If you need a gender discrimination lawyer in Los Angeles, Mesriani Law Group is here to help. Sex and gender discrimination in the workplace remains one of the most common forms of employment discrimination in California — affecting women, men, transgender employees, and gender-nonconforming individuals. California law provides some of the strongest protections against sex and gender discrimination in the country.

At Mesriani Law Group, our Los Angeles gender discrimination attorneys represent employees whose rights under California’s FEHA and federal Title VII have been violated — as part of our broader employment discrimination practice. We handle all sex and gender discrimination cases on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we win.

The Laws That Protect You: FEHA and Title VII

California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)

FEHA is California’s primary anti-discrimination law and provides broader protections than federal law. See our guide to California anti-discrimination laws:

• Covers employers with 5 or more employees (Title VII requires 15+)
• Protects against discrimination based on sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation
• Explicitly protects transgender and gender-nonconforming employees from discrimination and harassment in all aspects of employment
• Allows punitive damages for malicious or oppressive conduct, unlike federal law which caps damages by employer size
• Three-year statute of limitations (extended by SB 807, effective January 1, 2022)

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on sex. See our overview of federal and California anti-discrimination laws. Key provisions:

• Covers employers with 15 or more employees
• Bostock v. Clayton County (2020): The U.S. Supreme Court held that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status. This landmark decision extended federal Title VII protections to LGBTQ+ workers nationwide.
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA): An amendment to Title VII that prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Employers must treat pregnant employees the same as other temporarily disabled employees.
• EEOC enforcement: Title VII claims must be filed with the EEOC within 300 days of the discriminatory act in California before a lawsuit can be filed

What Is Sex and Gender Discrimination Under California Law?

Sex and gender discrimination occurs when an employer takes an adverse employment action against an employee because of their sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. See our guide on who is protected under California’s FEHA. California’s FEHA broadly prohibits discrimination based on:

• Sex: Biological sex, including male and female
• Gender: A person’s gender identity — their internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not correspond with their sex assigned at birth
• Gender identity: Explicit protection for transgender and non-binary employees
• Gender expression: How a person expresses their gender through appearance, dress, and behavior. Employers may not discriminate against employees for failing to conform to gender stereotypes.
• Sexual orientation: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer employees are explicitly protected under FEHA

Types of Sex and Gender Discrimination in Los Angeles Workplaces

Discriminatory Hiring and Promotion

Refusing to hire, failing to promote, or selecting less qualified candidates because of sex or gender. Including holding women to higher standards than men for the same position, or steering candidates into “gendered” roles based on stereotypes.

Pay Discrimination

Paying employees differently for substantially similar work because of sex, gender, race, or ethnicity — see our equal pay claims page. California’s Fair Pay Act (Labor Code § 1197.5) and the federal Equal Pay Act both prohibit sex-based pay disparities. Prior salary history cannot legally justify a pay disparity in California.

Internal link: ‘equal pay claims’ → /employment-labor/equal-pay-act-discrimination/

Gender Stereotyping

Discrimination based on gender stereotyping — penalizing employees for failing to conform to expected gender roles or characteristics — is prohibited under both FEHA and Title VII. Examples include:

• Criticizing a woman for being “too aggressive” or “not feminine enough” while praising men for identical behavior
• Denying a man leave for family caregiving while approving similar leave for women
• Penalizing a transgender employee for not conforming to their employer’s expectations of their assigned sex at birth
• Holding a woman to higher professional appearance standards than men in the same role

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination — see our workplace harassment page. It includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that creates a hostile work environment or results in adverse employment action. California’s FEHA applies the same standard as federal law but with broader employer coverage and stronger remedies.

Pregnancy Discrimination

Discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions is prohibited — see our pregnancy discrimination page under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Title VII, California’s FEHA, and California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) law. This includes termination after announcing a pregnancy, denial of reasonable accommodation, and failure to provide required PDL leave.

LGBTQ+ Discrimination

California’s FEHA explicitly protects employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Since Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), federal Title VII also extends these protections. LGBTQ+ discrimination may take the form of termination, harassment, denial of benefits, or exclusion from opportunities.

