California Workplace Racial Discrimination Attorney

Your Legal Rights Under California Law.

California law provides strong protections against racial discrimination, particularly in the workplace. Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), it is unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees or applicants based on race, ethnicity, ancestry, or related characteristics.

Protection from Discrimination

You have the right to be evaluated based on your qualifications and performance—not your race. Employers cannot make decisions about hiring, promotion, pay, job assignments, or termination based on racial factors.

Protection from Harassment

The law also prohibits racial harassment, including offensive comments, slurs, or conduct that creates a hostile or abusive work environment. This applies to behavior from supervisors, coworkers, and even third parties such as clients.

Protection from Retaliation

If you report racial discrimination or participate in an investigation, your employer cannot legally retaliate against you. Retaliation may include termination, demotion, reduced hours, or other adverse actions.

Right to Equal Opportunities

You are entitled to equal access to training, promotions, benefits, and workplace opportunities, regardless of your race or background.

Right to Take Legal Action

If your rights are violated, you may file a complaint and pursue legal action against the responsible parties, including your employer. California law is designed to hold employers accountable when they fail to prevent or address discrimination.

An employer may be liable if it is on notice and does not stop the harassment.

An employer may be liable for racial harassment by a co-worker if it failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment from occurring. It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent harassment and workplace discrimination. This duty requires that the employer respond promptly and properly to allegations of harassment or racial discrimination that are known to it. Once an employer is informed of the harassment, the employer must take adequate steps to stop it. The measures need to include immediate corrective action that is reasonably calculated to end the harassment and to deter future harassment.

Retaliating against an employee for complaining about the harassing or discriminatory conduct violates California law.

California law prohibits retaliating against individuals who have filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding regarding race, color or national origin based harassment or discrimination.  To establish retaliation, an employee must show that he or she engaged in a protected activity; the employer subjected the employee to an adverse employment action; and the protected activity and the employer’s action were casually connected. An employee’s formal or informal complaints to a supervisor regarding unlawful harassment or workplace discrimination is a ‘protected activity’ and actions taken against the employee after such complaints may constitute retaliation. Close proximity in time between complaints of harassment and employment discrimination and the adverse employment action creates a legal inference of unlawful retaliation.

Compensation You may be entitled to.

If you have experienced racial discrimination in California, you may be entitled to recover compensation through a civil claim. The goal is to address both the financial impact and the personal harm caused by the discrimination.

Economic Damages

These are measurable financial losses, including:

• Lost wages from missed work or termination
• Lost future earnings or reduced earning capacity
• Lost benefits such as bonuses, commissions, or promotions
• Job search expenses or costs related to finding new employment

Non-Economic Damages

These reflect the personal and emotional impact of discrimination, which can be significant:

• Emotional distress, anxiety, or humiliation
• Damage to professional reputation
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Stress-related health effects

Punitive Damages

In cases involving particularly harmful or intentional conduct, punitive damages may be awarded to punish the employer and deter similar behavior in the future.

Additional Remedies

Depending on the case, you may also be entitled to:

Policy changes within the workplace

Reinstatement to your position

Promotion or correction of employment status

The value of a claim depends on the severity of the discrimination and its impact on your career and well-being. Understanding what compensation may be available can help you decide how to move forward.

Discriminatory policies are illegal.

Race discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because he or she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion.

An employment policy or practice can be illegal if it has a negative impact on the employment of people of a particular race or color and is not job-related and necessary to the operation of the business. Examples of discriminatory company policies include:

• bans on religiously significant garments, such as headscarves;
• bans on afros, beards or dreadlocks that may discriminate on the basis of race or religion;
• U.S. Citizen policies only that may discriminate on the basis of race or national origin.
  

Note, an employer may raise the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification defense, amongst others, to the above examples. To prevail the employer would need to, at minimum, demonstrate the employee would be unable to perform the job otherwise, or some employees in the above category would be unable to perform the job, and testing each individual to determine if she could perform the job would be impossible or impractical.

Note, discrimination based on race, color or national origin can include treating someone unfavorably because the person is associated with a person of a certain race or color, such as a spouse or a relative.

Additionally, it is important to note that discrimination can occur when the victim and the person who inflicted the discrimination are the same race or color.

If your rights have been violated you may be entitled to damages.

Under state and federal law, you might be able to recover damages, such as emotional distress and lost wages. Additionally, under the FEHA as well as federal law you may be awarded punitive damages as well as your attorney fees and costs if you prevail. If your conditions of employment were impacted by employment decisions based on your race, color or national origin, you should contact a race discrimination attorney.