Laws Reinforcing Prohibitions on Employment Discrimination

Discrimination has been one of the biggest problems that the labor sector faced in the past years and continues even today. Most of the time, this is caused by the immaturity and the lack of understanding of some employers regarding the rights of workers. Unknown to them, workplace discrimination is strictly prohibited under the law.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a government agency that handles labor disputes, discrimination is defined as treating a person differently or less favorably due to certain reasons. Most of the time, this is caused by disparity on race, color, religion, sex (pregnancy issues), national origin, disability, age (40 and above employees), or genetic information.
The EEOC promises protection to employees if their complaints involve any, or a combination of, the following illegal acts:

• Unfair treatment
• Harassment
• Denial of reasonable change of workplace
• Retaliation

Accordingly, there is a great probability that the complaint would occur in populous areas where there are a lot of residing industries. One of these places includes the city of Los Angeles in California. Based from the published press releases at the EEOC, there were numerous complaints filed in the area.

This could also be one simple reason why the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) was created. FEHA works hand in hand with the EEOC to implement laws that protect and reinforce a justice-driven relationship between employees and employers. Additionally, FEHA reinforces the following employment rules:

• Acts of harassment should be prohibited from being committed against workers, specifically on applicants as well as independent contractors. Employers are likewise required to promptly act if they see that harassment is occurring at their companies.
• Employers should not restrict the use of other languages at work.
• It requires that employees should be provided with information on how they can protect themselves against harassment and discrimination.
• It requires that companies with 50 or more employees should provide its supervisors some prevention training against harassment.
• It requires that employers provide reasonable accommodation to its employees.

Accordingly, an employee who feels that his or her rights are violated may hire a Los Angeles labor lawyer. This lawyer would assist the worker in filing a formal complaint at the EEOC.