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In addition to federal statutes related to housing and workplace discrimination, California has very strict rules on discriminatory practices.

San Francisco Employment Discrimination Lawyers

Discrimination comes in many shapes and sizes. It can affect your housing, your employment prospects, and your quality of life. Bogaards Law handles discrimination claims of many types and fights for your right to a fair and just workplace and housing market. The following is an overview of the different kinds of discrimination you might encounter and what you can do about them.

Workplace Discrimination in San Francisco

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or sex. The Americans with Disabilities Act extended these protections to those with disabilities. In 1967, the government also extended protections to those above a certain age under the Age Discrimination Act.

Anti-discrimination legislation is not limited to federal statutes. California also has laws governing these forms of discrimination known as the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). California’s rules are much stricter than the federal statutes and include more protected classes of people. In addition to those protected classes mentioned above, it is also unlawful to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, and military or veteran status.

These laws make it unlawful to make employment-related decisions on the basis of any of the aforementioned information.

There are several types of workplace discrimination claims. These include:

  • Harassment/sexual harassment/hostile work environment lawsuits;
  • Quid pro quo sexual harassment lawsuits;
  • Unequal pay lawsuits;
  • Disability-related lawsuits;
  • Lawsuits alleging discrimination in hiring and promoting practices; and
  • Retaliation lawsuits.

Federal statute requires that any company with more than 15 employees abide by anti-discrimination rules. California law reduces that number to five.

Housing Discrimination

Discrimination in housing is governed by federal statutes in the Fair Housing Act. It is unlawful to discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or familial status. In this case, familial status can refer to parents with small children or single parents with small children. Landlords are prohibited from asking for security deposits for small children.

In addition, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires landlords to make “reasonable accommodations” to those who have disabilities. For instance, it would be illegal for a landlord to deny a rental application to a blind person who has a seeing eye dog on the basis of a no-pets policy. Service animals are not considered pets under the law. Likewise, landlords may not charge security deposits on service animals.

Types of housing discrimination lawsuits include:

  • Segregating tenants by race;
  • Refusing to rent based on discrimination;
  • Discriminatory language in rental advertisements or applications;
  • Claim that a rental unit is unavailable when it is not;
  • Harassing a tenant based on protected characteristics;
  • Denying housing based on source of income (section eight or social security);
  • Denying access to accommodations based on protected characteristics; and
  • Failing to make reasonable accommodations for a disabled tenant.

Talk to a San Francisco Discrimination Attorney

In addition to federal and state statutes, there are also city and county laws that may apply to your area. Bogaards Law has helped many California residents file a complaint and pursue a lawsuit against a discriminatory employer or landlord. If you’re facing unlawful discrimination, we may be able to help you too. Contact us for more information.

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