The law prohibits employers from making decisions regarding employees based upon protected classes. But what is a protected class?

Protected classes are certain categories of specific, personal characteristics. For example, gender is a protected class. That means, an employer may not make decisions regarding employees based upon the employee’s gender. An employer cannot fire, demote,

California’s law protects employees not only from so-called ultimate employment actions such as termination or demotion, but also from any adverse employment action – i.e. the entire range of employment actions that are likely to have a substantial negative impact on an employee’s job or career.

Although offensive or rude comments or even repeated social

Sometimes an employer has some policy or practice that appears to be fair to everyone but, in the real world, has negative consequences for certain employees only. If the employees who suffer are members of a protected class, then the policy is said to have a disparate impact and it is illegal.

For example, if

A hostile work environment is one in which the harassment has become so frequent or horrible that the victim’s working conditions are changed for the worse. For there to be a hostile work environment, the harassment has to be aimed at a protected class.

For example, if a supervisor at a tech company frequently makes

Disparate treatment means “different treatment.” Disparate treatment is illegal when it is aimed at an employee or independent contractor because of their membership in a protected class.

Most often, illegal disparate treatment results in an employee not getting a raise, being passed over for a promotion, being assigned an undesirable shift or job duties, or