California Employment Lawyer Blog

As the California Employment Lawyer Blog reported recently, older Americans seeking jobs are facing discrimination from employers who refuse to put them on equal footing with younger job seekers.

As the New York Daily News and The New York Times report, those who are unemployed are also facing an unprecedented form of unemployment discrimination in Santa Ana and nationwide.

More and more job ads have phrases like "must be employed" and "if unemployed, don't apply," which are clearly discriminatory. But most states don't include the unemployed in a protected class along with disability, gender, sex and others that cannot be the basis for hiring and firing practices.

Santa Ana employment lawyers have seen more and more jobless turned away simply because they don't have a job. And with employment so high in California -- hovering around 12 percent -- odds are this practice is rampant in our area of the country. And it has to stop.

Businesses certainly have the right to hire the best candidates and if they believe one candidate is better than another, they should be able to hire that person. But, they shouldn't turn down people simply for not having a job. Millions of people are unemployed right now and their skills aren't necessarily the reason they were let go.

They may have performed well, but their branch or particular department overall didn't. The boss may have had an issue with one employee and chose to keep another when times got tight. It's possible that the unemployed worker did nothing wrong, and now he or she is facing another uphill battle.

New York state lawmakers have already pushed to include the unemployed in a protected list of those who can't face discrimination for jobs. New York Daily News reports that a city councilman is pushing to add the unemployed to a protected class citywide as well.

The New York Times reported in July that New Jersey lawmakers had passed a law that bans job ads for companies that bar unemployed workers from applying. That law went into effect in June.

Let's hope California lawmakers are paying attention. Discrimination comes in many forms and when applying for jobs, every job seeker should get every opportunity to succeed. As tough as the economy is right now and how desperate people are for work, the unemployed must not face even greater challenges from those who want to boot them off the unemployment line.

Every area of employment discrimination had to start somewhere. Whether discrimination based on religion, race, gender, age or sexual orientation, there were people who faced that discrimination and took the issue to the courts to get it banned. Now is the time for unemployment discrimination to end. People are hurting and they need jobs. Businesses shouldn't have another unjust way to weed out prospective employees.

Continue reading " Unemployed Facing Discrimination in Santa Ana at the Worst Possible Time " »

A federal judge recently ruled that Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell violated both federal and California laws protecting the disabled from discrimination at its restaurants, the Associated Press reports.

While this ruling is based on customer complaints, the same goes for employees at companies where they don't provide the proper access for people with disabilities. And job-seekers who are disabled should get equal access to job opportunities as able-bodied prospective employees as well.

While there have been great strides made in terms of improvements for those who have difficulties getting around based on physical or mental issues, disability discrimination in Orange County is still a serious problem. Whether intentional or not, many businesses simply don't do enough to ensure disabled Americans have the same opportunities as others.

Financial reasons or otherwise, it doesn't matter. All Americans should have the same chance at jobs and in commerce, regardless of their circumstances. An Orange County employment lawyer, with experience in handling discrimination matters must be consulted in order to determine the extent of the discrimination.

According to the federal judge's ruling, the 220 stores in California must undergo major changes in order to ensure its customers with wheelchairs and scooters be accommodated. The judge must also decide how much money the victims in the lawsuit must receive.

The customers filed the class-action lawsuit in 2002, alleging that the California stores didn't offer proper handicap parking, wheelchair-accessible restrooms and tables and other requirements for disabled patrons. Taco Bell could appeal the ruling, though a company spokesman declined comment to the news wire service.

The customers are represented by a Denver attorney who filed a lawsuit against the fast food chain in 2000 which was settled and resulted in the company agreeing to improve its restaurants.

Taco Bell argued throughout the life of this lawsuit that it had fixed many of the alleged violations during the last nine years, which includes compliance with a 2007 judge's order to fix issues with lines, tables and doors. But the judge said the company is still out of compliance in many areas and hasn't even followed its own policies and has shown a history of not doing so.

The ruling by the federal judge came after a week-long trial without a jury looking at a San Pablo store specifically as an example of the rest of the company's stores in California.

While this particular lawsuit applies to customers, employees or potential employees have the same rights as customers regarding disability access. Any person who gets a job with a company must have the same access to equipment as anyone else.

A person also shouldn't be disqualified for a job based on their disability. Obviously, a person in a wheelchair probably wouldn't make a good professional football player, but that is a specialized skill set unlike a fast food chain cashier or department store customer service representative. The skills of a person, not their physical ability should be the criteria for hiring and firing, though sometimes it isn't.

