Pasadena, CA Employment Lawyer
Allred, Maroko & Goldberg represents employees in Pasadena who have experienced employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, or another violation of their rights. Our attorneys are prepared to listen and help you consider your legal options.
Pasadena is home to a diverse workforce spanning healthcare, higher education, scientific research, technology, hospitality, retail, government, financial services, and entertainment. Employees working near Old Pasadena, the Playhouse District, South Lake Avenue, Caltech, Pasadena City College, the Rose Bowl, or elsewhere in the city are entitled to a workplace free from unlawful discrimination and harassment.
Allred, Maroko & Goldberg was founded by Gloria Allred, one of the nation’s most recognized civil rights attorneys, along with Michael Maroko and Nathan Goldberg. Her legacy as a tireless advocate for victims is reflected in the work the firm does every day for employees across Pasadena and Southern California.
What Can a Pasadena Employment Lawyer Do for You?
An employment law dispute often places an individual employee against an organization with significant financial resources, legal counsel, and control over critical evidence. An experienced Pasadena employment lawyer can help level that imbalance.
Depending on the circumstances, an attorney may:
- Evaluate whether the employer’s conduct may violate California or federal law
- Identify filing deadlines and administrative requirements
- Review employment agreements, policies, and severance documents
- Preserve emails, text messages, personnel records, and other evidence
- Interview witnesses and investigate similar workplace complaints
- Communicate with the employer or its attorneys
- File an administrative complaint or lawsuit
- Negotiate for a fair resolution
- Prepare a claim for trial when necessary
Not every unfair workplace decision is illegal. Employment law focuses on whether an employer acted for a prohibited reason, violated a protected right, or failed to meet a legal obligation.
If you’re unsure whether your rights were violated, contact Allred, Maroko & Goldberg today to speak with an experienced legal advocate.
What Employment Cases Does the Firm Handle?
Allred, Maroko & Goldberg represents employees and other individuals in serious matters involving:
- Sexual harassment
- Sexual assault
- Hostile work environments
- Workplace harassment
- Wrongful termination
- Retaliation
- Whistleblower claims
- Age discrimination
- Race and national origin discrimination
- Religious discrimination
- Disability discrimination
- Sex and gender discrimination
- Pregnancy discrimination
- Failure to provide reasonable accommodations
- Equal-pay violations
- Civil rights violations
- Child sexual abuse
- Serious personal injury
Employment claims frequently overlap. An employee who reports sexual harassment may later be excluded from meetings, receive unjustified discipline, and ultimately be terminated — a situation that could involve harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination rather than a single isolated violation.
A comprehensive legal evaluation considers the entire employment history, the timing of events, the employer’s stated reasons, and the evidence supporting or contradicting those reasons.
What You Need to Know About California Employment Discrimination
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) protects employees and job applicants from discrimination based on legally protected characteristics, including:
- Race and color, national origin and ancestry
- Religion
- Age (40+)
- Physical and mental disability, medical condition
- Sex and gender, pregnancy and related medical conditions
- Gender identity and gender expression, sexual orientation
- Marital status
- Military or veteran status
Federal statutes — Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act — may provide additional protections. Which laws apply can depend on the employer’s size, the type of conduct, and the employee’s working relationship.
Discrimination can affect nearly every stage of employment: recruitment and hiring, compensation, training, work assignments, performance reviews, promotions, discipline, benefits, leave, accommodations, layoffs, and termination.
An employer doesn’t have to openly admit bias for discrimination to occur. Attorneys frequently establish discriminatory intent through patterns, timing, inconsistent explanations, departures from standard policy, and evidence that comparable employees received more favorable treatment.
What Are Common Signs of Workplace Discrimination?
Potential indicators include offensive comments about a protected characteristic, being passed over for promotion despite strong qualifications, lower pay than employees performing substantially similar work, harsher discipline than comparable coworkers, exclusion from training or valuable assignments, sudden negative reviews after revealing a disability or pregnancy, pressure to retire because of age, an ignored accommodation request, termination after requesting protected leave, or changing explanations for an adverse decision.
For example: a Pasadena employee who has consistently met performance expectations discloses a medical condition and requests a modified schedule. The employee then loses important responsibilities, receives disciplinary notices for issues never raised before, is fired, and is replaced by someone without the same accommodation needs. That sequence doesn’t automatically prove discrimination, but it may warrant investigating disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, or retaliation.
