I work project-to-project in Burbank. Can I still claim discrimination?

Often yes. Being a freelancer or crew member does not automatically remove FEHA protection. If you were not brought back, staffed, or promoted because of a protected trait, that can be unlawful, and the case is built with comparators, timing, and patterns across projects.

Do I have to file with a government agency first?

Yes. FEHA claims generally require first filing a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and obtaining a right-to-sue notice before filing a lawsuit. For Burbank workers, suit is then brought in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The production company is small. Does the law still apply?

Most likely yes. FEHA covers employers with five or more employees, far below the federal Title VII threshold of fifteen. Many smaller Burbank studios, vendors, and post houses fall within California discrimination law.

How do you prove discrimination if it was disguised as 'fit'?

Through circumstantial evidence. Vague reasons like 'fit' or 'the next project' can be tested against comparators who were treated better, shifting explanations, suspicious timing after a complaint or accommodation request, and a pattern of exclusion. No direct admission is needed.

What are the deadlines and the cost to pursue a claim?

Deadlines are strict; you generally have a limited time to file with the CRD and typically one year after a right-to-sue notice to file suit, so act quickly. Cases are usually handled on contingency, meaning no attorney fee unless there is a recovery, with free consultations.

Burbank Discrimination Lawyer

Burbank workers who were fired, demoted, or passed over because of a protected characteristic have meaningful rights under California law. The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) bars discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, pregnancy, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation, and more, and it covers employers with five or more employees. Attorney Mihran M. Ghazaryan represents Burbank employees on a contingency basis, with service in English and Armenian. In a city built around studios, post-production, and aviation, discrimination can be hard to spot but still unlawful. Most cases begin with a complaint to the California Civil Rights Department and a right-to-sue notice before any lawsuit.

Workplace Discrimination matters in Burbank

Workplace Discrimination in Burbank

Burbank is the heart of the entertainment industry's production and post-production work, home to major studios, animation houses, broadcasting, sound and editing facilities, plus aviation and aerospace near the airport and a steady base of retail and hospitality. These industries lean on freelancers, project crews, and fast hiring and layoffs, which can mask discrimination behind talk of "fit," "the look," or "the next project." A crew member dropped after disclosing a pregnancy, an older editor repeatedly skipped for staffing, or a worker sidelined after requesting a disability accommodation may all have FEHA claims.

California's FEHA makes it unlawful to take an adverse action, including termination, demotion, a pay cut, or denial of advancement, because of a protected trait such as race, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, age (40 and over), disability, medical condition, religion, or sexual orientation. FEHA reaches employers with five or more employees, well below the fifteen-employee floor of federal Title VII, so many of Burbank's smaller production companies and vendors are covered.

Pregnancy and Disability Accommodation in Project-Based Work

Accommodation issues are common where schedules are demanding and turnover is high. If you have a disability, a medical condition, or a pregnancy-related limitation, your employer must engage in a good-faith interactive process to consider reasonable accommodations such as modified duties, leave, schedule adjustments, or equipment. Religious accommodation works similarly. An employer cannot lawfully avoid that conversation simply by declining to bring you back on the next show or shift, and retaliation for requesting accommodation is itself unlawful.

Proving the Case and Where It Is Heard

Discrimination is rarely admitted, so claims usually rest on circumstantial evidence: comparators outside your protected group who were retained or promoted, shifting or inconsistent explanations, suspicious timing after a complaint or accommodation request, and a pattern of exclusion from projects. Before suing, you generally must obtain a right-to-sue notice from the California Civil Rights Department. Burbank lies within Los Angeles County, so FEHA lawsuits are filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

What a Claim Can Recover

A prevailing employee under FEHA may seek remedies that can include lost past and future wages and benefits, compensation for emotional distress, and, in appropriate cases, reinstatement and orders requiring the employer to change its practices. Saving call sheets, emails, performance reviews, pay records, text messages, and a clear, dated timeline helps establish what happened and lets an attorney evaluate the claim early.

How Mihran M. Ghazaryan helps with workplace discrimination

Discrimination is rarely admitted, so Mihran M. Ghazaryan builds it from the evidence around it — how comparable employees were treated, shifting explanations, the accommodation requests that went unanswered, and the timing. He handles the FEHA complaint and right-to-sue process, and presses the employer on the interactive-process and reasonable-accommodation duties California imposes. You work directly with the attorney assembling that record.

Types of discrimination cases we handle

Adverse-action discrimination

Termination, demotion, denied promotion, or pay disparity tied to a protected characteristic rather than performance.

Pregnancy and disability discrimination

Failure to accommodate, or punishment for needing leave or a reasonable accommodation under FEHA and the PDLL.

Failure to accommodate / interactive process

California requires employers to engage in a good-faith interactive process and provide reasonable accommodation for disability, pregnancy, and religion.

What you may be able to recover

Every discrimination case case is different, but California law lets wronged employees pursue several categories of relief. We document each one — pay records, performance reviews, communications — so nothing is left on the table.

Back pay and lost benefits

Wages, commissions, and benefits you lost from the date of the wrongful act — a core remedy in wrongful-termination and discrimination claims.

Front pay

Future earnings you're likely to lose when reinstatement isn't realistic, measured until you can reasonably be expected to find comparable work.

Emotional distress

Compensation for the anxiety, humiliation, and harm to wellbeing that unlawful treatment at work can cause.

Penalties and punitive damages

Statutory penalties for wage violations, and — where an employer acted with malice or oppression — punitive damages meant to deter the conduct.

Attorney's fees and costs

Many California employment statutes shift the employee's reasonable attorney's fees and costs onto an employer that broke the law.

Reinstatement and policy change

Where it fits the case, getting your job back or forcing the employer to correct the practice that harmed you.

How we work

Free, confidential consultation

We listen first and tell you plainly whether you appear to have a claim. The conversation is confidential and there's no fee to have it — and we're careful if you're still employed.

Preserve the record

Offer letters, handbooks, performance reviews, emails and texts, pay stubs, and a dated timeline. The contemporaneous record is what wins an employment case, so we lock it down early.

Administrative exhaustion and the demand

FEHA claims generally require a complaint with the Civil Rights Department and a right-to-sue notice first. We handle that step, then present a documented demand to the employer.

Litigation when necessary

Many matters resolve through negotiation or mediation. When an employer won't be reasonable, we file and prepare the case fully — which is usually what moves the number.

What to do right away

Keep a dated log of incidents — what happened, who was present, what was said.

Save performance reviews and any written comparisons to other employees.

Put accommodation requests in writing and keep copies.

Report through your employer's stated process where it's safe to do so.

Preserve the record to a personal account and talk to a lawyer about the CRD complaint.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.