Maybe something at work feels wrong, but you’re not sure whether it’s actually illegal. At Spiegelman Law PC, transgender employment attorney Samson Spiegelman helps California workers connect their lived experiences to the legal protections available to them.
Rights & Resources Services
Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under FEHA
The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against you because of your actual or perceived sexual orientation. These can apply throughout the employment relationship, from hiring and promotions to pay, discipline, workplace opportunities, and termination.
Importantly, your employer doesn’t have to be correct about your sexual orientation. If someone perceives you as gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or otherwise LGBTQ+ and treats you differently because of that perception, you may still have legal protections.
FEHA generally applies to employers with five or more employees. However, federal law may provide additional protection under Title VII for employers with 15 or more employees.
What Can Sexual Orientation Discrimination Look Like?
Discrimination is rarely announced openly. Instead, you may start noticing a pattern after your sexual orientation becomes known. That could include:
- Being rejected for a job or promotion
- Suddenly receiving negative performance reviews
- Being disciplined more harshly than coworkers
- Losing desirable assignments, shifts, or responsibilities
- Being excluded from training or advancement opportunities
- Being treated differently after mentioning a same-sex partner
- Being subjected to homophobic comments, stereotypes, or slurs
- Being fired or pushed out after coming out
One incident may not tell the whole story. Timing, comments, inconsistencies, and how similarly situated coworkers were treated can help reveal what was really happening.
You’re Also Protected Against LGBTQ+ Harassment
Sexual orientation discrimination and harassment can overlap, but they aren’t exactly the same thing. Harassment may involve slurs, degrading jokes, sexual comments, threats, ridicule, or other unwelcome conduct because of your sexual orientation. California’s workplace harassment protections are particularly broad. While FEHA discrimination provisions generally apply to employers with five or more employees, its harassment protections can apply even in very small workplaces.
Your Gender Identity and Expression Are Protected, Too
California law also protects gender identity and gender expression. If you’re transgender, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, or transitioning, your employer cannot make employment decisions against you because of your identity or how you express your gender. Workplace protections can become relevant when you are intentionally misgendered or deadnamed, denied appropriate restroom access, subjected to discriminatory dress or grooming expectations, or treated differently because you’re transitioning.
When Discrimination Turns Into Retaliation
You have the right to raise concerns about discrimination. Retaliation may happen when you engage in protected activity, such as reporting sexual orientation discrimination or harassment, and your employer responds negatively. Maybe you complained to HR and suddenly started getting written up. Perhaps you were excluded from meetings, lost shifts, were demoted, or were fired soon afterward. The timing alone doesn’t necessarily prove retaliation, but the sequence of events can be important.
What Should You Do if You Suspect Discrimination?
When something at work feels discriminatory, you may not know what to do first, or whether you have enough evidence to do anything at all. You don’t need to have your entire case figured out, but taking thoughtful steps early can help you understand and preserve what happened.
Depending on your situation, consider the following:
- Document discriminatory comments, incidents, decisions, and changes in how you’re treated
- Save relevant emails, messages, schedules, and other records you’re entitled to keep
- Write down dates, names, witnesses, and details while events are still fresh
- Review your employer’s discrimination, harassment, and complaint policies
- Report discrimination internally when appropriate for your circumstances
- Keep copies of complaints you make and your employer’s responses
- Track any negative treatment that begins or escalates after you speak up
- Avoid taking confidential or proprietary materials you aren’t entitled to possess
- Consult an employment attorney about your rights and potential next steps
File a claim with FEHA and the EEOC
Depending on your situation, you may need to file an administrative complaint before pursuing certain discrimination claims in court. In California, that may involve the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), which enforces FEHA, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for federal cases. Different filing deadlines and procedures can apply for both. Samson can help you understand where, when, and how to pursue your claim.
Hire Samson to Be Your Gay Lawyer!
Knowing that something changed after you came out is different from proving why it changed. Employers rarely put discriminatory motives in writing, which means the timeline, workplace comments, shifting explanations, and other evidence can become important.
Samson Spiegelman is a transgender man and queer employment attorney with academic training in queer theory and gender and sexuality studies. He gets the lived experience behind LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination and the legal framework to evaluate it. Tell Samson what happened in your own words: he can help you figure out how the pieces may fit together. Contact us for a case review today.
Ready to Talk to Samson?
Fill out the form below and Samson’s office will follow up to schedule your free consultation.