When Does Workplace Harassment Become Unlawful?
Workplace harassment may violate the law when unwelcome conduct is based on a protected characteristic — race, sex, gender, religion, disability, age, national origin, sexual orientation, or another protected status. Examples may include:
- Racial slurs or stereotypes
- Sexually explicit comments or images
- Mocking an employee’s accent or national origin
- Insults about age or disability
- Offensive comments about religious clothing or practices
- Repeated remarks concerning pregnancy
- Deliberate misuse of gender-related language as a form of hostility
- Threats or intimidation connected to a protected characteristic
- Unwanted touching or sexual advances
A hostile work environment claim usually considers the full context: how frequently the conduct occurred, how severe it was, whether it was physically threatening or humiliating, and whether it interfered with the employee’s work. Harassment may come from a supervisor, coworker, customer, contractor, or vendor, and employers have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent it and respond appropriately when misconduct is reported.
How Does Sexual Harassment Affect Employee Rights?
Sexual harassment can threaten an employee’s career, emotional well-being, financial security, and sense of personal safety. It may involve unwelcome advances, explicit messages, sexual jokes, unwanted touching, coercion, or employment decisions based on an employee’s response to sexual conduct. Two recognized categories:
- Quid pro quo harassment: a person with workplace authority connects an employment benefit or threat to sexual cooperation.
- Hostile work environment harassment: unwelcome conduct becomes severe or pervasive enough to alter working conditions.
Employees of any sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation can experience sexual harassment. A victim doesn’t need to show the harasser’s conduct was motivated by sexual desire in every case — harassment based on sex or gender can implicate legal protections regardless.
Contact Allred, Maroko & Goldberg today if you’ve experienced harassment or discrimination — we’re here to help.
What Is Employment Retaliation?
Retaliation occurs when an employer takes adverse action against an employee because that employee engaged in protected activity. Protected activities may include:
- Reporting workplace harassment
- Opposing suspected discrimination
- Participating in an internal or government investigation
- Requesting a disability accommodation
- Seeking protected family or medical leave
- Reporting certain wage violations
- Disclosing suspected illegal or unsafe conduct
- Refusing to participate in unlawful activity
Retaliatory conduct is not limited to termination. It may involve a demotion, reduced hours, undesirable shifts, exclusion from meetings, unjustified discipline, increased scrutiny, denied advancement, or other actions that could discourage a reasonable employee from asserting protected rights.
Timing often matters. If an employee receives positive reviews for years but is suddenly labeled a poor performer immediately after reporting harassment, that sequence may support further investigation, along with inconsistent explanations or departures from policy.
When Is a Firing Considered Wrongful Termination?
California generally recognizes at-will employment, but an employer cannot lawfully terminate someone for a discriminatory, retaliatory, or otherwise prohibited reason. Potential grounds for a wrongful termination claim include dismissal because an employee reported sexual harassment, opposed discrimination, requested an accommodation, took protected leave, reported suspected legal violations, participated in an investigation, refused to perform an illegal act, asserted wage-and-hour rights, or belonged to a protected class.
The employer’s label for the decision doesn’t determine whether it was lawful. A business may call a termination a restructuring, reduction in force, or performance decision — a lawyer examines whether the explanation is credible, consistently applied, and supported by records created before the dispute arose.
What Local Wage Protections Apply in Pasadena?
Pasadena has a citywide minimum wage ordinance (Pasadena Municipal Code Chapter 5.02) that provides greater protection than the general statewide rate. Effective July 1, 2026, Pasadena’s minimum wage is $18.57 per hour for businesses of all sizes, and the rate is scheduled to remain in effect through June 30, 2027.
The ordinance also has real teeth for retaliation: if an employer takes adverse action against an employee within 90 days of that employee asserting rights under the ordinance, the law presumes retaliation and shifts the burden to the employer to prove otherwise. Covered employees may have claims when an employer pays less than the required rate, fails to account for all compensable hours, or retaliates against a worker for raising a wage concern. Separate state rules may establish higher rates in certain industries, including qualifying fast-food establishments.
Employees should preserve pay stubs, time records, schedules, tip records, and relevant communications — wage claims can involve different legal standards and deadlines than discrimination or harassment claims.
