Workplace Discrimination & Harassment

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) enforces laws that protect you from illegal discrimination and harassment in employment based on your actual or perceived:

• Ancestry

• Age (40 and above)

• Color

• Disability (physical, mental, HIV and AIDS)

• Genetic Information

• Gender Identity, Gender Expression

• Marital Status

• Medical Condition (genetic characteristics, cancer, or a record or history of cancer)

• Military, or Veteran Status

• National Origin (includes language use and possession of a driver’s license issued to persons unable to prove their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law)

• Race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles. Protective hairstyles include, but are not limited to, such hairstyles as braids, locks, and twists)

• Religion (includes religious dress and grooming practices)

• Sex/Gender (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and/or related medical conditions)

• Sexual Orientation

California law prohibits workplace discrimination & harassment

The California Fair Employment, and Housing Act (government code sections 12900 through 12996) and its implementing regulations (California code regulations, title 2, sections 11000 through 11141):

1. Prohibit harassment of employees, applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and independent contractors by any persons and require employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment. This includes a prohibition against sexual harassment, gender harassment, harassment based on pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and/or related medical conditions, as well as harassment based on all other characteristics listed above.

2. Require that all employers provide information to each of their employees on the nature, illegality, and legal remedies that apply to sexual harassment. Employers may either develop their own publications, which must meet standards outlined in California Government Code section 12950, or use material from DFEH.

3. Require employers with 5 or more employees and all public entities to provide training for all employees regarding the prevention of sexual harassment, including harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

4. Prohibit employers from limiting or prohibiting the use of any language in any workplace unless justified by business necessity. The employer must notify employees of the language restriction and consequences for violation. Also prohibits employers from discriminating against an applicant or employee because they possess a driver’s license issued to a person who is unable to prove that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law.

5. Require employers to reasonably accommodate an employee, unpaid intern, or job applicant’s religious beliefs and practices, including the wearing or carrying of religious clothing, jewelry or artifacts, and hairstyles, facial hair, or body hair, which are part of an individual’s observance of their religious beliefs.

6. Require employers to reasonably accommodate employees or job applicants with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of a job.

7. Permit job applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and employees to file complaints with DFEH against an employer, employment agency, or labor union that fails to grant equal employment as required by law.

8. Prohibit discrimination against any job applicant, unpaid intern, or employee in hiring, promotions, assignments, termination, or any term, condition, or privilege of employment.

9. Require employers, employment agencies, and unions to preserve applications, personnel records, and employment referral records for a minimum of two years.

10. Require employers to provide leaves of up to four months to employees disabled because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

11. Require an employer to provide reasonable accommodations requested by an employee, on the advice of their health care provider, related to their pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

12. Require employers of 20 or more persons to allow eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care; also require employers of 50 or more persons to allow eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks leave in a 12-month period for an employee’s own serious health condition or to care for a parent, spouse, or child with a serious health condition.

13. Require employment agencies to serve all applicants equally, refuse discriminatory job orders, and prohibit employers and employment agencies from making discriminatory pre-hiring inquiries or publishing help-wanted advertisements that express a discriminatory hiring preference.

14. Prohibit unions from discriminating in member admissions or dispatching members to jobs.

15. Prohibit retaliation against a person who opposes, reports, or assists another person to oppose unlawful discrimination.

Filing a Complaint

The law provides for remedies for individuals who experience prohibited discrimination or harassment in the workplace. These remedies include hiring, front pay, back pay, promotion, reinstatement, cease-and-desist orders, expert witness fees, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, punitive damages, and emotional distress damages.

Job applicants, unpaid interns, and employees: If you believe you have experienced discrimination or harassment you may file a complaint with DFEH. Independent contractors and volunteers: If you believe you have been harassed, you may file a complaint with DFEH.

Complaints must be filed within three years* of the last act of discrimination/harassment. For victims who are under the age of eighteen, not later than three years after the last act of discrimination/harassment or one year after the victim’s eighteenth birthday, whichever is later.

To schedule an appointment, contact the Communication Center below.

If you have a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation, the DFEH can assist you by scribing your intake by phone or, for individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing or have speech disabilities, through the California Relay Service (711), or you can contact us below.

DFEH is committed to providing access to our materials in an alternative format as a reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities when requested.

Government Code section 12950 and California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 11013, require all employers to post this document or you can obtain a poster from the DFEH website. It must be conspicuously posted in hiring offices, on employee bulletin boards, in employment agency waiting rooms, union halls, and other places employees gather. Any employer whose workforce at any facility or establishment consists of more than 10% non-English speaking persons must also post this notice in the appropriate language or languages.

To Contact DFEH:

Toll Free: (800) 884-1684 TTY: (800) 700-2320 contact.center@dfeh.ca.gov www.dfeh.ca.gov