Speaker 1: My name is Branigan Robertson, and I'm an employment lawyer. This video is the ultimate guide to workplace discrimination. I'm about to explain discrimination law without all the legal nonsense. So if you want to know if you have a case for discrimination, and what it might be worth, then keep watching. Before we go back to the whiteboard, I have three quick pieces of business. First, this video will cover the following topics. The legal definition of discrimination. The protected categories. Examples of discrimination cases. The EEOC, DFEH, and Right to Sue letters. The statute of limitations, which is the deadline in which to file your case. How much discrimination cases might be worth, and what to do if you quit, got fired, or if you're still employed. Second, in this video I primarily discussed California law because that is where I have a license to practice law. However, this video is meant for everyone across America. If you are not in California, this video will help you identify critical questions that you should ask a lawyer in your state. If you are in California, and you need a consultation, here is my contact information if you think I've earned that phone call. And third, I'm making this video for my ultimate guide to discrimination law page on my website. That webpage dives far deeper into California discrimination law than I can cover in this short video. My website is the best online source for information about discrimination law in California. Alright, let's get to the good stuff. Let's first cover the legal definition of discrimination. In California, the main anti-discrimination law is government code section 12940. If you're not in California, Title VII is the federal anti-discrimination law, which protects everybody in America. But your specific state may have an additional anti-discrimination law, and you should look those up. Here is what California's law says. I'm actually going to read the law to you. Section 12940 subsection A says, it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer because of, that's an important part, the protected characteristic, which we'll cover in a second, to refuse to hire or employ the person, or to bar or to discharge the person from employment, or to discriminate against the person in compensation or in terms or privileges of employment. To summarize all that, it is illegal for a company to fire, demote, cut the pay, or refuse to hire anyone because that person has one of these protected characteristics. We'll cover those in just a second. Before we get to them, I need to point out a couple of things. Number one, I only read subsection A of this law. There's a whole lot more to that particular statute and to the entire body of discrimination law. I don't have time to cover all of that in this short video, but if you want to know more about the details of discrimination law, go to my website. Second, this California law only applies to companies that have five or more employees. Title VII only applies to companies that have 15 or more employees. So if you work for a small company that is below that threshold, you might have to pursue your case under a different law. Okay, so what are the protected classes or categories in California? Great question. I'm going to read them to you. Race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, which also includes pregnancy and related medical conditions, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, if you're over the age of 40, sexual orientation, military and veteran status. This means that if your employer is doing something bad to you because of one of these characteristics, you may be facing unlawful discrimination. Now these are the California protected categories. The federal anti-discrimination Title VII law only protects against race, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sex, and age. The Age Discrimination and Employment Act and the ADA, which protects against disability, are separate laws, but it doesn't really matter for purposes of this video. Now each of these categories has a specific legal definition. So if you want to know if the discrimination that you are facing falls into one of these categories, you actually need to call a lawyer. I've also made some specific discrimination videos on race, disability, pregnancy, gender, age, and I think sexual orientation. So if you want to know more about one of those specific areas specifically, go see the description below the video because I'll have links to those videos. Before we move on, let me talk you through two quick examples. Number one, let's pretend that you've been working a desk job for several years and you're really good at your job, so you've gotten positive reviews. Unfortunately, you are suddenly diagnosed with kidney disease and you have to start dialysis twice a week. You request to arrive at work 10 minutes later than usual on your treatment days so you can finish your full treatment. Now your boss is a jerk. He's immature. Even though HR tells him to accommodate you, he's upset that you're being given special accommodations. A coworker comes to you and tells you that your boss has privately made comments about how he doesn't want unhealthy people on his team. You try your best, but three weeks later, you suddenly get fired for poor job performance. In this situation, you clearly have a physical disability, and if your lawyer can convince 12 people in the jury box that the motivating reason for your termination is your disability, you might prevail in your case. Next, let's pretend that you're 63 years old and you're really good at your job, but you notice that a lot of new faces at your company are really young faces. You actually overhear your new manager talking about her desire to have a young and energetic division. One day at a company party, she actually teases you, are you excited about getting your social security? I can't wait to throw you a retirement party, even though you have no plans to retire. The next two weeks, you start to clash on work assignments. Then she writes you up for a negative attitude. After a few more weeks of frustration, she fires you for insubordination and negativity. Once again, if your lawyer can convince a jury that the substantial motivating reason behind your termination is your age, then you'll prevail. Next, if you were paying attention to those examples, you probably noticed that the company never comes out and says, we're firing you for your disability or your age or your race or your religion or whatever, is extremely rare in today's world to find direct evidence of discrimination in employment cases. Rather, it's your lawyer's job to prove that the real reason for your termination was one of your protected characteristics. The termination lie that the company will tell you is called pretext, and I've made an entire video on that subject. I highly recommend that you watch that video once you finish this one. I'll put a link at the end of the video. When you hear lawyers like me talking about discrimination law or discrimination cases, you'll often hear us talk about the EEOC or the DFEH. What are these? These are government agencies that try to enforce the workplace anti-discrimination laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC is the federal agency, so it applies to everyone across the United States, whereas the DFEH or the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is the California agency, so it only applies to California employees. For purposes of this video, these agencies do two main things. Number one, they actually pursue cases on behalf of victims, much like a private lawyer like me would do. Secondly, they're a gatekeeper. Before you can pursue your case in court, you need to get a right to sue letter from one of these agencies in order to exhaust your administrative remedies. Now, if you have a good case and you hire a private lawyer like me, I will acquire the right to sue letter for you, and we will pursue the