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California is the only United States that has anti-discrimination law for sexual orientation discrimination.  California has many statutes that protect workers from any discrimination in the workplace regardless of their sexual orientation.  One of the more complicated of these issues is in regards to perceived sexual orientation.

Employers who think that one if their employees, or a potential job candidate, is homosexual or of what the employer considers a “questionable” sexual orientation, and fires the person (or does not hire the person) for this, the employer is discriminating against that person due to their perceived sexual orientation.  It does not matter whether or not the person is actually homosexual; California law states that even assumed sexual orientation discrimination is grounds for a lawsuit.  The fact that the employer has proven their bias is good enough for a court case.

The United States Federal government has not ruled that discrimination for sexual orientation warrants anti-discrimination laws.  Therefore, it is up to the individual states to address this issue in their own governments.  So far, the only state with anti-discrimination law preventing sexual orientation is California.

One of the major factors about many types of discrimination is the statute of limitations on the accusation.  In California, according to the state’s established anti-sexual orientation discrimination laws, the statute of limitations on accusation is 30 days.  The accuser has only 30 days to notify the California Labor Commission of discrimination in his or her workplace.  The person cannot bring a lawsuit against their employer for sexual orientation discrimination until the person has notified the California Labor Commission of the problem.  If the accusation is not brought to the attention of the California Labor Commission within 30 days, it cannot be considered for legal action.

As most of the employable people in the United States are already aware, any kind of discrimination in the workplace is illegal.  Some kinds, like sexual orientation discrimination, is only prevented by state law in California and is not covered at all by Federal law; other types of discrimination, like sex or gender discrimination,  is prevented by Federal law, particularly the Title VII law.

Sex or gender discrimination, simply put, is when an employer or company will not hire a person, passes over a person for a promotion, or fires a person based on their gender.  In fact, any unfair treatment by the employer of the employee because of their gender is defined as discrimination under federal law.  This kind of discrimination is considered illegal when it affects a person’s “terms or conditions of employment”; for example, if the person in question is not given vacation time because of their sex, that is discrimination.