Sexual Orientation Discrimination Lawyer Los Angeles, CA
If your employer has treated you unfairly because you are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, California law is on your side. Maybe you were passed over for a promotion that went to someone less qualified. Maybe you were mistreated. Maybe you were fired for reasons that made no sense until you realized what actually happened.
Our Los Angeles, CA sexual orientation discrimination lawyer at The Bloom Firm has represented LGBTQ employees in exactly these situations. We’ve seen how discrimination operates in California workplaces, and we know how to prove it. Contact us for a free consultation if your sexual orientation has affected how your employer treats you.
Why Choose The Bloom Firm for Sexual Orientation Discrimination Cases in Los Angeles, CA?
Attorneys Who Recognize How Discrimination Actually Works
Sexual orientation discrimination rarely announces itself. Instead, it looks like this: your performance reviews were strong for years, then you mentioned your partner at a company event, and suddenly your supervisor started documenting problems that never existed before. Or you watched three less experienced colleagues get promoted while you stayed in the same role, and nobody could explain why.
Lisa Bloom has advocated for LGBTQ rights throughout her career. She wrote about the significance of the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling when it came down and has spent decades fighting discrimination in all its forms. Lisa graduated from Yale Law School in 1986. Super Lawyers has recognized her every year since 2015, and she appears regularly on CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC covering civil rights issues.
Arick Fudali serves as Partner and Managing Attorney. His background as a prosecutor in Florida taught him how to dissect facts and build arguments that hold up under pressure. He earned his J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, holds licenses in California, New York, and Florida, and has represented employees facing discrimination since 2011.
Our employment lawyer in Los Angeles, CA covers related claims that often accompany sexual orientation cases: wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment.
What We’ve Accomplished
Our attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for clients in discrimination and civil rights cases. We’ve represented employees discriminated against because of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, disability, and other protected characteristics. When employers violate California law, we make them pay for it.
The Fee Structure
You pay nothing unless we win. No retainer. No hourly billing. We take these cases on contingency because we believe financial barriers should not prevent anyone from pursuing justice.
What Clients Say
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“Every member of the Bloom Firm is caring and dedicated to their clients. I have referred several of my friends to them over the years and am deeply impressed by their intelligence and commitment.” — Katie Buckland, Client
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Cases We Handle in Los Angeles
California law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in all its forms. Here’s what we see most often:
- Termination. You get fired shortly after your employer learns you’re gay. They claim performance issues or restructuring, but the timing tells a different story. We dig into whether those stated reasons hold up or whether they’re covering for bias.
- Promotion denials. You’ve been in the same role for years. Colleagues with less experience keep advancing. Nobody gives you a straight answer about why. When sexual orientation influences these decisions, even unconsciously, it violates California law. We analyze patterns in who gets promoted and who doesn’t.
- Hostile work environment. People make comments about your personal life. You get excluded from after-work events. It’s not one thing; it’s everything, accumulating until work becomes unbearable. That’s illegal when it’s based on your orientation and severe or pervasive enough to interfere with your job.
- Outing. Someone disclosed your sexual orientation without your permission, and things changed after that. Privacy violations that lead to discrimination create their own legal exposure for employers. The harm compounds.
- Perceived orientation. Your employer assumed you were gay and treated you worse because of it. Doesn’t matter if the assumption was wrong. California law protects against discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation just as it protects against discrimination based on actual orientation.
- Retaliation. You complained about homophobic conduct. You reported discrimination to HR. And then your hours got cut, your responsibilities shifted, or your reviews turned negative. Punishing employees for opposing discrimination is itself illegal. These claims often result in significant damages.
- Overlapping LGBTQ claims. Many employees face discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. These claims interact in ways that require attorneys who understand both.
California Legal Requirements for Sexual Orientation Discrimination
California has protected LGBTQ employees longer than almost any state. The protections here are broader than federal law in several important ways.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act has prohibited sexual orientation discrimination since 1992. That’s nearly three decades before federal law caught up. FEHA covers employers with five or more employees and applies to every aspect of employment: hiring, firing, promotions, compensation, assignments, working conditions. The California Civil Rights Department enforces these rules and investigates complaints.
California Government Code Section 12940 spells out what employers must do. They’re strictly liable for harassment by supervisors. For coworker harassment, they’re liable if they knew or should have known about the conduct and failed to stop it. Employers cannot claim ignorance when the evidence shows they looked the other way.
Federal law now provides protection too. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination includes sexual orientation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces this. But California law still offers advantages: it covers smaller employers, provides a longer filing window, and may allow greater damages.
The Department of Labor provides additional resources on federal contractor obligations and whistleblower protections that may apply to your situation.
You have three years from the last discriminatory act to file an administrative complaint. Miss that deadline and you may lose your claim entirely.
Important Aspects of a Los Angeles Sexual Orientation Discrimination Case
Proving discrimination requires showing that bias motivated your employer’s decisions. That’s rarely simple, but certain elements make cases stronger.
Circumstantial Evidence
Direct evidence of discrimination is rare. Employers don’t put discriminatory motives in writing. So we build cases from circumstantial evidence: the timing of adverse actions relative to when your employer learned your orientation, how you were treated compared to straight colleagues, inconsistent or shifting explanations for decisions, comments that reveal underlying attitudes. These pieces add up.
Your Documentation
Start keeping records now. Save emails showing bias or documenting adverse treatment. Screenshot text messages. Note verbal incidents with dates, times, and witnesses. Keep performance reviews that show your work quality before discrimination began. Many employees don’t realize how much early documentation matters until it’s too late.
Comparators
How did your employer treat straight employees in similar situations? If they received promotions you were denied, flexibility you were refused, or leniency you never got, those comparisons matter. Identifying the right comparators helps prove that your orientation drove the different treatment.
The Timeline
Before-and-after cases are powerful. Your trajectory was positive. Then something changed: you came out, you brought your partner to an event, someone saw your social media. And suddenly everything shifted. That timing creates strong circumstantial evidence.
Administrative Filing
You must obtain a right-to-sue notice from the California Civil Rights Department before filing a lawsuit under FEHA. The process has deadlines and procedural requirements. Errors here can damage your case before it starts.
Related Claims
Sexual orientation discrimination often comes packaged with other violations. Workplace harassment claims may arise from homophobic conduct. Retaliation claims follow when employers punish employees for complaining. Sexual harassment claims can overlap when unwanted conduct has sexual elements. Our attorneys look at the full picture.
What You Can Recover
Successful claims may result in lost wages and benefits, compensation for emotional distress, and in egregious cases, punitive damages. Reinstatement is sometimes available. The value depends on how severe the discrimination was, how long it lasted, what it cost you professionally and personally, and how strong the evidence is.
Contact The Bloom Firm
Sexual orientation discrimination in Los Angeles violates California law. You have the right to fight back, and employers who discriminate should face consequences.
We offer free consultations. We handle these cases on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we recover money for you. No financial risk to find out where you stand.
Your career should not suffer because of who you are. California law agrees. If discrimination, retaliation, or a hostile work environment has affected your job, contact The Bloom Firm.