Fullerton Employment Law Attorneys

California claims go to the Civil Rights Department, which accepts intake online and through its Los Angeles regional office at 320 West 4th Street, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013. Federal claims under Title VII, the ADA, or the ADEA go to the EEOC's Los Angeles District Office at the Roybal Federal Building, 255 East Temple Street, 4th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. You generally have three years from the unlawful act to file with the CRD under Gov Code § 12960 and 300 days to file with the EEOC. If you want to sue, you first request a right-to-sue notice from the CRD and then file in Orange County Superior Court's Central Justice Center at 700 Civic Center Drive West in Santa Ana.

Title IX at 20 U.S.C. § 1681 prohibits retaliation against people who report sex discrimination, sexual harassment, or sexual assault to a federally funded educational institution. The Supreme Court recognized a private right of action in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education. California's FEHA at Gov Code § 12940(h) and Labor Code § 1102.5 provide parallel state protection when the underlying complaint involves discrimination or a legal violation. Adjunct contracts that are not renewed shortly after a protected complaint can support a retaliation claim if the timing, departmental documentation, and decision-maker history connect the two. Damages can include lost wages, emotional distress, and attorneys' fees.

California Labor Code § 512 requires a 30-minute uninterrupted, duty-free meal period before the end of the fifth hour of work and a second meal period for shifts over ten hours. Labor Code § 226.7 entitles you to a premium of one hour of pay at your regular rate for each workday a compliant meal or rest period is denied. Hospital meal-period waivers exist under IWC Wage Order 5 but are narrow and must be voluntary, revocable, and properly documented. If your unit's culture or staffing makes uninterrupted breaks impossible, the missed-break premiums plus penalties under Labor Code § 226 for inaccurate wage statements and PAGA penalties under § 2698 can add up substantially across a pay-period history.

Yes. Gov Code § 12940(j) prohibits sexual harassment, and § 12940(h) prohibits retaliation for opposing it. SB 1300 (codified in Gov Code § 12923) makes clear that a single severe incident can be enough and that harassment does not have to be 'sufficiently' offensive to derail a career. Employers have an affirmative duty to take reasonable steps to prevent and correct harassment under § 12940(k), and California employers with five or more employees must provide sexual harassment training under Gov Code § 12950.1. If you report harassment and then get cut shifts, are demoted, or are fired, you can pursue retaliation claims with damages that include lost wages, emotional distress, and attorneys' fees.

If your employer has five or more employees, the California Family Rights Act (Gov Code § 12945.2) gives you up to twelve weeks of job-protected bonding leave within the first year of a child's birth, adoption, or foster placement. Pregnancy Disability Leave under Gov Code § 12945 provides up to four months of leave for the disabling portion of pregnancy, and that runs separately from CFRA bonding leave. When you return, you are entitled to the same or a comparable position. Demotions, schedule changes, or PIPs tied to your leave can support a CFRA interference or retaliation claim. Federal FMLA (29 U.S.C. § 2601) runs in parallel for employers of 50 or more.

Generally no. Once you have a work restriction, FEHA at Gov Code §§ 12940(m) and (n) requires your employer to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process and to provide a reasonable accommodation unless it would create an undue hardship. Accommodations can include modified duties, a temporary reassignment, ergonomic adjustments, a leave extension as a finite accommodation, or transfer to a vacant position you are qualified for. Telling you to wait until you are '100 percent healed' is generally not lawful. Labor Code § 132a separately prohibits retaliation for filing or pursuing a workers' compensation claim, and § 1102.5 protects you if you reported safety problems on the line.

California's ABC test, codified at Labor Code § 2775, presumes you are an employee unless the hiring entity can show (A) you are free from its control and direction in the performance of the work, (B) the work is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and (C) you are customarily engaged in an independently established trade. Most professional services workers who work full-time for one client and do work that is the core of that client's business will fail prong B. Misclassified workers can recover unpaid overtime under Labor Code §§ 510 and 1194, business-expense reimbursements under § 2802 for phone, internet, and mileage, wage statement penalties under § 226, and waiting-time penalties under § 203.

California is an all-parties-consent state under Penal Code § 632, which generally makes it unlawful to record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties. Workplace meetings in private offices typically qualify as confidential. Secretly recording can expose you to criminal and civil liability and can make your evidence inadmissible. Better options include taking detailed contemporaneous notes, sending follow-up emails that summarize what was said and asking the manager to correct anything inaccurate, identifying witnesses, and preserving texts and Slack messages. Talk to a lawyer before recording anything.