If something has gone wrong at work, the deadline that ends your claim is probably shorter than the one you have heard about, and there is more than one of them running at the same time.
You may have three years to file with the state. You may have three hundred days to file with the federal agency. And once a right to sue is issued, you have one year, whatever time the first deadline appeared to leave. Missing the short one ends a claim that the long one said was still alive.
Culver Legal, LLP is a personal injury firm. Where an employment matter belongs with a specialist, we will say so and point you to one rather than take it and hope. Where it overlaps with the work we do, particularly where somebody was hurt at work, we handle it directly. Either answer takes one conversation, and it costs nothing. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
The Deadlines Are Short, and They Are Not the Same as Each Other
This is the part worth reading even if you take the matter somewhere else.
Three years to file a complaint with the state. California’s Civil Rights Department administers the Fair Employment and Housing Act, and Government Code 12960 says a complaint “shall not be filed after the expiration of three years from the date upon which the unlawful practice or refusal to cooperate occurred.”
One year once you have a right-to-sue notice. This is the one that catches people, because it starts a new and much shorter clock. Government Code 12965 allows the person claiming to be aggrieved to bring a civil action “within one year from the date of that notice.” Requesting the notice early, before you are ready to sue, can burn most of that year.
Three hundred days for a federal charge. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s base deadline is 180 days, extended to 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same discrimination. California has one, so 300 days is the operative federal figure here. That is under a year, on a claim where the state deadline was three.
Two years for an equal pay claim, or three where the underpayment was willful, running from the last discriminatory paycheck rather than from the first.
So “I have three years” is the single most expensive thing to believe about an employment claim. If you are unsure which clock applies to what happened to you, that is a question worth asking in week one rather than in month eleven.
Have you already been issued a right-to-sue notice?
That started a one-year clock, whatever the three-year rule suggested. Find out where you stand before more of it goes.
Can You Sue an Employer for Stress and Anxiety?
Usually not as a claim on its own, and this is the question people most want a different answer to.
Ordinary workplace stress is generally handled inside the workers’ compensation system rather than by a civil lawsuit, because compensation is the exclusive remedy for most injuries arising out of employment, including many psychological ones. A claim that says only “my job made me anxious” is normally a compensation claim, not a lawsuit.
Where it changes is when the stress sits alongside conduct that is separately unlawful. If there was harassment, discrimination, retaliation for reporting something, or a failure to accommodate a disability, then the emotional harm is usually recoverable as part of that claim rather than as a claim by itself.
So the question that decides it is not how badly the work affected you. It is what the employer actually did. That is a more answerable question than it sounds, and it usually turns on documents rather than on feelings: what was reported and when, what changed afterwards, and how people in comparable positions were treated.
Where an Employment Matter Meets an Injury Claim
This is the overlap where a personal injury firm is the right call rather than the wrong one, and it comes up more than people expect.
You were hurt at work. That is a work injury claim, and often two claims at once: workers’ compensation, plus a civil claim against whoever caused it if that was not your employer. Compensation is no-fault and pays nothing for pain and suffering. The civil claim does.
You were hurt on a construction site. Construction is where third-party liability arises most often, because so many separate companies work in one place.
Your employer carried no compensation insurance. Under Labor Code 3706, an employer who failed to carry it can be sued directly. Whether they carried it is checkable.
You were injured driving for work. That is also a car accident or truck accident claim, and there may be an employer’s policy behind it.
Retaliation for reporting an injury or bringing a claim is unlawful in California. If that is what happened, say so early, because it changes the shape of the matter.
Where Does an Employment Claim Actually Go?
Not all to the same place, and sending it to the wrong one costs time you may not have.
A wage claim goes to the Labor Commissioner, and that office is in Long Beach. The California Labor Commissioner’s Office sits at 1500 Hughes Way, Suite C-202, with walk-in hours Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, missed meal and rest breaks and final-paycheck disputes start there rather than in a courtroom.
A discrimination, harassment or retaliation claim starts with an agency. The state route is the Civil Rights Department; the federal route is the EEOC. In most cases you cannot file a lawsuit until you have been through one of them and hold a right-to-sue notice.
A civil case is heard at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia, which is the Los Angeles Superior Court location serving Long Beach.
One thing about this court that is worth knowing
Los Angeles Superior Court does not treat an employment case as a personal injury case. Its Personal Injury Court is defined by case type under the county’s own court rules, and that definition expressly excludes civil rights and discrimination claims, along with defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
That matters in a practical way. The rules that route an injury case here, including the rule sending a personal injury case to the district where the incident happened, are personal injury rules. An employment case is managed on a different track, and anyone telling you your discrimination claim will be handled like a car accident case is describing the wrong system.
