Most people who have been fired, harassed or underpaid in Los Angeles assume the next step is to sue. For the largest category of employment claims, it is not, and the assumption is what runs the clock down.
Discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act have to go to the Civil Rights Department first. Under Government Code 12960 you file a verified complaint with the department, and the section says filing means filing an intake form, with the operative date relating back to that form. You need to go through that process and obtain a right to sue before a court will hear you. The deadline is three years from when the unlawful practice occurred.
Three years sounds generous. It is the only deadline on this page that is, and it is still the one most commonly missed, because nobody tells you the step exists.
How Culver Legal works on these. We will review what happened to you, tell you plainly what kind of claim it is and what the deadlines are, and then either take it on or refer you to a partner firm that handles that area. Either way you will leave the call knowing where you stand. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
First, Which Kind of Problem Is It?
This matters more than it sounds, because the two run on different systems and different clocks.
If you were hurt, physically, at work, that is an injury claim rather than an employment claim. Workers compensation covers it, and where a company other than your employer caused it there is a separate claim that pays for things compensation never does. That is work injury territory, and it is work this firm does directly.
How that second claim is built depends on what happened. On a job site it is a construction accident claim against a contractor or another trade. Driving for work, it is a car or commercial vehicle claim. On unsafe premises it is a premises claim. A head injury from any of them raises its own questions about a brain injury, and where a worker is killed the family’s claim is a wrongful death claim.
If you were treated unlawfully, fired for the wrong reason, harassed, discriminated against, retaliated against, or not paid what you earned, that is an employment matter, and it runs through the process described on this page.
Sometimes it is both, and those are the ones worth getting advice on quickly, because a single set of facts can produce two claims on two different deadlines.
What Does an Employment Lawyer Cost, and How Are These Cases Paid For?
Nothing up front in most cases, and employment matters carry a funding feature that injury claims do not.
Employment work is generally taken on contingency in the same way, with the terms set out in a written fee agreement. The difference is that several of California’s employment statutes provide for the employer to pay a successful employee’s legal fees, separately from the recovery itself. That changes the economics of a case that would otherwise be uneconomic to bring, and it is a reason not to assume a claim is too small to pursue.
What that means practically. A case worth less than the cost of running it can still be viable where a fee-shifting statute applies. Whether one does depends on which claim you actually have, which is the first thing worth establishing.
The Deadlines, Which Are Not One Deadline
Three years to file with the Civil Rights Department for a FEHA claim: discrimination, harassment, retaliation. Government Code 12960(e)(5).
Then a further year to file in court after the right to sue notice is issued, which is a separate clock that starts when the first one ends.
Three years for most unpaid wage claims, and four where the claim is framed under the unfair competition rules. Wage claims can go to the Labor Commissioner rather than to court.
Thirty days of wages, as a penalty, where an employer willfully failed to pay your final wages on time. Under Labor Code 203 the wages “shall continue as a penalty from the due date thereof at the same rate until paid”, capped at 30 days. That penalty is separate from the wages themselves and it is routinely not claimed.
Two years for an injury claim, and six months if a public entity is involved.
Not sure whether you have an employment claim or an injury claim?
They run on different systems and different deadlines. We will tell you which one you are in, at no charge.
What California Law Protects
Discrimination and harassment. The Fair Employment and Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate on protected characteristics, and it covers harassment as well as decisions about hiring, promotion and dismissal.
Retaliation for speaking up. Under Labor Code 1102.5 an employer may not make or enforce a policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, or to somebody with authority over them, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe it discloses a violation of law. Reasonable belief is the standard, so being wrong about the underlying violation does not automatically remove the protection.
Your final wages. Late final pay carries the waiting time penalty above.
Meal and rest breaks, which carry a premium of an hour’s pay for each day one was not provided.
Reporting a workplace injury. Discharging or threatening to discharge somebody for filing a compensation claim is a misdemeanor under Labor Code 132a, which is a point that belongs on both this page and the work injury one.
What to Do Before You Call Anyone
Write down the timeline while you remember it. Dates, what was said, who was present. Memory degrades and a contemporaneous note does not.
Collect what you already have, and do it before you lose access to a work account: your offer letter, contract, handbook, payslips, performance reviews, and any messages that matter.
Ask for your personnel file in writing. Under Labor Code 1198.5 every current and former employee has the right to inspect and receive a copy of the personnel records the employer keeps about their performance or about any grievance concerning them, and the employer must make them available no later than 30 calendar days from receiving a written request. Former employees miss this because they assume the door shut when they left. It did not, and the file frequently contains the reviews that contradict whatever reason was given for the dismissal.
Do not sign a severance agreement to get it over with. These commonly contain a release of claims you have not valued yet, and once signed they are difficult to unwind.
Keep raising things in writing where you are still employed, because an email creates a record that a conversation does not.
Been handed a severance agreement with a deadline on it?
It almost certainly releases claims nobody has valued yet. Get it read before you sign it.
Why Los Angeles Workers Call Culver Legal First
You get a straight answer about where you stand, including when the answer is that your matter belongs with a partner firm rather than with us. That is a better outcome than being signed up by somebody who wanted the file.
We come to you. In the hospital, at home, or on a schedule that does not cost you a shift.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
Nothing up front. Contingency, costs advanced by the firm, no fee unless we win. We advance the case costs, and if there is no recovery you are not charged those costs either. Culver Legal was founded in 2020, has recovered $200 Million and counting, and answers the phone 24 hours a day.
Los Angeles Employment FAQs
I am undocumented. Can I still bring a claim without putting myself at risk?
Yes, and the protection is stronger than most people expect. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of a person’s immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either. California’s employment protections also apply regardless of status. It is not a question we ask you, and it is not something an employer gets to raise to make a claim go away.
I was fired months ago. Is it too late?
Probably not. A FEHA claim for discrimination, harassment or retaliation has three years from when the unlawful practice occurred to be filed with the Civil Rights Department, and most wage claims have three. What is worth knowing is that the clock is stopped by filing an intake form with the department rather than by talking to a lawyer, so the useful question is how far through that period you are.
Do I have to go to the Civil Rights Department before I can sue?
For a FEHA claim, yes. Government Code 12960 sets out that process, and you need to have gone through it and obtained a right to sue before a court will take the case. This is the single most common reason a good claim arrives too late, because nothing about being fired tells you an administrative step exists.
My employer never paid my last paycheck. Is that worth anything on its own?
More than most people think. Where an employer willfully fails to pay final wages, Labor Code 203 continues those wages as a penalty at the same daily rate until paid, up to thirty days. That is on top of the wages you are owed, and it is claimed far less often than it should be.
Contact Culver Legal About a Los Angeles Employment Matter
Tell us what happened and we will tell you what kind of claim it is, what the deadline is, and whether we take it on or introduce you to a partner firm who handles that area. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour. There is no charge for the conversation.
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.
