Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills is a suburb of 5.71 square mile located southwest of the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles County and surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, it has a population of 32,701, a reduction from the 2010 census. Home to Rodeo Drive, a shopping district full of designer brand stores, along with many celebrities, the city is known via pop culture representations of what some regard as conspicuous wealth, but it began as an agricultural community in the 1800s. If you need to go up against your employer in an employment discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, or wage and hour lawsuit, you should call the experienced Beverly Hills employment attorneys of Calderone Law Firm. We can put our insights gained over years of experience to work for you.

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), you may have a claim for workplace discrimination if your employer made an adverse employment decision against you due to a trait of yours that is protected under the law. Adverse employment decisions can involve disparate pay, failure to hire, termination, layoffs, failure to promote, or failure to provide equal opportunities. FEHA is applicable to those workplaces with at least five employees. But, with regard to sexual harassment claims, it applies to workplaces of all sizes, even those with just one employee. Traits protected under FEHA include national origin, ancestry, color, race, age (40 or older), mental disability, physical disability, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, sex, gender, pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military or veteran status, and marital status.

Federal and state laws protect whistleblowers—those employees who step up in good faith to report their employers' violations of laws, public policy, or regulations. Your employer cannot retaliate against you for whistleblowing, so long as you reasonably believed that what you reported was a legal, regulatory, or policy violation. Retaliatory acts that your employer is forbidden from engaging in based on your whistleblowing include termination, constructive termination, demotions, unfair write-ups, failure to promote though a promotion is warranted, denial of training opportunities, or disparate pay. The broadest state protection against retaliation is found in Labor Code 1102.5, which shields you from retaliation whether you brought the suspected violation to a law enforcement agency or someone with authority over you in the workplace or testified before a public body that was investigating a violation.

You are entitled to expect your wages to conform to the law's requirements. Federal, state and local laws cover wage and hour issues like minimum wage, overtime, uniforms and equipment, and meal and rest breaks. These rules apply to nonexempt employees; that is, you are not covered by them if you are an exempt employee or an independent contractor. However, you should be aware that some employers try to avoid following wage and hour rules by misclassifying nonexempt employees or independent contractors. It can be important to talk to an attorney about whether you are a nonexempt employee, if you have very little control over how you do your job and have to punch in and out of the job but are not paid minimum wage or overtime or given appropriate rest breaks. Employers who fail to abide by wage and hour laws may be held accountable in a lawsuit. While the potential damages may be small in an individual wage and hour lawsuit, an experienced class action lawyer, like the ones at Calderone Law Firm, can let you know if it's appropriate to band together with your coworkers to bring a class action lawsuit against your employer.

It's normal to feel anxious about going up against an employer in court. It's crucial to retain a knowledgeable and tenacious lawyer to protect your rights and interests. If you need to pursue an employment lawsuit in Beverly Hills, call Calderone Law Firm. Vincent Calderone, the founder of the Calderone Law Firm, has more than 20 years of experience effectively litigating employment lawsuits. Please contact us online or call us at (424) 348-8290.