Hostile Work Environment Based on Sex or Gender

A pattern of conduct based on sex or gender that is severe or pervasive enough to alter the terms and conditions of employment. This includes sexual comments, degrading jokes, unwanted touching, and derogatory remarks about a person’s gender or gender identity.

Gender Stereotyping as Discrimination: The Price Waterhouse Doctrine

A critical and often overlooked form of sex discrimination is gender stereotyping. Under Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989) and subsequent California law, an employer discriminates based on sex when it takes adverse action against an employee for failing to conform to sex-based stereotypes about how men or women should look, act, or behave.

This doctrine protects a wide range of employees who do not conform to traditional gender expectations — women who are perceived as too assertive, men who are perceived as too sensitive, and transgender and gender-nonconforming employees who present in ways that do not match their assigned sex. Our attorneys apply this doctrine to expand the scope of sex discrimination claims well beyond traditional wage and promotion disparities.

Common Examples of Sex and Gender Discrimination in Los Angeles

• Termination after announcing pregnancy or returning from maternity leave
• Being passed over for promotion in favor of a less qualified male candidate
• Exclusion from leadership roles, client meetings, or high-profile projects based on gender
• Being paid less than a male colleague performing substantially the same work
• Negative performance reviews or discipline for behavior that is praised in employees of another gender
• Gender-based harassment from supervisors or coworkers that management failed to address
• Termination, demotion, or denial of benefits after disclosing transgender identity or transitioning
• Job segregation — assigning employees to roles based on gender stereotypes rather than qualifications

Proving Sex and Gender Discrimination

Sex and gender discrimination cases may be built on direct or circumstantial evidence:

• Direct evidence: Explicit statements by decision-makers revealing sex or gender bias — a manager’s comment that “clients prefer dealing with men,” a performance review criticizing an employee for being “not feminine enough,” or an email expressing concern about hiring a woman of childbearing age.
• Comparative evidence: Evidence that employees of a different gender were treated more favorably in similar circumstances — hired, promoted, or evaluated differently.
• Statistical evidence: Demographic patterns in hiring, promotion, and compensation that show systematic disparities along gender lines.
• Pretext analysis: Establishing that the employer’s stated reason for the adverse action is a false justification concealing the real, discriminatory motive.

What Compensation Can You Recover?

• Back pay: Lost wages and benefits from the date of the discriminatory act
• Front pay: Future lost earnings if reinstatement is not feasible
• Compensatory damages: Emotional distress, humiliation, and damage to professional reputation
• Punitive damages: Available under FEHA for malicious or oppressive conduct
• Attorney’s fees and costs: Prevailing plaintiffs recover attorney’s fees under both FEHA and Title VII
• Reinstatement: A court order requiring the employer to rehire you

Filing Deadlines for Sex and Gender Discrimination Claims

• FEHA claims: File with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) within three years of the discriminatory act
• Title VII claims: File with the EEOC within 300 days of the discriminatory act
• After right-to-sue notice: One year (FEHA) or 90 days (Title VII) to file a lawsuit

Important: Evidence in gender discrimination cases — emails, performance reviews, compensation records, and witness accounts — can disappear quickly. Contact a gender discrimination lawyer in Los Angeles as soon as possible. If your employer retaliated against you for complaining, see our workplace retaliation page.

Why Choose Mesriani Law Group as Your Gender Discrimination Lawyer in Los Angeles?

• Over 30 years representing women, men, and LGBTQ+ employees in sex and gender discrimination cases throughout Los Angeles and California
• Hundreds of millions of dollars recovered for clients
• Deep knowledge of FEHA, Title VII, Bostock, the Price Waterhouse gender stereotyping doctrine, and the California Fair Pay Act
• Experience with all forms of sex and gender discrimination — from hiring and promotion to pay disparities, LGBTQ+ discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment
• No Win, No Fee — you pay nothing unless we win your case
• Available 24/7 in English, Spanish, and Farsi