The Department enforces California state laws that prohibit harassment, discrimination, retaliation employment, housing, and public accommodations that provide for pregnancy leave, family, and medical.

In employment, the FEHA prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of age (40 and over), ancestry, color, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), denial of family and medical leave, disability (mental and physical) including HIV and AIDS, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition (cancer and genetic characteristics), national origin, race, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding) and sexual orientation.

Under the FEHA, the department's jurisdiction extends to individuals, private or public entities, housing providers, and business establishments within the State of California.

The Unruh Civil Rights Act provides that: All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, or sexual orientation are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.

On April 16, 1959, Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, Sr., signed the Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA), which took effect on September 18, 1959.

Because of the Act, a vast number of employers and housing providers have changed their business practices to create a more level playing field for all Californians where they live and work.

Under the FEHA, the DFEH receives, investigates, mediates, conciliates, and prosecutes discrimination complaints on behalf of individuals and groups or classes of aggrieved persons.

The Department adopts, promulgates, amends, and rescinds procedural rules and regulations to carry out its investigation, prosecution, and dispute resolution functions and duties.

Additionally, the Department investigates, approves, certifies, decertifies, monitors, and enforces state contractors’ compliance with California's nondiscrimination laws.

The Fair Employment and Housing Council, which replaces the separate Commission, exists within the department, and promulgates regulations interpreting substantive rights under the FEHA.

[6][7] Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr., signed into law Senate Bill 1038 (Committee on Budget & Fiscal Review) (Stats.

If an individual or organization fails to comply with a subpoena, interrogatory, request for production, or examination under oath by refusing to respond fully or providing only objections, the CRD may file a petition with a superior court for an order compelling compliance with the discovery, naming the individual or organization that failed to comply as the respondent.

In the case of failure to eliminate an unlawful practice through conference, conciliation, mediation, or persuasion, the CRD may bring a civil action in the name of the department on behalf of the person claiming to be aggrieved.

[11] Any person claiming to be aggrieved by an alleged unlawful employment, public accommodation, or housing practice may file a verified complaint for investigation with the CRD.

In this case, the CRD (then known as the DFEH) filed suit to halt ongoing harm to individuals with disabilities who sought to enter the legal profession.

In addition the Judge today gave court approval to the 61-page Consent Decree with extensive provisions and revisions to LSAC's practices regarding testing accommodations and which provides for $8.73 million in monetary relief.

BC444066) for more than 1,000 current and former California employees to settle a class action lawsuit the DFEH filed challenging the company's family medical leave practices.

[13] In 2016, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) settled a sex discrimination and retaliation complaint filed by eight farm workers against a Napa Valley vineyard owner, a vineyard management company with a policy of not hiring women, and a Fresno-based farm labor contractor who refused to provide separate toilet facilities for men and women.

The complaint, filed by two female laborers and their male co-workers who supported them, settled for $65,000 and significant changes in the companies' future business practices related to hiring of women, training and providing adequate toilet facilities.

The workers allege that they were fired from their work on a 38-acre vineyard owned by Alsace Co. LP in June, 2013 after repeatedly requesting a second bathroom as required by law for their crew, which included both men and women.

The farm labor contractor, DJRAS Corp., doing business as Prime Harvest Contracting, admitted that the workers’ supervisor received no training in anti-discrimination and retaliation laws.

Prime Harvest Contracting has agreed to train its staff and ensure that its crews have adequate restroom facilities at all work locations.

The parties settled the farmworkers' claims at a mediation conducted by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, after the agency determined that laws it enforces were violated.

The lawsuits filed in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of two residents, and the administrative complaints filed on behalf of six additional residents, alleged the companies failed to accommodate tenants with mental health disabilities by taking steps to discourage tenants from keeping emotional support animals as a reasonable accommodation for their disabilities.

The firms also lacked a uniform reasonable accommodation policy and failed to train their leasing professionals at their apartment communities about fair housing responsibilities toward people with disabilities.

"We are pleased that The Irvine Co. cooperated with us to achieve this settlement, which compensates the plaintiffs and complainants for the harm they suffered and contains equitable relief designed to ensure that all tenants and applicants with disabilities will receive equal housing opportunities, including reasonable accommodations, as required by law," said Kevin Kish, Director of DFEH.

[15] On January 25, 2016, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced it had obtained a $75,000 settlement in a sexual harassment case filed on behalf of a female farmworker who worked for Sandhu Brothers, a sweet potato farming operation in Stanislaus County.

A separate sexual harassment complaint by another worker involving the same company and the same supervisor was filed and resolved with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2013.

"Sexual harassment is a serious problem, especially in agriculture where many workers are often afraid to speak out and are unaware of their rights," said DFEH Director Kevin Kish.

"We hope that this settlement will send a message to victims that the law will not tolerate this kind of behavior in the workplace and encourage employers to adopt effective training and prevention programs."