Santa Monica, CA Employment Lawyer
Allred, Maroko & Goldberg represents employees in Santa Monica who experience sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, or other illegal conduct. You deserve advocates who will listen, explain your rights, and pursue accountability.
Santa Monica’s workforce spans hospitality, tourism, technology, healthcare, retail, restaurants, entertainment, creative services, education, government, and professional businesses. Whether you work near Downtown Santa Monica, Silicon Beach, the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica Pier, Montana Avenue, Ocean Park, or another part of the city, state, federal, and local laws may protect you from unlawful workplace treatment.
The firm was founded by civil rights attorney Gloria Allred — one of the country’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 in Santa Monica and throughout Southern California.
What Can a Santa Monica Employment Lawyer Do for You?
Employment law cases often involve an imbalance of information and power. An employer may control personnel records, internal communications, security footage, schedules, and access to witnesses. A Santa Monica employment lawyer can take steps to preserve and obtain evidence while protecting your legal interests. Depending on the case, an attorney may:
- Evaluate whether workplace conduct violated California, federal, or local law
- Identify applicable deadlines and administrative requirements
- Review company policies, contracts, and severance agreements
- Preserve emails, messages, evaluations, schedules, and pay records
- Investigate the employer’s reasons for an adverse decision
- Compare the treatment of similarly situated workers
- Prepare administrative complaints
- Negotiate with an employer or its legal representatives
- File a lawsuit when appropriate
- Prepare the case for mediation or trial
Speaking with an attorney does not require you to file a lawsuit — it gives you an opportunity to understand your options before you resign, sign a release, submit an internal complaint, or take another step that may affect your claim.
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 individuals in matters involving:
- Sexual harassment
- Sexual assault
- Workplace harassment
- Hostile work environments
- 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 subsequently lose favorable shifts, face increased scrutiny, and be terminated. That pattern could raise issues of harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. An employment attorney can evaluate the entire sequence, including the employee’s prior record, the timing of the complaint, the employer’s explanation, and the treatment of comparable workers.
What You Need to Know About Employment Discrimination
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) generally prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees and applicants based on protected characteristics, including:
- Race and color
- National origin and ancestry
- Religion
- Age for workers who are 40 or older
- 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 laws may provide additional protection, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Discrimination can affect:
- Hiring
- Pay and benefits
- Scheduling
- Training
- Work assignments
- Promotions
- Performance reviews
- Discipline
- Reasonable accommodations
- Protected leave
- Layoffs
- Termination
An employer rarely admits to making a decision for a discriminatory reason. Evidence may instead include biased remarks, unequal discipline, suspicious timing, inconsistent explanations, or repeated decisions that disadvantage employees from a protected group.
What Are Common Signs of Workplace Discrimination?
Potential warning signs include:
- Offensive comments about race, age, disability, religion, sex, or pregnancy
- Less-qualified employees receiving promotions or valuable assignments
- Workers from one protected group receiving less favorable schedules
- Unequal pay for substantially similar work
- Sudden criticism after an employee requests an accommodation
- Pressure to resign because of age or medical needs
- Denial of training or advancement opportunities
- Termination after protected family or medical leave
- Different disciplinary consequences for similar conduct
- Shifting explanations for an adverse employment decision
Suppose a Santa Monica technology employee has consistently received positive evaluations. After disclosing a pregnancy and requesting leave, the employee is removed from major projects and told that leadership requires someone more committed. The employee is then terminated based on newly alleged performance concerns. Those facts may warrant an investigation into pregnancy discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination — the result would depend on the full evidence, including emails, evaluations, project assignments, and the employer’s treatment of other workers.
When Does Workplace Harassment Become Unlawful?
Workplace harassment may violate the law when unwelcome conduct is connected to a protected characteristic, such as race, sex, gender, disability, religion, age, national origin, or sexual orientation. Examples may include:
- Racial slurs and degrading stereotypes
- Sexually explicit jokes, messages, or images
- Mocking an employee’s accent or ancestry
- Offensive comments about religious practices
- Insults concerning age or disability
- Repeated remarks about pregnancy or family responsibilities
- Threats based on gender identity or sexual orientation
- Unwanted touching or sexual advances
A hostile work environment claim considers the complete context, including the conduct’s severity and frequency, whether it was humiliating or threatening, and whether it interfered with the employee’s ability to work. Harassment may come from a supervisor, coworker, executive, customer, vendor, or contractor. Employers may have legal responsibilities to prevent harassment and respond appropriately after receiving notice of misconduct.
