Los Angeles Wrongful Termination Law Blog

About a year ago, a California professor at the University of La Verne attended a mandatory meeting on the treatment of students based on their sexual orientation. The man recalls that the tone of the meeting was overtly hostile toward Christians. The man, along with other professors, raised objections to the way Christians were being portrayed during the meeting.

Not long after the meeting, the professor was fired, which has led to a wrongful retaliation lawsuit in Los Angeles court. University administration insists that the professor was fired for giving preferential treatment to certain students and consistently giving grades that were too high. However, the man believes he was terminated due to the objections he raised at the staff meeting.

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a monumental moment in American history. This law made it illegal to discriminate against people based on their race, sex, religion or national origin. Under the terms of Title VII, a crucial part of the law, these protections were extended to employment. As such, workplace discrimination during the hiring process or on the job would no longer be tolerated in California or anywhere else in the country.

Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a ruling that extended the Title VII protections to include gender identity. The ruling specified that discriminating against a transgender person is considered to target the individual's sex, so it is covered by Title VII. As a result of the landmark decision, transgender employees will now have legal safeguards in place to protect their status as an employee.

Residents of California should be glad to know that a combination of state and federal laws are in effect to protect the rights of pregnant women in the workplace. Under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act, pregnant women are entitled to reasonable workplace accommodations.

Despite these federal protections, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has seen an increasing number of complaints for bias against pregnant employees over the last several years. Between 2005 and 2011, the EEOC recorded a 23 percent jump in reported pregnancy bias incidents. Last year alone, nearly 5,800 women across the country indicated that they received unfair treatment from their employer due to their pregnancy.

Employers have a duty to make sure they hire people that are fully qualified to carry out the duties of their job. This requires the person to be competent in their field and have exercised good judgment in previous employment situations. One California county is being sued by a deputy probation officer for their negligence in hiring a chief probation officer that has been suspected of sexual harassment. The chief probation officer is also listed as a defendant in the case for multiple instances of lewd behavior directed at his employee.

According to the 30-year-old deputy probation officer, the deputy chief, her direct superior, began his inappropriate behavior by making suggestive comments while at work. Eventually, the situation escalated to the point that the chief officer forcibly groped his female employee. The chief sent out a panicked text message a day later, hoping to protect himself from the consequences of his actions. Despite the woman's efforts to end her superior's wildly inappropriate behavior, the man once again sexually assaulted her.