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Bernstein & Friedland, P.C. – Los Angeles Employment Counsel – Legal Blog

A Resource for Los Angeles Area Employees and Employers Interested in Wrongful Termination, Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation, and Unpaid Wage and Overtime News

Jury Awards Fired Pregnant Worker Nearly $185 Million

Plaintiff Rosario Juarez sued her former employer, AutoZone Stores Inc., for demoting her and ultimately terminating her after she announced her pregnancy in 2005.  According to Juarez, when she informed her district manager that she was expecting, the manager responding by saying, “Congratulations…I guess.  I feel sorry for you.”  Juarez alleged that the company subsequently doubled her assigned list of tasks, making her work day substantially

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November 25, 2014

New California Law Confirms That “Sexual Desire” is Not an Element of a Sexual Harassment Claim

Governor Brown on Monday signed into law a new bill stating that the plaintiff in a sexual harassment lawsuit need not prove that the sexually harassing conduct was “motivated by sexual desire.” The law, Senate Bill 292, is a reaction to Kelley v. Conco Companies, 196 Cal. App. 4th 191 (2011), in which the plaintiff, an apprentice ironworker, sued Conco, one of the largest concrete construction companies

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August 14, 2013

California Court Reaffirms Employers’ Obligations to Accommodate Pregnant Employees

In Sanchez v. Swissport, Inc., — Cal. App. — (Cal. App. 2d Dist. Feb. 21, 2013), the California Court of Appeals for the Second District held that California employers’ obligations as to employees requiring medical leaves of absence caused by pregnancy-related disabilities do not end at allowing a four-month leave of absence–and can instead include permitting employees suffering from pregnancy-related disabilities significantly more leave time. In

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February 28, 2013

In Wake of Harris, Jury Awards $21.7 Million to Disabled Employee in Discrimination Case

Despite the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Harris v. City of Santa Monica, discussed in detail Here, in which the Court stated that plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases must prove discrimination was a “substantial factor motivating a termination of employment, and when the employer proves it would have made the same decision absent such discrimination, a court may not award damages, backpay, or an order of reinstatement,” 

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February 22, 2013

California Supreme Court Clarifies Standard Applicable to Discrimination Lawsuits

In Harris v. City of Santa Monica, — Cal. — (Feb. 7, 2013), the California Supreme Court held that under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, “when a jury finds that unlawful discrimination was a substantial factor motivating a termination of employment, and when the employer proves it would have made the same decision absent such discrimination, a court may not award damages, backpay, or an

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February 8, 2013

Employees Can Be Fired for Being Too Sexy, says the Iowa Supreme Court

Although this blog’s focus is on California law, we could not pass up writing about this outrageous and terrible decision coming out of Iowa’s Supreme Court, which held in a 7-0 opinion that bosses in Iowa can fire female employees they find to be “irresistible” attractions. In this case, a dental assistant sued the dentist for whom she worked after he fired her because he

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December 23, 2012

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