Continue reading " Taco Bell in Violation of Disability Law, Federal Judge in California Rules " »

For a country that was built on religious freedoms, many states and companies in the United States seem to be years behind in their acceptance of the world's religions.

Just a few months ago, the California Employment Lawyer Blog reported that the California city of Walnut had to settle a lawsuit because it showed bias against a Buddhist group that wanted to build a Zen Center, which would have been the only non-Christian religious center in the city.

It cost a lot of time and money to settle something that should have been handled in the first place. And Georgia recently made news too, Thomson Reuters reports. A city there recently settled a lawsuit filed by a Muslim woman who was placed under arrest and put in jail when she refused to remove her headscarf before entering a courtroom.

It would be nice for cities and companies to realize that they simply cannot tolerate religious discrimination in Los Angeles. While it's not a problem if officials aren't familiar with the basis of different religions, not understand them or even not believe in them, but it's not right for them to treat people differently because of them.

An experienced Santa Ana employment law attorney must be consulted if this has happened to you. Many public and private officials aren't quick to make policy changes or stop their behavior, but a timely lawsuit can put a stop to the unlawful behavior.

In 2008, a woman was taking her nephew to court in Douglasville, Georgia, when an officer who was using a metal detector told her that headscarves couldn't be worn in court. The woman told the officer that the policy discriminated against her and she attempted to get out of the courtroom. But the officer arrested her and charged her with contempt.

While the charge was later dropped, she was forced to remove her head covering, was placed in cuffs and carted off to jail like a common criminal. The wearing of headscarves in the Muslim world mark modesty, as they cover up a woman's hair and neck.

U.S. civil rights advocates say that banning them amounts to religious discrimination, while in France, they have been banned on school grounds.

After settling the lawsuit, the city will have to adopt a new policy permitting people to wear headscarves inside courtrooms and allowing those wearing religious head coverings to go through a private screening area with a person of the same gender.

Many of these policies used by companies and municipalities are borne out of ignorance for a certain religion and aren't fair to those who practice it. No one wants to be discriminated against, but decision-makers sometimes don't realize the damage their policies are doing.

Every American enjoys the right to choose their religion and believe what they want. If that means they choose to wear a certain garment in a certain way, a city shouldn't be allowed to stop them from doing so. Let's hope that businesses and cities that treat people differently based on their religious choice see this decision and wise up.

Continue reading " Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Settled By Georgia City " »

A recent MSNBC article looks at the career of Andy Rooney, famed CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent who worked there for more than 60 years.

It's a feat many people -- young and old -- can't imagine. At a time when Rooney recently retired at age 92, many older workers face age discrimination in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Age discrimination while illegal, happens every day. In some cases, potential workers aren't hired because employers think they are too old to adapt to the job. In other cases, older employees are not offered job improvements or promotions because the company would rather pay to train younger employees. The younger employee can be perceived as a future manager, even if he or she is not as qualified as the more experienced, older person.

This is where an experienced Orange County employment lawyer comes in. Consulting with a lawyer to discuss your case and look at your options is a smart move before storming into your boss's office and getting into an argument or filing a complaint. Having an objective outsider look at your case can be beneficial.

According to the article, there aren't many Andy Rooneys anymore. The number of long-term older unemployed Americans is growing. Many have lost their jobs and are having a difficult time finding others. They believe their age is a big factor.

Many companies view age discrimination as acceptable and not against the law, but it is. They believe that older workers are less desirable and therefore they don't hire them.

According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statistics, the number of age discrimination complaints has increased from about 16,000 in 2006 to more than 23,000 in 2010.

In one recent age discrimination case, technology firm 3M was ordered to pay $3 million because it illegally laid off millions of workers who were over 45 years old in favor of younger workers they planned on grooming for management positions.

Experts told MSNBC that perception is the real issue. Some companies perceive older workers as being closer to retirement and having a bigger financial cushion, so they don't feel as bad laying them off. Others believe that older workers are targeted during large-scale layoffs for no reason other than their age.

Some analysts said younger workers and older workers are relatively equal in terms of adapting to new ideas and being trained. Younger workers -- especially women -- are costliest because of pregnancy. Younger workers take more time off work, and older workers take longer to recover from injuries.

Some AARP statistics from August:

-The average time of unemployment for workers 55 and over was 52.4 weeks, while it is 37.4 weeks for younger jobless

-More than half of older unemployed Americans -- 54.9 percent -- were "long-term unemployed" -- 27 weeks or more

Many older workers are discouraged because they are finding few opportunities for work, even with more experience and a better track record of employment.

Continue reading " Older Workers in Los Angeles Face Age Discrimination " »