What Is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual harassment may involve unwanted advances, pressure for a relationship, requests for sexual favors, explicit communications, sexual jokes, unwanted touching, or employment decisions tied to sexual conduct. Two commonly recognized forms:
- Quid pro quo harassment: a supervisor or other influential person links an employment benefit or threat to an employee accepting or rejecting sexual conduct — offering a promotion in exchange for a relationship, or threatening to reduce shifts after an advance is rejected.
- Hostile work environment harassment: unwelcome sexual or sex-based conduct becomes sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter working conditions and create an abusive environment.
Sexual harassment can occur in an office, hotel, restaurant, medical facility, retail store, remote workplace, business event, or through digital communications. Employees of every sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation can be victims. Gloria Allred’s experience representing victims in high-profile civil rights, discrimination, harassment, and abuse cases continues to inform the compassion and determination the firm brings to sensitive claims today.
Contact Allred, Maroko & Goldberg today if you’ve experienced harassment or discrimination — we’re here to help.
What Is Workplace Retaliation?
Retaliation occurs when an employer takes adverse action because a worker engaged in legally protected activity. Protected activity may include:
- Reporting sexual harassment
- Opposing suspected discrimination
- Participating in a workplace investigation
- Requesting a reasonable disability accommodation
- Taking protected family or medical leave
- Reporting certain wage violations
- Disclosing suspected illegal conduct
- Exercising rights under a local employment ordinance
Retaliation is not limited to termination. It may include:
- Reduced hours or undesirable shifts
- Demotion
- Loss of assignments
- Unjustified disciplinary notices
- Sudden negative reviews
- Increased scrutiny
- Exclusion from meetings or advancement
- Threats or intimidation
- Pressure to resign
Timing can be important. An employee who receives favorable reviews before reporting harassment but is disciplined immediately afterward may have grounds for further investigation. Attorneys may also examine deviations from normal company procedures and inconsistencies in the employer’s explanation.
When Is a Termination Wrongful?
California generally recognizes at-will employment, but at-will status does not permit employers to terminate workers for unlawful reasons. A termination may be wrongful if it results from:
- Discrimination based on a protected characteristic
- Reporting sexual harassment
- Opposing workplace discrimination
- Requesting an accommodation
- Taking legally protected leave
- Reporting suspected illegal conduct
- Participating in an investigation
- Refusing to perform an unlawful act
- Exercising wage, sick-leave, or other protected rights
An employer may describe a termination as a layoff, restructuring, attendance problem, or performance decision. A lawyer can investigate whether that explanation is credible and consistent with records created before the dispute.
What Local Wage and Sick-Leave Rights Apply in Santa Monica?
Santa Monica maintains local employment standards that may provide greater protection than general state requirements. As of July 1, 2026:
- The general Santa Monica minimum wage is $18.47 per hour
- The minimum wage for hotel workers and qualifying businesses operating on hotel property is $25 per hour
- Covered small businesses must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave
- Covered larger businesses must provide up to 72 hours of paid sick leave
One distinction worth knowing: unlike Los Angeles, Santa Monica’s ordinance does not currently include the additional per-hour health benefit payment Los Angeles now requires of hotel employers — the wage floor above is the main protection here.
Santa Monica’s paid-sick-leave rules apply to full-time, part-time, and temporary employees, subject to the ordinance’s specific terms. The city also prohibits retaliation against workers for exercising rights protected under its minimum wage law. An employee may have concerns if an employer:
- Pays less than the applicable local minimum wage
- Requires off-the-clock work
- Alters or deletes time records
- Improperly denies accrued sick leave
- Punishes a worker for requesting sick leave
- Retaliates after a wage complaint
- Misapplies the hotel-worker rate
- Fails to maintain required employment records
Employees should preserve pay stubs, schedules, time records, sick-leave balances, written requests, and communications with supervisors. These wage and hour issues can involve different legal standards and deadlines than discrimination or harassment claims.
How Are Santa Monica Hotel Workers Protected?
Santa Monica’s hospitality industry employs housekeepers, front-desk workers, food-service employees, maintenance personnel, security workers, and many others. These employees may face particular concerns involving workload, safety, tips, service charges, scheduling, and retaliation.
