Gender discrimination in Silicon Valley rarely announces itself. It shows up in the level you were hired at, the pay band you were placed in, the promotion that went to someone with a thinner record, or the layoff list your name somehow landed on. A San Jose gender discrimination lawyer can help you find out whether those decisions crossed a legal line.
Greenberg Gross LLP represents employees in San Jose and across Santa Clara County who have been treated differently because of their sex, gender, gender identity, or gender expression. We are a trial firm, and we build these cases on the kind of evidence that holds up in front of a jury.
Call (415) 426-6366 for a free consultation. Our nearest office is in San Francisco, and we are available 24/7.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- What Counts as Gender Discrimination Under California Law?
- Leveling, Pay Bands, and Promotions in Silicon Valley
- Is Your Layoff Selection Discriminatory?
- How California's Equal Pay Act Strengthens Your Claim
- Why Choose Our Gender Discrimination Attorneys in San Jose
- Gender Identity and Gender Expression Protections
- Parental Leave, Caregiving, and the "Commitment" Question
- Can Your Employer Retaliate After You Speak Up?
- What Evidence Supports a Gender Discrimination Case?
- What Compensation Is Available?
- FAQs Answered by a San Jose Gender Discrimination Lawyer
- Speak With a San Jose Gender Discrimination Lawyer
What Counts as Gender Discrimination Under California Law?
Gender discrimination is any employment decision based on an employee's sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation rather than on the employee's work. California's Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits it in hiring, pay, promotion, job assignments, discipline, and termination.
The law applies to employers with five or more employees, which covers nearly every technology company, startup, and service business in the South Bay. Under Government Code section 12926, "sex" also includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions.
California also protects employees who face discrimination because of a combination of characteristics. A woman of color, for example, may experience treatment that neither a white woman nor a man of color at the same company would face, and the law recognizes that combined experience as discrimination.
Leveling, Pay Bands, and Promotions in Silicon Valley
Technology companies tend to run on structured systems for leveling, compensation, and promotion. Those systems look objective on paper, but gender bias can enter at each step, and small differences at the start of a career compound over time.
These are the patterns we see most often in South Bay workplaces:
- Down-leveling at hire. A woman is brought in one level below male colleagues with comparable experience, which sets her pay band and equity grant lower from day one.
- Pay-band placement. Two employees share a level, but one is consistently placed near the bottom of the range while the other sits near the midpoint.
- Calibration outcomes. Performance ratings shift during calibration meetings in ways that track gender more closely than they track results.
- Promotion velocity. Men move from senior to staff roles faster, often on the strength of "visibility" that depends on assignments women were never offered.
- Equity refresh gaps. Refresh grants and retention awards flow unevenly, widening the gap in total compensation even when base salaries look similar.
None of these is automatically unlawful on its own. Together, and measured against how the company treated comparable employees, they can form powerful evidence of gender discrimination.
Is Your Layoff Selection Discriminatory?
A reduction in force can be discriminatory if gender influenced who was selected, even when the company's overall reasons for cutting jobs were legitimate. Layoffs have become a recurring event across Silicon Valley, and the selection process often receives far less scrutiny than it deserves.
We look closely at how the selection criteria were defined and applied. Subjective factors such as "future potential" or "culture contribution" leave room for bias, and they deserve particular attention when a team's gender balance shifts sharply after the cuts.
The composition of the layoff list matters too. If women, employees returning from parental leave, or nonbinary and transgender employees were selected at noticeably higher rates, that pattern can support a claim, particularly when paired with comments or documents that reveal how decisions were made.
How California's Equal Pay Act Strengthens Your Claim
California's Equal Pay Act gives employees a second route to challenge pay gaps, separate from FEHA. It requires equal pay for substantially similar work, measured by skill, effort, and responsibility under similar working conditions.
That standard does not require identical job titles. A senior software engineer and a staff engineer on different teams may perform substantially similar work, and the comparison looks at what the jobs actually involve rather than how the company labels them.
Once a gap is shown, the employer must prove that a legitimate factor, such as seniority, merit, or a bona fide factor other than sex, explains the entire difference. Prior salary alone cannot justify a disparity under California law.
California's pay transparency rules can help you spot a problem. Under Labor Code section 432.3, employers with 15 or more employees generally must include a pay scale in job postings, which gives current employees a benchmark for their own role.
Why Choose Our Gender Discrimination Attorneys in San Jose
Greenberg Gross is a litigation firm that takes on the significant cases other firms refer out. Our founders, Alan Greenberg and Wayne Gross, came from a global law firm, and we built the practice around a simple principle: prepare every case as if it will be tried.
That approach changes how employers respond. Our clients can count on:
- Trial capability. Our attorneys, including Brian Williams, try cases, and opposing counsel knows it.
- Scale. With 13 offices across seven states, we have the resources to litigate against the largest employers in Silicon Valley.
- Recognition. Our lawyers have earned Super Lawyers selection, AV Preeminent ratings from Martindale-Hubbell, ABOTA membership, and Daily Journal Top 100, Top Plaintiff, and Top Labor & Employment honors.
