Los Angeles Employment Lawyers for Police and Sheriffs’ Deputies

Federal laws that protect workers from discrimination

These are a few of the federal laws that protect workers from discrimination:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes discrimination against a person on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin or sex illegal. Title VII also prohibits discrimination against women because of pregnancy, childbirth or any related health conditions.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) makes discrimination against a person age 40 or older because of his or her age against the law.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities.
• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 makes offering different rates of pay between women and men for the same work illegal.
• California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) protects California employees from discrimination based on race, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status and age if the person is over age 40. The FEHA protections apply to employers with five or more employees.

Proving workplace discrimination

Proving workplace discrimination is not always easy. Employers may use a “pretext,” or false reason for the wrongful termination. You must be able to provide evidence to prove that you were discriminated against which is why it’s crucial to work with an employment lawyer who is well-versed in California laws.

There are two types of evidence: direct evidence and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence includes written or oral statement, emails, memos or any other form of written communication that connects your protected status with your employer's policies on hiring, promoting, assigning duties, firing or any other job-related decisions. These policies may be unwritten, but that does not mean that they do not exist.

If you are unable to find any tangible, direct evidence of your employer's discriminatory policies, you may have to rely on circumstantial evidence. California law recognizes that employees rarely have direct evidence of discrimination and often must rely on circumstantial evidence. Black's Law Dictionary describes the following examples of circumstantial evidence for workplace discrimination:

• Observations of different treatment between yourself and other employees with the same level of qualification for the job, but who differ in protected class status.
• Rude or derogatory comments made by superiors about your protected status such as racist or sexist remarks.
• A history of prior discriminatory practices or complaints against the company.
• A relative lack of employees with your protected status in your workplace.
• Jobs being given to people with fewer qualifications but a different class status.

As Panel Counsel to the Los Angeles Police Protective League, McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP understands that the needs of law enforcement may be different than those of a private employee. Your Los Angeles workplace discrimination lawyer will be able to piece together instances such as these to compile enough evidence to prove that discrimination is going on. If it comes down to your word against your supervisor's, you should have as much circumstantial evidence as you can find to support your allegations and prove your case.

Helping law enforcement in Los Angeles with whistleblower claims

The choice of whether to file a whistleblower claim against the LAPD or the Los Angeles County Sheriffs’ Department is daunting. We understand that most officers see themselves as a part of a brotherhood, and any attempt to point out corruption or systemic, illegal activity may be met with less-than-enthusiastic responses. Often, whistleblowers are subjected to bullying and harassing behavior, and shut out by their own colleagues. Even worse, many face retaliatory behaviors by commanding officers. This can include being: