Employment Discrimination

The FEHA is the principal California statute prohibiting employment discrimination covering employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, apprenticeship programs and any person or entity who aids, abets, incites, compels, or coerces the doing of a discriminatory act. It prohibits employment discrimination based on race or color; religion; national origin or ancestry, physical disability; mental disability or medical condition; marital status; sex or sexual orientation; age, with respect to persons over the age of 40; and pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The FEHA also prohibits retaliation against for opposing any practice forbidden by the Act or for filing a complaint, testifying, or assisting in proceedings under the FEHA.
Unlimited compensatory and punitive damages.
Plaintiff does not have to win a unanimous jury verdict.

Sections Seven and Eight of the California Constitution primarily apply to public employment discrimination or other employment where State or Federal action is shown. Their protective effect is not so limited, See Rojo v. Klinger, 52 Cal.3d 65, 276 Cal. Rptr. 130, 801 P.2d 373.

Section 7 has an explicit requirement that the State Government may not deprive individuals of "life, liberty, or property without due process of law," or deny equal protection of the laws.

Section 8 prohibits a person from being disqualified from entering a or pursuing business, profession, vocation, or employment because of sex, race, creed, color, or national, or ethnic origin.

Government Code §§11135 et seq. prohibit unlawfully denied benefits or discriminating based on ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, color, or physical or mental disability by employers that undertake programs or activities that are funded directly by the state, and employers that receive any financial assistance from the state.

The California legislature amended the FEHA in 1992 defining physical disability as a physiological condition that 'limits' major life activities. The legislature later clarified in the Poppink Act of 2000 that a physical disability under the FEHA does not require the federal test's 'substantial limitation' of a major life activity, but instead the CA law's 'limit.'