Burbank, CA Employment Lawyer

Allred, Maroko & Goldberg represents employees in Burbank, CA who have experienced sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, or another violation of their employee rights. Our attorneys are prepared to listen and help you determine your next steps.

Known as the “Media Capital of the World,” Burbank has a workforce closely connected to film, television, animation, music, post-production, streaming, technology, tourism, and other creative industries. The city is also home to employees in aviation, healthcare, retail, hospitality, education, government, professional services, and small businesses. Burbank’s Economic Development team identifies more than 1,000 media and entertainment companies and a workforce concentrated in entertainment and creative work.

The firm was founded by civil rights attorney Gloria Allred, whose decades of advocacy for employees and others harmed by powerful companies and institutions continue to shape how the firm handles cases across Burbank and Southern California today.

How Can a Burbank Employment Lawyer Help You?

Workplace misconduct can be difficult to challenge when an employer controls internal records, personnel decisions, and access to future professional opportunities. This imbalance can be especially pronounced in industries built around project-based work, personal referrals, short-term contracts, and close professional networks. A Burbank employment law attorney may help by:

• Listening to your account in a confidential setting
• Identifying potentially applicable state and federal laws
• Reviewing workplace policies, contracts, and severance agreements
• Preserving relevant emails, messages, evaluations, and production records
• Investigating how comparable employees or contractors were treated
• Identifying inconsistencies in the employer’s explanation
• Filing required administrative complaints
• Negotiating with an employer or its legal representatives
• Filing a lawsuit when appropriate
• Preparing the case for mediation or trial

A confidential consultation does not commit you to filing a claim — it’s an opportunity to understand your rights before making decisions that may affect your career, finances, and future.

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 significant 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

A single workplace dispute may support several claims. For example, a production employee who rejects a supervisor’s sexual advances may lose assignments, be excluded from future projects, and receive a negative professional reference. That sequence could involve sexual harassment and retaliation, even if the employer never formally terminated the worker.

What You Need to Know About Employment Discrimination

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) generally prohibits covered employers from discriminating against workers and job applicants based on protected characteristics, including:

• Race and color
• National origin and ancestry
• Religion
• Age for individuals 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 statutes may provide additional protections, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Discrimination may affect:

• Hiring and auditions
• Casting and assignment decisions
• Compensation
• Scheduling
• Training
• Access to professional opportunities
• Performance reviews
• Promotions
• Discipline
• Accommodations
• Leave
• Layoffs and termination

Employment discrimination is not always accompanied by an openly biased statement. It may be established through patterns, suspicious timing, inconsistent discipline, unequal access to opportunities, or explanations that do not match the employer’s records.

How Can Discrimination Affect Entertainment and Media Workers?

Entertainment and media workplaces can create distinctive employee-rights concerns. Careers may depend on project assignments, contract renewals, industry relationships, and recommendations from influential decision-makers. A worker may fear that reporting misconduct will lead to being quietly excluded from future opportunities. Potential warning signs include:

• Losing assignments after reporting harassment
• Being denied an audition, promotion, or leadership role because of a protected characteristic
• Receiving lower compensation than comparable colleagues
• Being told an employee is too old for a role or creative position
• Being denied a disability or pregnancy accommodation
• Being excluded from meetings, credits, or professional development
• Facing sexual pressure from a person with hiring authority
• Being told that reporting misconduct will damage future career prospects
• Having a contract or project engagement end shortly after a complaint

Not every production, casting, or contract decision is unlawful. However, creative discretion and project-based employment do not provide permission to discriminate or retaliate. A lawyer can examine communications, decision-making patterns, compensation records, witness accounts, and the treatment of comparable workers to determine whether an unlawful reason influenced the decision.

Does Employment Law Protect Freelancers and Independent Contractors?

Burbank’s media and creative industries rely heavily on freelancers, contractors, and project-based professionals. A worker’s legal rights may depend in part on whether the worker is properly classified and which law governs the conduct. Being labeled an independent contractor does not always resolve the legal question — courts and government agencies may consider the actual working relationship, including the hiring entity’s control and the nature of the work.

