California employment law, handled end to end

Most California employees are “at-will,” which means the employer can let you go for any reason, or no reason at all. But there is a critical limit: the reason cannot be an illegal one. If the real reason for your firing was your race, your age, your disability, a complaint you made, or your refusal to break the law, the termination is unlawful regardless of the at-will rule.

Wrongful termination claims in California typically follow one of two paths: a discrimination or retaliation lawsuit under FEHA, or a claim for violation of public policy. Both paths can include back pay, lost future earnings, emotional distress damages, and attorney’s fees, and in egregious cases, punitive damages. One of the most common mistakes we see is employees accepting a severance agreement that waives their claims without knowing what the claims are actually worth. Before you sign anything, have an attorney review both the agreement and the facts of your termination. Deadlines matter too: most FEHA claims must be filed within three years of the unlawful act, and waiting too long can bar your case entirely.

Discrimination rarely announces itself. It shows up as being passed over for promotion, paid less than a similarly situated coworker, given worse assignments, or terminated shortly after disclosing a pregnancy or disability. If a protected characteristic played any role in an adverse employment action, you may have a claim.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act is among the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the nation. Unlike federal law, you do not need to prove discrimination was the “sole” or even the “primary” motive, a motivating factor is enough. Damages can include lost wages and benefits, emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees, and successful employees sometimes also recover front pay for future losses. Because the Civil Rights Department filing window is three years, preserving evidence early, emails, performance reviews, pay records, and witness statements, is essential. We regularly handle cases that looked “unprovable” on the surface because the pattern only became visible once the records were examined.

Harassment is not limited to demands for sexual favors. It includes unwelcome touching, sexual jokes, comments, messages, and conduct that makes the workplace intimidating or abusive. California also recognizes harassment based on race, religion, gender identity, and other protected traits.

California law is explicit: an employer is liable for harassment by a supervisor even when it did not know, and for coworker harassment when it knew or should have known and failed to take prompt corrective action. You can recover emotional distress damages, lost wages, attorney’s fees, and punitive damages in egregious cases. You do not need to be the direct target: someone who witnesses severe harassment of a coworker can have a claim if the environment is hostile to them as well. The common advice to “just ignore it” is legally wrong, and employers who claim you never reported it will use that as a defense. Document the conduct, report it, and speak with an attorney before the situation escalates or the statute expires.

Retaliation is often the most provable employment claim, because it follows a documented complaint. If you reported a problem and were then demoted, moved to a worse shift, harassed, or fired, the timing alone can establish a strong case.

California Labor Code section 1102.5 protects employees who blow the whistle on violations of law, even when the violation is merely suspected. FEHA separately prohibits retaliation for opposing discrimination or harassment. Remedies include reinstatement, back pay, front pay, emotional distress damages, and attorney’s fees. One of the strongest features of California whistleblower law is that you do not need to win the underlying complaint: if you reasonably believed illegal activity was occurring and faced retaliation for reporting it, you have a claim. Because retaliation claims hinge on documentation and timing, preserve every email, performance review, and shift change. Employers frequently claim performance problems after a complaint, an attorney can usually show the timing tells a different story.

Wage theft is more common than most employees realize: off-the-clock work, missed meal breaks, misclassification as an independent contractor, and failure to pay final wages on termination. Each violation carries penalties that add up quickly.

California law requires premium pay of one hour’s wages for every missed meal break and rest break, and those premiums accrue daily, not weekly. Employers who fail to pay wages due on termination face waiting-time penalties of up to 30 days of pay. The Labor Code also allows double damages for bad-faith wage violations, plus attorney’s fees, meaning you can hire an attorney without upfront cost and the employer pays your fees if you win. Misclassification is a growing battleground: if you control your schedule, use company equipment, and do the core work of the business, you are likely an employee regardless of what the contract says. Wage claims generally have a three-year statute of limitations (four for penalties), and class or PAGA actions can recover for entire workforces.

California employees can take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave under CFRA and FMLA, and California’s paid sick leave, pregnancy disability leave, and paid family leave add layers of protection. Employers must engage in an interactive process and cannot punish you for taking leave.

The most common mistake employees make is assuming they were not eligible, or that the employer can do whatever it wants while they are on leave. Neither is safe to assume. CFRA eligibility requires 12 months of employment and 1,250 hours worked, but California’s pregnancy disability leave has no hours requirement and can extend to four months. Interference claims do not even require you to prove motive: if your employer denied or discouraged leave to which you were entitled, that is a violation. Remedies include back pay, reinstatement, lost benefits, emotional distress, and attorney’s fees. Because leave laws are heavily fact-specific, how you requested leave, how the employer responded, and whether it engaged in the interactive process, documentation is the difference between a strong case and a he-said-she-said.

Not every difficult workplace is unlawful. But when hostility is tied to your race, gender, disability, or another protected trait, and management knows or should know, the employer has a legal duty to stop it.

California’s standard for hostile work environment is more favorable to employees than federal law. You do not need to meet the same high “severe or pervasive” bar, and in California even a single incident can be actionable if it is sufficiently severe, such as physical threats or explicit racial slurs. The employer’s response matters enormously: an employer that promptly investigates and corrects misconduct may limit liability, while one that ignores or minimizes complaints exposes itself to emotional distress damages and punitive damages. Many employees tolerate hostile environments for months because they fear retaliation, but California law protects you from retaliation for reporting, and the FEHA filing window is three years. Document incidents as they happen, and keep your complaints in writing.

Severance offers are starting points, not final offers. Employers routinely expect negotiation, and a single conversation with an attorney can add weeks of pay, extend benefits, or improve the terms.

California law requires severance agreements to be knowing and voluntary, and in many cases you have 21 days to consider the offer and 7 days to revoke acceptance. Two provisions deserve special attention: a broad release of claims can waive valuable rights you do not yet know about, and non-compete clauses are largely unenforceable in California even when the agreement claims otherwise. If you were terminated under circumstances that suggest discrimination or retaliation, the severance offer often understates your claim’s value. A brief attorney review can clarify what you are giving up and strengthen your negotiating position. At L&F Brown we routinely review severance packages and have recovered meaningful improvements for clients simply by asking.