Discrimination in the workplace is something that employers always try to prevent. To that end, employers should be consistently training and monitoring supervisors and employees alike to ensure the workplace is free from discrimination, as employers in California are subject to many federal and state regulations around discrimination, specifically California’s “Fair Employment and Housing Act,” or “FEHA.”
What is the Fair Employment and Housing Act?
FEHA prohibits harassment and/or discrimination against the following protected classes: race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, and military or veteran status. FEHA has many requirements that employers must follow to accommodate for their employees’ characteristics in a manner consistent with FEHA’s requirements.
Who is protected under FEHA?
FEHA applies to its full extent to all employers that employ five or more persons, and the prohibition against harassment extends to any employer that employs one person or hires an independent contractor. FEHA protects independent contractors in the same way it protects employees. FEHA always applies to governmental employers.
In general, FEHA applies to almost every employer in California, meaning essentially every employee in California is protected under FEHA in some fashion.
What does FEHA prohibit?
FEHA protects against harassment and discrimination relating to one of the protected classes listed above. In general, California courts have held that offending conduct be severe or pervasive to qualify. Some forms of harassment that could be prohibited by FEHA include verbal or written comments, drawings, photos, emails, touching, intimidation, and gestures.
FEHA also prohibits retaliation against a person who takes action in attempting to stop an unlawful discrimination. If an employer fires an employee because the employee made the employer aware of the harassment and/or discrimination, such as by filing a complaint with the employer’s Human Resources Department, that conduct is protected under FEHA. In other words, an employer cannot retaliate against an employee because the employee reported harassment and/or discrimination to the employer.
What are the damages for a successful FEHA claim?
Compensatory Damages
These types of damages are created based on the financial harm and employee suffers because of the harassment they suffered.
Emotional Distress Damages
In some cases, the remedy for a FEHA violation could be based on emotional trauma an employee suffered based on the harassment and/or discrimination. There is no cap on the amount of emotional distress damages a prevailing employee may be awarded.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are awarded to punish the offending employer, and they are often awarded when the harassing and/or discriminatory actions are of a particularly offensive nature. There is no cap on the punitive damages a prevailing employee may be awarded.
Attorneys’ Fees
Under FEHA, a successful claim enables the prevailing employee to recover their reasonable attorneys’ fees, court costs, litigation expenses, and expert witness fees as part of their damage award. Attorneys’ fees can be a significant portion of the damages.
Injunctive Relief
Injunctive relief enables the court handling the FEHA lawsuit to order the employer either perform, or refrain from performing, certain actions. This can range from returning the job of someone who was fired to ordering an employer to stop any and all harassment and/or discrimination.
How are FEHA’s remedies activated?
For an employee to exercise their rights under FEHA in the form of a lawsuit, an employee must first exhaust their administrative remedies. To exhaust their administrative remedies, an employee must do either of the following:
- File a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”). The DFEH will then investigate the employee’s claim, and attempt to mediate the case; or
- Request an immediate “right to sue” notice that allows an employee to proceed with a lawsuit in civil court.
Only after an employee has exhausted their administrative remedies, by completing either of the two options listed above, may they proceed with a formal lawsuit against the employer whom they allege to have harassed and/or discriminated against them.
This article serves as a brief overview of California’s FEHA rules and regulations. There are a wide variety of other rules and regulations that are not covered in this article that may apply to your circumstances.
Do you have questions about FEHA’s regulations? Corona, California based lawyers at Rupal Law are here for you.
If you’d like to know more about FEHA’s regulations or any other legal issues employers face, please email us at info@rupallaw.com, or give us a call at (951) 460-0830 for an obligation free consultation.