Some California anti-harassment protections can also extend beyond traditional employees to qualifying independent contractors and other individuals providing services under a contract. Because coverage depends on the facts and applicable law, freelancers should not assume they have no rights. An employment lawyer can assess:

• The worker’s classification
• The hiring entity’s level of control
• Contract language
• How the relationship operated in practice
• Whether anti-harassment or retaliation protections apply
• Which organization or individual may be responsible

When Does Workplace Harassment Become Unlawful?

Workplace harassment may violate the law when unwelcome conduct is based on a protected characteristic such as race, sex, gender, disability, age, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. Examples may include:

• Racial slurs or degrading stereotypes
• Sexual comments, jokes, or messages
• Unwanted touching
• Mocking an employee’s accent or ancestry
• Insults concerning age or disability
• Offensive remarks about religious practices
• Repeated comments concerning pregnancy
• Threats based on gender identity or sexual orientation
• Displaying offensive images in a workplace or group chat

A hostile work environment claim considers the full context, including the severity and frequency of the conduct, whether it was physically threatening or humiliating, and whether it interfered with the victim’s work. The harasser may be a supervisor, executive, coworker, client, producer, director, contractor, vendor, or other person connected to the workplace. Employers may have legal responsibilities to prevent harassment and respond appropriately after receiving a complaint.

What Is Sexual Harassment in the Entertainment Industry?

Sexual harassment can involve unwanted advances, pressure for a relationship, explicit messages, sexual jokes, unwanted touching, or employment decisions tied to sexual conduct. Two commonly recognized forms:

• Quid pro quo harassment: someone with workplace authority links a professional opportunity or threat to an employee’s acceptance or rejection of sexual conduct — offering a role, assignment, promotion, or contract renewal in exchange for sexual cooperation.
• Hostile work environment harassment: unwelcome sexual or sex-based conduct becomes sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of work and create an abusive environment.

Sexual harassment can occur at a studio, office, soundstage, audition, work-related event, business trip, remote production location, or through digital communications. Misconduct doesn’t become acceptable simply because it happens outside normal business hours or away from the employer’s primary premises. Gloria Allred’s experience representing victims in high-profile civil rights, discrimination, sexual harassment, and abuse cases continues to inform the discretion 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 or other responsible party takes adverse action because a worker engaged in legally protected activity. Protected activity may include:

• Reporting sexual harassment
• Opposing workplace discrimination
• Participating in an investigation
• Requesting a reasonable disability accommodation
• Seeking protected family or medical leave
• Reporting certain wage violations
• Disclosing suspected illegal conduct
• Refusing to participate in unlawful activity

Retaliation may involve:

• Termination or demotion
• Loss of projects or assignments
• Failure to renew a contract
• Reduced hours or compensation
• Exclusion from meetings or credits
• Unwarranted negative reviews
• Undesirable scheduling
• Threats concerning future employment
• Negative references
• Informal blacklisting or professional isolation

The timing of events can be significant. If a worker regularly received assignments before reporting harassment but was excluded immediately afterward, that sequence may justify further investigation. Relevant evidence can include emails, scheduling records, contract history, witness testimony, and changes in how decision-makers communicated with the worker.

When Is a Termination Wrongful?

California generally follows the at-will employment rule, but an employer cannot terminate a worker for an unlawful reason. A firing may be wrongful when it results from:

• Discrimination based on a protected characteristic
• Reporting sexual harassment
• Opposing workplace discrimination
• Requesting an accommodation
• Taking legally protected leave
• Reporting suspected legal violations
• Participating in an investigation
• Refusing to perform an illegal act
• Exercising protected wage-and-hour rights

A termination does not always involve a formal dismissal. In project-based industries, the equivalent adverse action may be a refusal to renew a contract, removal from a production, cancellation of anticipated work, or systematic denial of future assignments. An attorney can examine whether the employer’s stated business reason is credible or may be a pretext for discrimination or retaliation.

Does Burbank Have Its Own Wage Rules?

Burbank doesn’t appear on current lists of California cities with a local minimum wage ordinance, so the statewide rate ($16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026) generally applies here rather than a higher local rate. That doesn’t make wage and hour claims less common — unpaid overtime, missed meal and rest breaks, and misclassification of production crew or freelance workers as independent contractors are frequent issues in Burbank’s entertainment and media workplaces.