Where Pasadena Employment Cases Are Handled
Pasadena falls under the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Northeast District, which also covers Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, and Sierra Madre. Civil cases — including most employment lawsuits — are filed at the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 East Walnut Street, which maintains its own civil unlimited department. Before a lawsuit, most discrimination and retaliation claims also require an administrative filing with the California Civil Rights Department or the EEOC’s Los Angeles District Office, which covers Pasadena.
What Should You Do After Suspected Workplace Misconduct?
- Create a timeline. Record dates, locations, statements, witnesses, complaints, and adverse actions.
- Preserve relevant documents you may lawfully possess — evaluations, pay records, schedules, emails, texts, and disciplinary notices.
- Make important complaints in writing. A dated written report may help establish what the employer knew and when.
- Identify witnesses who observed the conduct or experienced similar treatment.
- Review applicable policies on reporting, accommodation, leave, and anti-retaliation procedures.
- Avoid posting about the case. Social-media comments may be obtained and used out of context.
- Don’t alter evidence. Preserve original files, messages, and screenshots.
- Seek advice before resigning or signing a release — these decisions can significantly affect your legal position.
Don’t take trade secrets, privileged documents, or confidential records you aren’t entitled to access — an employment attorney can guide you on appropriate evidence preservation.
What Happens During an Employment Claim?
- Confidential consultation — an attorney reviews available evidence and identifies possible claims and deadlines.
- Investigation — personnel records, communications, policies, and comparable-employee treatment.
- Administrative filing — the California Civil Rights Department generally requires an intake form within three years of the date an employee was last harmed; other deadlines apply to federal, wage, and contract claims.
- Negotiation or mediation — many cases resolve through confidential settlement addressing compensation, benefits, references, or policy changes.
- Litigation and trial — when the opposing party won’t agree to a fair resolution, a claim may proceed through the Los Angeles County Superior Court system or federal court where jurisdiction is satisfied.
What Compensation Can an Employee Recover?
Potential relief may include past and future lost wages, lost employment benefits, emotional distress damages, unpaid compensation, attorney’s fees and costs when authorized, punitive damages in qualifying cases, reinstatement, changes to workplace policies, and other equitable relief. No attorney can guarantee a result — value depends on the evidence, severity of the conduct, resulting losses, and the employer’s defenses.
Why Choose Allred, Maroko & Goldberg?
Gloria Allred, Michael Maroko, and Nathan Goldberg founded Allred, Maroko & Goldberg nearly five decades ago. Since then, the firm has represented individuals in significant matters involving employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, sexual abuse, and civil rights violations, recovering more than $1 billion for clients across its practice areas through confidential pre-litigation settlements, courtroom trials, and appeals.
Our attorneys bring the same empathetic, prepared approach to every Pasadena case. Read what past clients have said in our testimonials.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pasadena Employment Law
Can I consult an attorney while I still work for the employer?
Yes. You don’t have to wait until you’re fired — early guidance can help you decide how to report misconduct, request an accommodation, preserve evidence, or respond to suspected retaliation.
Is a rude manager committing illegal harassment?
Not necessarily. Unlawful harassment is generally connected to a protected characteristic or protected activity, though repeated hostility following a discrimination complaint may itself be evidence of retaliation.
Can my employer punish me for reporting harassment?
No. An employer may not lawfully retaliate against an employee for a protected, good-faith complaint. Document any discipline, schedule changes, exclusion, threats, or other negative treatment that begins after your report.
Should I sign a severance agreement?
Have an attorney review it first. A severance agreement may waive employment claims or create significant confidentiality and cooperation obligations you’d want to understand before signing.
How long do I have to bring an employment claim?
It depends on the claim. An intake submitted to the California Civil Rights Department for an employment matter generally must be filed within three years of the last alleged harm, though other deadlines may be shorter. See our full employment law FAQ for more.
Will my employment case become public?
Court filings are generally public unless sealed, while some pre-litigation negotiations and settlements may remain confidential. An attorney can explain the privacy considerations tied to different legal strategies.
Take Action Now — Your Employee Rights Matter
Workplace harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination can make you feel isolated and uncertain about what to do next. Contact Allred, Maroko & Goldberg today at 213-468-0613 to schedule a confidential consultation.