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When faced with employment discrimination and harassment claims, employers trust Payne & Fears to aggressively defend against such claims. For more than three decades, Payne & Fears has successfully represented employers in state and federal courts, in arbitration, and before governmental agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).
Our employment discrimination litigation practice runs the gamut from disparate treatment cases to class action lawsuits and other cases raising novel theories or posing the risk of substantial verdicts. With a book of clients representing a wide cross-section of industries, Payne & Fears regularly assists employers facing discrimination and harassment claims. Areas of concentration for our discrimination and harassment practice are discussed further below.
Discrimination & Harassment: Disability Discrimination
Employers often face disability discrimination lawsuits. When confronting disability discrimination claims, clients trust Payne & Fears attorneys to defend their interests. For more than 30 years, Payne & Fears has successfully represented employers. Our representative disability discrimination experience includes successes in state and federal courts, in arbitration, and before governmental agencies such as the EEOC and the CRD.
Discrimination & Harassment: Age Discrimination
Age discrimination lawsuits target employers of all sizes. Payne & Fears’ employment attorneys have substantial experience defending employers against age discrimination claims. Our attorneys represent employers in state and federal court, as well as in arbitration and before governmental agencies. For more than 30 years, Payne & Fears litigators have successfully disposed of age discrimination claims.
Discrimination & Harassment: Hostile Work Environment
Payne & Fears employment attorneys have considerable experience navigating the details of federal and state equal opportunity laws. We routinely provide compliance trainings for employers and create materials informed by the most recent hostile work environment actions and cases. Our attorneys also have experience defending clients against hostile work environment claims, whether those claims are made before administrative entities like the EEOC or in litigation in state or federal courts. We represent clients from a cross-section of industries in hostile work environment matters. Our employment attorneys are on top of recent developments in employment law and are prepared to offer counsel and litigation support in hostile work environment matters of any size.
Discrimination & Harassment: Pregnancy Discrimination
Pregnancy discrimination claims arise when an employee, a former employee, or a job applicant is treated unfavorably because of pregnancy, the ability or intention to become pregnant, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. A successful pregnancy discrimination claim establishes that a pregnancy-related condition was a substantial motivating reason for an adverse employment action. Payne & Fears regularly defends employers facing pregnancy discrimination claims. Our employment litigation group stays current on changes to laws and actions affecting pregnancy discrimination at both the state and federal level. When a legal issue arises, we draw upon our decades of experience defending clients against pregnancy discrimination claims in administrative forums and in litigation in state and federal court.
Discrimination & Harassment: Race Discrimination
Establishing a positive work environment free from all forms of discrimination is essential to our role helping employers with compliance. The labor and employment attorneys at Payne & Fears also have extensive experience defending clients against alleged race discrimination claims before administrative entities such as the EEOC and in litigation in state and federal courts. Our Labor & Employment Law attorneys work with the most recent developments in employment case law. Though we emphasize helping clients foster a workplace free from all forms of discrimination and harassment through training and compliance counsel, we don’t shy away from a fight and are prepared to defend our clients in race discrimination matters of any size.
Discrimination & Harassment: Sex Discrimination
Our attorneys handle sex discrimination claims brought under Title VII and other related federal and state laws. We regularly work with clients to develop action plans for reducing the risk of sex discrimination claims. This includes drafting robust anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and coordinating internal labor and employment investigations where necessary. We provide employee training for companies seeking to reduce their risk of discrimination claims. We also defend employers facing sex discrimination matters and make it our business to help clients reduce their risk of facing sex discrimination claims.
Discrimination & Harassment: Equal Pay
Our attorneys help clients negotiate the contemporary equal pay legal landscape. Not only do we help clients assess the reality of pay equity in their firms, but we can also reduce clients’ exposure to potential claims by scrutinizing corporate policies, job applications, and other essential documents to ensure pay equity compliance. We represent employers from several sectors with equal pay compliance and litigation. Whether our clients seek compliance counsel or representation in an equal pay litigation, we deploy our familiarity with decades of changes to employment case law to our client’s best interests. Though we also seek to avoid the expense and complications of protracted litigation, we are always ready to defend clients in equal pay disputes of any size.
Discrimination & Harassment: Family Care or Medical Leave
Family care and medical leave litigation has been heating up over the years, with employees claiming that their employers failed to comply with various leave laws (e.g., the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA)). Payne & Fears attorneys know that staying current with the laws and regulations governing family care and medical leave in the workplace is more complicated than ever. Several well-publicized leave-related lawsuits have led to increased scrutiny on the compliance of employers’ leave policies. Payne & Fears’ litigation team has decades of experience defending against and defeating such claims for our clients.