Where Employment Lawsuits Are Handled in Burbank, CA

Burbank falls under the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s North Central District. Civil cases — including most employment lawsuits — are filed at the Burbank Courthouse, 300 East Olive Avenue, which handles civil matters over $25,000. 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 Burbank.

What Should You Do After a Workplace Rights Violation?

• Write a detailed timeline. Include dates, locations, statements, meetings, complaints, and changes in assignments.
• Preserve communications — emails, text messages, call sheets, schedules, evaluations, contracts, and other records you may lawfully possess.
• Document lost opportunities. Record projects, assignments, renewals, promotions, or professional credits you expected to receive.
• Keep copies of complaints submitted to management, human resources, a union representative, or another designated recipient.
• Identify witnesses. Note who observed the misconduct or experienced similar treatment.
• Review workplace policies and contracts, paying attention to reporting procedures, arbitration clauses, and deadlines.
• Avoid discussing the case online. Public statements may be taken out of context.
• Seek advice before resigning or signing a release — these decisions may affect your claims.

Don’t take trade secrets, privileged communications, unreleased creative materials, or confidential records you aren’t legally entitled to possess — an attorney can explain how to preserve appropriate evidence.

How Does an Employment Claim Proceed?

1. Confidential evaluation — an attorney reviews the worker’s account, employment status, available evidence, and possible deadlines.
2. Investigation — contracts, personnel records, communications, assignment history, compensation information, policies, and witness accounts.
3. Administrative filing — the California Civil Rights Department generally requires an intake form within three years of the last alleged harm; a worker pursuing a FEHA lawsuit must also obtain a right-to-sue notice, and other claims may have shorter deadlines.
4. Negotiation or mediation — many matters resolve through confidential settlement addressing compensation, lost opportunities, professional references, or policy changes.
5. Litigation and trial — when a fair resolution can’t be reached, the claim may proceed through the Los Angeles County Superior Court system or federal court, depending on venue and jurisdiction.

What Compensation May Be Available?

Potential remedies depend on the legal claims and supporting evidence. They may include:

• Past and future lost wages
• Lost project income
• Lost employment benefits
• Emotional distress damages
• Compensation for lost professional opportunities
• Attorney’s fees and costs when authorized
• Punitive damages in qualifying cases
• Reinstatement
• Policy changes
• Other equitable relief

No attorney can guarantee a particular result. The potential value of a case depends on the evidence, severity of the misconduct, financial and emotional harm, and defenses raised by the employer.

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 negotiations, trials, and appeals.

We understand that employees in entertainment, media, and other relationship-driven industries may fear reputational damage or lost opportunities. Our attorneys approach sensitive matters with discretion and empathy while remaining prepared to challenge powerful companies and influential individuals. Read what past clients have said in our testimonials.

Frequently Asked Questions About Burbank Employment Law

Can a freelance entertainment worker bring a harassment claim? 

Possibly. Coverage depends on the working relationship, the conduct involved, and applicable law — a worker shouldn’t assume that an independent-contractor label eliminates all legal protections.

Can retaliation include losing future assignments? 

Yes, depending on the facts. In a project-based industry, removing a worker from future opportunities because of protected activity may constitute an adverse action.

Should I report harassment to human resources? 

It depends on the circumstances. An internal report can provide notice and create a record, but an attorney can help you prepare a clear complaint and preserve evidence.

Can my employer retaliate against me for participating in an investigation? 

Participation in certain workplace or government investigations may be protected. Document negative treatment that begins after your participation.

Should I sign a severance or settlement agreement? 

Have an attorney review the terms before signing — these agreements may waive legal claims and impose confidentiality or cooperation obligations.

How long do I have to file an employment claim? 

Deadlines differ by claim. A California Civil Rights Department employment intake generally must be submitted within three years of the last alleged harm, but other deadlines may be shorter. See our full employment law FAQ for more.

Take Action Now — Your Career and Rights Matter

Harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination can threaten a career that took years to build. Fear of losing future opportunities shouldn’t prevent you from learning about your legal rights. Contact Allred, Maroko & Goldberg today at 213-468-0613 to schedule a confidential consultation.