DFEH provides assistance to anyone who needs help accessing and understanding our information. Please contact us to arrange an accommodation if you have a disability or need translation into your native language. Email accommodations dfeh. Complaint or Mediation Status To check the status of your pending complaint, get in touch directly with the investigator assigned to your case.
Email: contact. The case can then be settled with the filer, closed by the DFEH if no probable violation of the law occurred, or referred to the DFEH legal department for litigation. The role of the DFEH is complicated. In the initial stages of the investigation, the DFEH acts as a neutral fact finder.
Their role is to objectively determine whether there was any probable violation of the law. A responding party should cooperate fully with the DFEH, but be mindful of this changing role. An employee filing an employment discrimination lawsuit under California law is required to first contact the DFEH.
The DFEH will conduct a very limited review of the employee's allegations in approving the right-to-sue letter. If the employee skipped this step and did not request a right-to-sue letter, the lawsuit may be improper and subject to dismissal.
These state laws barring discrimination apply to all business practices, including the following:. It is illegal for employers of 5 or more employees to discriminate against job applicants and employees because of a protected category, or retaliate against them because they have asserted their rights under the law. The FEHA prohibits harassment based on a protected category against an employee, an applicant, an unpaid intern or volunteer, or a contractor.
Harassment is prohibited in all workplaces, even those with fewer than five employees. Employers of 5 or more employees must provide up to four months of disability leave for an employee who is disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.
To find out if you qualify for job-protected leave due to pregnancy disability or bonding with a new child, see our Interactive App on Job-Protected Leave. Employers of 5 or more employees are required to provide sexual harassment training to supervisory and nonsupervisory employees, and DFEH accepts complaints when a person believes that an employer has not complied with these training and education requirements.
California law protects individuals from illegal discrimination by employers based on the following:. State law provides for a variety of remedies for victims of employment discrimination, including:. The FEHA applies to public and private employers, labor organizations, apprentice training programs, employment agencies, and licensing boards. An employer can be one or more individuals, partnerships, corporations or companies. Harassment is prohibited in all workplaces, even those with only one employee or independent contractor on staff.
Any applicant or employee—or an individual who works in a sheltered workshop or rehabilitation facility—can file an employment discrimination complaint with DFEH. This includes applicants for training programs leading to employment.
An employee, applicant, unpaid intern, volunteer, or contractor may file a complaint of harassment. In general, a complaint of employment discrimination must be filed within three years from the date an alleged discriminatory act occurred.
You must file a complaint with DFEH even if you wish to file a case directly in court. DFEH does not inquire about citizenship or immigration status. If you have a disability that prevents you from submitting a written pre-complaint form online, by mail, or email, the DFEH can assist you by scribing your pre-complaint by phone or for individuals who communicate by American Sign Language through the relay system.
Contact the Communication Center voice or relay operator or TTY or by email to contact. The individual filing the complaint is called a complainant and the employer is called a respondent. The investigation process includes gathering evidence from both sides, interviewing the parties and witnesses, and reviewing records.
DFEH has the authority to take interviews under oath, issue subpoenas and interrogatories and seek temporary restraining orders during the course of its investigation. All evidence gathered is analyzed to determine if a violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act has occurred. DFEH does not represent either the complainant or the respondent.
DFEH has attorneys who prepare and file cases in court. DFEH attorneys represent the Department, not the individual complainant. The complainant is a real party in interest in the lawsuit. DFEH does not charge complainants attorney fees or expert witness fees, nor does it take a percentage of any award or settlement. DFEH does not have jurisdiction over all workplace complaints. It can only help resolve employment complaints that involve discrimination or harassment based on a FEHA-protected characteristic such as race, sex, religion, national origin, or disability, for example, or reasonable accommodation, CFRA or PDL complaints.
You may be entitled to accommodations if you have a pregnancy disability. Accommodations are changes to the work environment that allow you to perform your job.
Examples of changes or accommodations are:. Whether you are entitled to any particular accommodation will depend upon the circumstances of your pregnancy-related disability and your workplace. Pregnancy Disability Leave, or PDL, is leave from work to accommodate employees with a pregnancy disability. Your health care provider will recommend how long you need to take leave from work, but you are entitled to up to four months of PDL per pregnancy.
Code Regs. If your employer has a policy of providing more than four months of leave for other disabilities, then your employer must also provide you the same leave, if required by your pregnancy-related disability. If your employer employs five or more employees and you have a pregnancy disability, you are eligible for PDL. There is no minimum requirement for number of hours or years worked to be eligible. Your health care provider should recommend PDL for you to apply for it.
If you think you may have to take time off from work for your pregnancy-related disability, inform your employer as soon as possible. Your employer must give you a written guarantee that you will be reinstated to your same job after PDL, if you request it.
Your employer may require that you provide a written medical certification from your health care provider substantiating your need for leave. It is illegal for your employer to fire you because you are pregnant or because you take PDL.
However, PDL does not protect you from employment actions not related to your pregnancy, such as layoffs. Employers are otherwise required by law to reinstate you to the same job you had before taking leave.
In some situations, you may be reinstated to a position that is comparable same tasks, skills, benefits, and pay to the job you had before taking PDL. Your employer is required to reinstate you to your original job after you are no longer disabled by pregnancy. In some situations, you may be reinstated to a comparable job same tasks, skills, benefits, and pay. If your employer pays employees for other temporary disability leave, then your employer must pay you for your PDL.
You will be paid if you use paid vacation or paid time off during your PDL. You may also be eligible for paid leave through other state laws or local ordinances, such as Paid Family Leave Benefits.
Your employer may require you to use available sick leave during PDL. If your employer does not require you to use available sick leave during PDL, you may use it at your discretion. Your employer may not require you to use vacation or paid time off.
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