Age Discrimination Attorneys

Generally, discriminating on the basis of age in the workplace is illegal under both the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Under both laws, there are some special limitations on who can sue.

People under forty years old are not protected by age discrimination in the workplace laws. If an employer refuses to hire somebody because he or she is thirty-nine, and therefore “too young”, that is not illegal. But if it because he or she is forty and “too old”, that is illegal.

Age discrimination has some special aspects that make it different from other types of employment discrimination. A few of these are discussed below.

Disability Discrimination Lawyer

Disability rights protected by disability employment statutes protect disabled workers from discrimination. Disability discrimination includes a wide variety of situations involving wrongful termination, failure to hire or promote, and other mistreatment of employees based on disability status. At The Law Office of Bowman and Associates, APC, we help people who have been the victims of disability discrimination.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, protects people with disabilities from discrimination. Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations to allow people with disabilities the opportunity to work like every other American. A failure to accommodate can lead to a discrimination lawsuit. The ADA protects people from being fired because of a disability, but it also protects people from being fired for a perceived disability, even where the disability does not exist. When the disability is unrelated to job performance, employers are not allowed to fire or refuse to hire the disabled person.

National Origin Discrimination Lawyers

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibit an employer from discriminating against an employee because of the employee’s national origin or ethnic background. This prohibition applies to decisions to hire, fire, promote, demote, set compensation and other terms and conditions of employment. Likewise, an employer may not discriminate because an employee is married to or associated with someone of a national origin group, is a member of a specific ethnic promotion group, attends a school, church, temple or mosque generally associated with a national origin group, or has a surname associated with a national origin group.

An employer may not discriminate against an individual because he or she has an accent or particular manner of speaking. Similarly, an “English Only” rule in the workplace may be deemed discriminatory. Employers may not harass an employee on the basis of national origin or ethnic background, and are prohibited from retaliating against an employee who complains about national origin discrimination or who refuses to participate in discriminatory employment practices.

Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer

Women often face hard decisions, but they should not have to choose between their jobs and their families. At The Law Office of Bowman and Associates, APC, California, we know that pregnant women often face illegal pressures and discrimination at work. We believe pregnancy discrimination should not force you out of the workplace, so we fight hard to protect your rights.

Many circumstances experienced by pregnant women are illegal and actionable in court:

• Employer fails to hire because of pregnancy.
• Employer denies promotion because of pregnancy.
• Employer denies unmarried woman medical benefits for pregnancy.
• Employer demotes because of pregnancy.
• Employer fires or lays off woman because of pregnancy.
• Employer prohibits or limits employee’s maternity leave.
• Employer denies pregnancy leave to employee experiencing high-risk pregnancy.
• Employer denies or interferes with pregnancy-related disability leave.
• Employer retaliates against a woman who requests pregnancy-related leave or sick days.

Racial Discrimination Attorney

The Law Office of Bowman and Associates, APC represents employees who have been discriminated against on the basis of race and color, in violation of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; California State and City law, as well as under the laws of other states. We have represented employees and applicants for employment who have been discriminated against because of their race with regard to hiring, termination, promotion, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

Ethnic slurs, and offensive or derogatory racial comments deserve no protection in the workplace. When such conduct results in an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment or otherwise interferes with an employee’s ability to perform the job, such conduct constitutes racial harassment and discrimination. The Law Office of Bowman and Associates, APC, is especially committed to asserting the rights of employees who have been affected by racial harassment.

Religious Discrimination Attorneys

Discrimination because of religious beliefs is illegal according to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There are several provisions listed that show employers are required to try and provide reasonable accommodation for an employee to practice their religion as long as they do not cause the employer “undue” hardship. One provision states that employers may not treat applicants or employees better or worse than other employees because of their religious beliefs and/or practices – except to the extent they can make a religious accommodation. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, or may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee’s religious beliefs or practices.

This may seem odd to most Americans, but employees cannot be forced to participate — or be purposely excluded — in a religious activity (like a Christmas party) as a condition of employment or for positive performance reviews. However, employers must also reasonably accommodate an employee’s earnestly held religious practices unless doing so would impose a gratuitous hardship on the employer. Any adjustment to the workplace would be considered a logical religious accommodation and will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might do something like: modification of grooming requirements, job reassignments and lateral transfers, flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, and other work related practices, policies and/or procedures.