labor lawAdivision of labor law center

It is important to note that California’s broad and complex civil rights legislation had some significant changes as a result of amendments that took effect January 1, 2006. Among those changes are laws extending protections to minors in filing claims and expanding significantly the basis of discrimination to include marital status and sexual orientation. These changes further distance the state statues from federal anti-discrimination laws.

Unlike citizens in most states, the state affords a wider range of civil rights protections that Federal law. As a consequence, some violations of California law will not be covered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or appealed to Federal Court. For this reason, some complainants at the state level should usually be treated as “the real thing” and not subject to further review. It is important to determination if federal law also covers the alleged discrimination. If so, an additional complainant can be filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,

For this reason you will need to be familiar with by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), the largest state civil rights agency in the country. The independent department is charged with enforcing California’s comprehensive employment, housing, public accommodations and public service non-discrimination laws, as well as the State’s bias-related hate violence law.

DFEH receives and investigates discrimination complaints involving employment, public accommodations and hate violence cases with jurisdiction over both private and public entities operating within the State of California, including corporate entities, private sector contracts granted by the State of California, and all State departments and local governments.

Anyone in the protected classed who feels they have been discriminated against should contact one of the twelve GFEH district offices throughout the State.

The statutes involved are primarily Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA), California Family Rights Act (CFRA)

Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Ralph Civil Rights Act. Where necessary, amendments were made to other statutes to conform to the changes.

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