Everyone has the right to feel comfortable at work and feel relaxed enough to get on with the task at hand. In the same way, workers in the state of California have the right to be judged on how well they perform their job rather than irrelevant characteristics that do not relate in any way to the job that they do.
Unfortunately, however, many workers experience discrimination while in the workplace. This might be discrimination due to their skin color, their national origin, their dialect or accent, their sex or their sexual orientation. Discrimination is never acceptable in the workplace, and it is possible to take legal action when you have been discriminated at work as a result of your sexual orientation or your perceived sexual orientation.
How is sexual orientation discrimination defined?
Sexual orientation discrimination refers to any type of unequal treatment because of a person’s sexual orientation. This could refer to being denied a job for no other reason than because of the sexual orientation that you have or are believed to have. Perhaps, for example, an employer wants to hire a certain job applicant, but later has reason to believe that the job applicant is bisexual, and then decides not to hire the employee. This would count as sexual orientation discrimination, because the employer made their decision based purely on this characteristic.
If you are feeling uncomfortable at work or feel undervalued or alienated because of your sexual orientation, you may be able to make a claim against your employer. It is important that you learn more about the law in the state of California before doing so.