Harassment Lawyers Serving Southern California

At Appleton Law Group, attorneys Heather Appleton and Cherryl F. Cercado are committed to protecting your rights under the law. If you believe you are a victim of harassment and want to understand your options, our attorneys can provide you with personalized representation at every stage of your case.

Southern California Harassment Attorneys Successfully Litigating Harassment Claims

Workplace disputes often arise from a number of related issues, such as wrongful termination, discrimination, or harassment. The attorneys at Appleton Law Group have extensive knowledge of California discrimination and harassment issues and have successfully litigated employment law cases throughout California.

Federal and state laws prohibit harassment based on sexual orientation, race, national origin, age, marital status, disability, and other characteristics. Unlawful harassment occurs when an individual makes unwelcome comments or conduct based on a protected characteristic, and this conduct impacts an employee’s benefits or results in a hostile work environment. For example, demeaning or offensive actions or comments based on racial bias may constitute unlawful racial harassment. In a hostile work environment case, the comments or conduct must unreasonably interfere with the employee’s work performance or create an intimidating, offensive work environment.

Many claims for harassment involve sexual harassment. Sexual harassment cases involve hostile work environment claims, or involve quid pro quo harassment. This is where an employee is either expected to submit to harassment as a condition or term of employment or the employee’s refusal to submit prevented the employee from receiving benefits, such as a promotion or raise. Some common examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to:

• Intentional unwanted physical conduct: kissing, groping, hugging, brushing against a person’s body, and impeding or blocking movement.
• Visual conduct: leering, staring, making sexual gestures, and displaying sexually suggestive objects or pictures.
• Verbal conduct: making or using derogatory comments, epithets, slurs, jokes, verbal abuse of a sexual nature, commentaries about an individual’s body or appearance, sexually degrading words used to describe an individual, suggestive or obscene letters or notes, and sexually explicit statements, questions, or anecdotes.

Whether the claim is based on race, gender, or some other ground, it is important to understand that harassment can result from actions or words, and can be based on the conduct or comments of an employer, or from a person of the same status and of the same gender.

Contact Southern California Harassment Attorneys Today To Receive Advice You Can Trust

If you have questions regarding a harassment claim or wish to speak to our Southern California harassment attorneys, please call our office today at 888-649-1874 or contact us online for a free initial consultation.