The protections afforded to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals are increasing both at the state and federal level.  In October 2017, Governor Brown signed SB 396, which requires California employers to include training on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation as part of its legally-mandated harassment prevention training.  On November 16, 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity […]

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) imposes an affirmative duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent and correct discriminatory and harassing conduct in the workplace. FEHA regulations were amended effective April 1, 2016 that changed and added certain employer obligations. Last month, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) released a “Workplace Harassment […]

The California Fair Employment and Housing Council approved new regulations that limit employers’ freedom to consider criminal history when screening applicants or making employment-related decisions. The new regulations go into effect on July 1, 2017. Generally When hiring, promoting, training, disciplining or terminating, employers are strictly prohibited from considering: (1) An arrest or detention that did not result in conviction; […]

In our September 8, 2016 monthly webinar, special guest speaker Senior Staff Counsel IV Phoebe P. Liu from the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing (“DFEH”) provided an overview of DFEH and recent trends in employment. This month’s webinar was a Worthy Cause® Webinar with all net proceeds donated to Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (“CASA”). Here are a […]

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) has amended many of its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment regulations effective April 1, 2016. To begin, the regulations expand the definition of employer by including out-of-state employees in the five employee threshold that triggers application of the regulations. For example, a Nevada company with a small satellite office of three employees in […]