In addition to the local hotel-worker wage, Santa Monica maintains hotel-worker protections addressing violent or threatening conduct, workload compensation, employee retention, and public housekeeping training. Hospitality employees who report sexual harassment, assault, unsafe working conditions, wage violations, or other unlawful conduct may also be protected from retaliation. A hotel’s prestige or financial resources do not reduce its responsibility to follow employment laws.
Where Santa Monica Employment Cases Are Handled
Santa Monica falls under the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s West District. Civil cases — including most employment lawsuits — are filed at the Santa Monica Courthouse, 1725 Main Street. 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 Santa Monica.
What Should You Do After a Workplace Rights Violation?
- Create a detailed timeline. Record dates, statements, witnesses, complaints, and employment decisions.
- Preserve records you may lawfully possess — emails, text messages, pay stubs, schedules, time records, evaluations, and disciplinary notices.
- Make important complaints in writing. A dated report can help establish what the employer knew and when it received notice.
- Identify witnesses. Note who observed the conduct or experienced similar treatment.
- Review workplace policies governing reporting, accommodation, leave, wage, and anti-retaliation procedures.
- Don’t alter evidence. Preserve original communications and files.
- Avoid posting about the dispute online. Social-media content may be discovered and taken out of context.
- Seek advice before resigning or signing an agreement — these decisions can affect your legal options.
Don’t take trade secrets, privileged communications, or confidential records you aren’t entitled to possess — an attorney can advise you on appropriate evidence preservation.
How Does an Employment Claim Move Forward?
- Confidential consultation — an attorney reviews the employee’s account, available documents, and identifies possible claims and deadlines.
- Investigation — policies, personnel records, communications, witness accounts, pay information, and the treatment of comparable workers.
- Administrative filing — the California Civil Rights Department generally requires an intake form within three years of the last alleged harm; an employee pursuing a FEHA lawsuit must also obtain a right-to-sue notice, and other claims may have shorter deadlines.
- Negotiation or mediation — many matters resolve through confidential settlement addressing compensation, lost benefits, reference language, or policy changes.
- Litigation and trial — if a fair resolution cannot be reached, a claim may proceed through the Los Angeles County Superior Court system, depending on venue and court-assignment rules.
What Compensation May Be Available?
Depending on the claim and evidence, relief may include:
- Past and future lost wages
- Lost benefits
- Unpaid compensation
- Emotional distress damages
- Attorney’s fees and costs when authorized
- Punitive damages in qualifying cases
- Reinstatement
- Workplace policy changes
- Other equitable relief
No attorney can guarantee a result. The potential value of a case depends on the strength of the evidence, severity of the conduct, employee’s losses, available remedies, and 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 cases 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.
Workplace injustice is personal. It can affect an employee’s financial security, emotional health, professional reputation, and future. Our attorneys approach each client with compassion and discretion while remaining prepared to confront powerful employers and institutions. Read what past clients have said in our testimonials.
Frequently Asked Questions About Santa Monica Employment Law
Does Santa Monica have its own minimum wage?
Yes. As of July 1, 2026, the city’s general minimum wage is $18.47 per hour, and a $25 hotel-worker rate applies to covered hotel employees and qualifying businesses operating on hotel property.
Can my employer punish me for using paid sick leave?
No. An employer generally may not retaliate against an employee for lawfully exercising protected sick-leave rights. Preserve requests, responses, schedules, and disciplinary records if negative treatment follows your leave.
Can I bring a claim while I still work for the employer?
Possibly. You don’t have to wait until termination to ask about ongoing harassment, discrimination, retaliation, accommodation denials, or wage violations.
Should I report harassment to human resources?
It depends. Internal reporting can provide notice and create a written record, but an attorney can help you decide how to make the report and what information to preserve.
How long do I have to file an employment claim?
It depends on the claim. A California Civil Rights Department employment intake generally must be submitted within three years of the last alleged harm, while other claims may have shorter deadlines. See our full employment law FAQ for more.
Will my case have to go to trial?
Not necessarily. Some claims resolve through confidential negotiation or mediation. Others require litigation because the parties cannot agree on responsibility, compensation, or settlement terms.
Take Action Now — Your Employee Rights Matter
Workplace harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wage violations, and wrongful termination can leave employees feeling powerless. You deserve to understand your rights and make informed decisions about your career and future. Contact Allred, Maroko & Goldberg today at 213-468-0613 to schedule a confidential consultation.