case in court. Having a lawyer get your right to sue letter is a smart move. People screw up these right to sue letters all the time. Generally, if you can find a good lawyer to take your case, you should pursue the case with a lawyer. These are government agencies, and they are absolutely overwhelmed with claims. Moreover, you rarely hear about the EEOC or the DFEH getting a large settlement or verdict on behalf of an employee. But if you can't find a lawyer to take your case, these agencies are an outstanding option. Next, we have to talk about deadlines. In the law, there are these things called statutes of limitations. This is a hard deadline where you need to file your case by that deadline, and if you don't, you're out of luck. In California, in general, you need to file your claim with the DFEH and get a right to sue letter within one year of the last discriminatory act. And then, after you get the right to sue letter, you have one year in which to file your case in court. However, I recommend that you contact a lawyer right after the discrimination has taken place. This is because in certain situations, you need to take action as soon as six months. So don't wait. Contact a lawyer as soon as possible. Outside of California, in general, you need to file your charge with the EEOC within 180 days of the discriminatory act. And then, once you get your right to sue letter, you have to file your case in court within 90 days. Now look, sometimes it can take a long time to find a lawyer. So once you get the right to sue letter, move immediately to find a lawyer because that 90 days can go really, really fast. Unfortunately, I've told a lot of people that they have a good case, but they are not allowed to pursue it because the statute of limitations bars their case. I don't want to have to tell you that, so call a lawyer quickly. Next, let's start talking about money. We are going to briefly cover how much discrimination lawsuits can be worth. But before I do, please note, I made a detailed video on this exact subject. If you're really curious about case value, settlement value, verdicts, go watch that video because I cover this stuff extensively. Now, in discrimination cases, you can recover the four types of damages, lost wages, pain and suffering, punitive damages, and attorney's fees. Let's talk about lost wages first. These are the lost salary, benefits, commissions, hourly wages, bonuses, et cetera, that you're no longer earning because you were fired. For example, if you were making $85,000 a year and then you were discriminated against and fired, you're not making $85,000 a year anymore. But you can only recover lost wages, also known as economic damages, if you are terminated. Unless extraordinary circumstances exist, the law doesn't let you recover these if you voluntarily quit or if you're still employed. Second, pain and suffering. Pain and suffering damages are for the mental anguish, the pain, the humiliation, and mental suffering that you experience due to the unlawful discrimination. These damages are very real. You can't fake them. You will be evaluated by experts in front of the jury. The amount of emotional distress damages that you receive is decided by the jury. They're not based on how much money you were making or some other weird factors. Two different juries can hear the same case and award two different amounts. But usually in severe cases, emotional distress damages are many times larger than your lost wages. Third, punitive damages. Everybody's heard about punitive damages. These are the damages meant to punish the company for acting with malice, oppression, or fraud. Now, you have to have a really good case to win these. But if you have a good lawyer, you can ring that bell more often than average lawyers. So get a good lawyer. Fourth, attorney's fees. In discrimination cases, you can recover attorney fees on top of the other form of damages that I just talked about. But you have to go all the way to trial and win. This directly benefits you because the company could be on the hook for your attorney's fees, which can sometimes be several times larger than your damages. So this increases the settlement value of your case. And since most cases settle, this is a really good thing for the employee. Okay, to get a realistic idea of what your case might be worth, you have to contact a lawyer in your state. Well, okay, what should you do if you're a victim and you're experiencing discrimination? Generally, my advice changes depending on whether the person I'm speaking with was fired, if they quit, or if they're still employed. This is really important, so listen carefully. If you're still employed, unless extraordinary circumstances apply, I generally don't recommend lawyering up and blasting your current employer with a nasty letter or a lawsuit. And I'll explain why in just a second. Generally, I recommend that you submit a helpful and professional complaint in writing to the appropriate authority at your company. I made a detailed video on how to complain properly at work. So if you're currently experiencing discrimination, I highly recommend that you watch that video as soon as this one is over. I'll put a link below. Generally, discrimination lawyers like me tell people to call us back after they get fired. That is the best time to take legal action. I know, that's not very helpful for the folks who are still employed, which I'm guessing is the majority of you who are watching this video. And I'm also assuming that a lot of the people who are watching this video want to put a stop to the discrimination without losing their job. So why do we ask people to call us back after they get fired? Well, there's two main reasons for this. The first concerns the tools. The tools that the legal system has given employment lawyers like me are largely ineffective at stopping ongoing discrimination. Usually when a lawyer inserts himself into the middle of an ongoing employment relationship, we usually just make everything worse. Why? Because it paints a big target on your back. The company will want you to fail. Employment lawyers like me are much more effective at pursuing justice after the fact and teaching the company a painful lesson. Second, this concerns attorney's fees. Generally, most employees don't have enough money to pay lawyers like me out of pocket. That is why we primarily work on a contingency fee. We only get paid if we recover money for you. But due to the amount of time it takes a lawyer to properly pursue a discrimination case, the case simply must be worth a significant amount. And unfortunately, that usually means our clients have been fired. Now there's always exceptions to this, so if extraordinary circumstances apply to you, my office would be happy to provide you with a consultation. Okay, well what if you quit your job after experiencing discrimination? These cases are tough. California law says unless your resignation qualifies as a constructive termination, you cannot collect your lost wages. This dramatically hurts the value of your case. What exactly is a constructive termination? I cover this fairly extensively in my video on how much money discrimination cases are worth. So if you're in this situation, go watch that video. Now I've taken constructive discharge cases before in the past, but extraordinary circumstances apply. So if you quit your job due to extraordinary discrimination, call my office for a consultation. Now this video barely scratches the surface on this complicated body of law. It may not seem like it to you, but these cases are very difficult to pursue and even far more difficult to win. But I hope you found this video to be informative and helpful. If so, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you know somebody who is experiencing discrimination, any type of discrimination at work, please share this video with them. They will appreciate this information. All right, that's all I have for you. I hope you have a fantastic day. Take care.