- Access. Consultations are free, and our team is available around the clock.
Gender discrimination cases often depend on data your employer controls. We know how to get it and how to explain it to a jury. Call (415) 426-6366 to talk with our team.
Greenberg Gross LLP is ready to stand by your side
Gender Identity and Gender Expression Protections
Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming employees are protected by FEHA in every aspect of employment. Gender identity refers to a person's internal sense of their gender, and gender expression refers to how a person presents it, including appearance, dress, and behavior.
Discrimination in this area can take many forms. It includes refusing to hire or promote someone after learning they are transgender, enforcing dress codes that do not align with an employee's gender expression, or denying access to facilities that match an employee's gender identity.
Repeated, intentional misgendering and refusal to use an employee's chosen name can also contribute to a hostile work environment. Harassment claims under FEHA apply to employers of any size, not only those with five or more employees.
Parental Leave, Caregiving, and the "Commitment" Question
Some of the most common gender discrimination claims in Silicon Valley surface around parenthood. An employee returns from leave to find her projects reassigned, her rating lowered, or her role quietly redefined, and the explanation usually centers on her supposed commitment to the job.
California law does not allow employers to penalize employees for gender-based assumptions about caregiving. Treating a mother as less dedicated than a father with the same record, or steering a returning parent away from demanding work without asking, can be evidence of sex discrimination.
Leave itself carries separate protections. Retaliation for taking protected pregnancy disability or family leave can support its own claim, independent of the discrimination claim, and the timing of an adverse decision after a return to work often tells an important part of the story.
Can Your Employer Retaliate After You Speak Up?
Raising a concern about gender bias is protected activity under FEHA, whether you complain to a manager, to HR, or to a government agency. An employer that responds with a demotion, a sudden performance plan, exclusion from meetings, or termination may be liable for retaliation.
Retaliation claims often turn out to be the strongest part of a case. They do not require you to prove the underlying discrimination, only that you reasonably believed it was happening and that your complaint motivated what came next.
What Evidence Supports a Gender Discrimination Case?
Most gender discrimination cases are proven through comparison, not confession. The core question is whether similarly situated employees of a different gender were treated better, and whether the employer's explanation holds up when tested.
Useful evidence often includes offer letters, compensation statements, equity grant documents, performance reviews, promotion packets, calibration notes, and internal chat messages. Many of these records live on company systems, and discovery is the process we use to obtain them.
Your own notes carry weight as well. A written record of comments, meetings, and decisions made close to the time they happened is often more persuasive than recollection months later.
We can help determine the details of your case
What Compensation Is Available?
A successful gender discrimination claim can recover back pay, lost benefits, the value of lost equity, future earnings, and damages for emotional distress. FEHA does not cap compensatory damages, unlike federal claims under Title VII, and a court may award attorney fees and costs to a prevailing employee.
Punitive damages may be available when the employer acted with malice, oppression, or fraud. Every case depends on its own facts, and past results do not predict future outcomes.
FAQs Answered by a San Jose Gender Discrimination Lawyer
Below are answers to questions San Jose employees frequently ask about gender discrimination claims.
Can I sue for gender discrimination if my employer has fewer than 15 employees?
Yes, in many cases. California's FEHA applies to employers with five or more employees for discrimination claims and to employers of any size for harassment claims. Federal Title VII generally requires 15 or more employees, so California law often reaches workplaces that federal law does not.
How long do I have to file a gender discrimination complaint in California?
Employees generally have three years from the discriminatory act to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. After the department issues a right-to-sue notice, you typically have one year to file a lawsuit. Equal Pay Act claims follow separate deadlines, so it helps to have the dates reviewed early.
Is it gender discrimination if my manager is also a woman?
It can be. Discrimination does not require the decision-maker to be of a different gender than the employee. The question is whether gender played a role in the decision, regardless of who made it.
Can I talk about my salary with coworkers?
Yes. California law generally protects employees who disclose their own wages, discuss coworkers' wages, or ask about pay. An employer that disciplines or fires someone for those conversations may face a separate retaliation claim.
What if I was passed over for a promotion but never formally applied?
You may still have a claim. Many Silicon Valley promotions occur through nominations or calibrations rather than formal applications. If the process excluded you because of gender, the lack of a formal application does not necessarily defeat the claim.
Can my employer ask about my salary history?
No. California employers generally may not ask applicants about their prior pay or rely on salary history in setting an offer. Because pay history often carries forward earlier gender gaps, this rule helps prevent past disparities from following employees into new jobs.
Does gender discrimination law protect men?
Yes. FEHA protects employees of every sex and gender. A man who is denied an opportunity or disciplined more harshly because of his gender has the same legal protections as anyone else.
Speak With a San Jose Gender Discrimination Lawyer
You know your work, and you know when the outcomes have not matched it. A free consultation will help you understand whether the law gives you a path to hold your employer accountable.
Greenberg Gross represents employees throughout San Jose and Silicon Valley, with our nearest office at 101 Montgomery Street, Suite 900, in San Francisco. Call (415) 426-6366 or contact us online to schedule your consultation.