Long Beach Has Its Own Wage Rules, Above the State Minimum
The city sets minimum pay for particular groups of workers by ordinance, and these sit above the California minimum wage. Two are in force.
Hotel workers: $25.00 an hour, effective 1 July 2025, under the Long Beach Hotel Workers Initiative Ordinance, Measure N, at Chapter 5.48 of the Long Beach Municipal Code.
Concessionaire workers at Long Beach Airport and the Long Beach Convention Center: $18.58 an hour, effective the same date, under Ordinance ORD-14-0002 at Chapter 16.60.
Both adjust over time, so check the rate against the date before relying on it. If you work in a Long Beach hotel or at the airport or convention center and are being paid the state minimum, that is worth a conversation, because the shortfall on a city ordinance is not always something an employer volunteers to correct.
Been handed a severance agreement?
Signing normally ends the claim. Have it read before you sign, not after.
What Should You Do Now?
- Write down what happened while you remember it, with dates.
- Keep your own copies of contracts, handbooks, pay records, schedules, reviews and any written communication about the problem. Access to a work account can be cut off the day things change.
- Report it in writing where there is a process for that, and keep a copy.
- Do not sign a severance agreement or a release without having it read first. Signing usually ends the claim.
- Ask which deadline applies to you early, whoever you speak to.
Why Call Culver Legal First?
We will tell you plainly what we handle. For a claim about a wage, a termination or treatment at work rather than an injury, we will review it and tell you honestly whether it is ours or whether a specialist serves you better. That answer costs nothing and it is quicker than finding out after a month.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
Where it is an injury matter, the economics are simple. Contingency, costs advanced, nothing up front and no fee unless we win. We advance the case costs, and if there is no recovery you are not charged those costs either. The phone is answered 24 hours a day.
Long Beach Employment FAQs
How much do employment lawyers charge in California?
Most plaintiff-side employment work is handled on contingency or on a fee-shifted basis rather than billed by the hour, so the common assumption that you need money up front is usually wrong. Several California employment statutes shift fees to the employer where the employee wins, which means the employer can be ordered to pay your legal fees on top of what you recover. That is what makes a claim viable that would otherwise cost more to bring than it is worth, and it is why cost is rarely the right reason to drop something.
Can I sue my employer for stress and anxiety in California?
Not usually on its own. Ordinary workplace stress is generally handled through workers’ compensation rather than a lawsuit, because compensation is the exclusive remedy for most injuries arising out of employment, including many psychological ones. Where stress comes alongside conduct that is separately unlawful, such as harassment, discrimination or retaliation, the emotional harm is normally recoverable as part of that claim. The question is what the employer did, not how it made you feel.
How long do I have to bring an employment claim in California?
It depends which route you are on, and the numbers are not close to each other. A complaint to the state’s Civil Rights Department must be filed within three years under Government Code 12960. A federal charge with the EEOC must be filed within 300 days in California. Once a right-to-sue notice is issued you have one year to file suit, regardless of what the three-year rule seemed to allow. An equal pay claim runs two years, or three if the underpayment was willful.
Do I have to go to an agency before I can sue?
For most discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, yes. You generally need to file with the Civil Rights Department or the EEOC and obtain a right-to-sue notice before a lawsuit is possible, and skipping that step can end a claim on procedure rather than on its merits. Wage claims are different and start with the Labor Commissioner instead, whose office for this area is at 1500 Hughes Way in Long Beach.
My employer says I was let go for performance. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily. A stated reason is the employer’s position, not a finding. Where the real reason was unlawful, the stated one does not protect them. What usually decides it is documentary: the timing relative to a complaint, an injury or a leave, how comparable employees were treated, and whether the written record matches what was said out loud.
Do you handle employment cases?
We handle employment matters that overlap with injury work, particularly where somebody was hurt at work, where an employer carried no compensation insurance, or where there has been retaliation after an injury claim. For a pure wage, discrimination or wrongful termination matter we will review it and tell you plainly whether we take it or whether a specialist is the better route. We would rather say that in the first conversation than in the fourth week.
Contact Culver Legal About a Long Beach Employment Matter
The deadline is probably shorter than you think, and which one applies depends on facts you can usually establish in a single conversation. Reach us at (310) 600-7881 at any hour. The review costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
