If a California job seeker over the age of 40 does not get a position that he or she applied for, it could be the result of discrimination. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes it illegal to discriminate against a worker over the age of 40 based on his or her age. However, it may be difficult to prove that a company passed on a person because he or she was deemed to be too old.
Quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environments
California employees might be the victims of two different but related types of sexual harassment in the workplace at the same time. Hostile workplace harassment may involve creating a difficult work environment for a person through comments or behavior while quid pro quo harassment refers to a worker suffering a consequence such as demotion or firing after refusing a supervisor's sexual advances.
Sexual harassment in the workplace
In California, employers are responsible for creating safe workplace environments. This includes sexual harassment, which includes any unwelcome advances or conduct that is sexual in nature. When sexual harassment incidents occur at work, some employees may find that the workplace becomes intimidating, offensive or even hostile.
Female doctors claim discrimination at work
A study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that four out of five female physicians had experienced discrimination at work. Researchers asked members of an online community called the Physicians Moms Group about their mental and physical health as well as their experiences at work. Of the almost 6,000 women who responded, roughly 78 percent said that they had experienced some form of workplace discrimination.
The implication of "after-acquired" evidence
California workers who are thinking about filing a discrimination lawsuit against an employer may want to know more about the "after-acquired evidence" defense. As the name implies, after-acquired evidence is information that an employer discovers about an employee after a termination. Companies may claim that this information would have led to an employee's termination had it been discovered prior to a worker being let go.
Sexual harassment in the workplace takes many forms
Workers in California and around the country are protected from sexual harassment in the workplace by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the courts have recognized various types of this kind of harassment. Quid-pro-quo- sexual harassment takes place when workers are required to have sex or enter into romantic relationships with their supervisors in order to keep their jobs or secure some sort of benefit such as a promotion or raise. Sexual harassment also occurs when offensive behavior is tolerated and workplaces become hostile environments, and discriminatory hiring and promotion practices also violate Title VII.
