when the discrimination is harder to pinpoint.
Transgender people in California live in an uncertain environment about their federal level legal protections from workplace discrimination. Some legal rulings, like the unanimous decision this year from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 in favor of a transgender employee, have shown judicial willingness to view Title VII prohibitions on sex discrimination as inclusive of people mistreated because of their gender identity.
Despite the rising publicity and awareness about sexual harassment, some of the most prominent companies in California may still be guilty of gender discrimination. One group of female former employees at Nike, the athletic wear company, have filed a lawsuit alleging that the corporation systematically discriminated against women on the job through a hostile work environment.