How to Determine Your Rights After a Wrongful Termination in California

Losing a job can raise immediate questions about whether the termination was lawful and what options may be available. California generally follows at-will employment, but state and federal laws create important exceptions involving discrimination, retaliation, protected leave, wage violations, disability accommodations, and public-policy violations.

This guide, updated September 2026, explains how California employees can identify potential rights, preserve evidence, understand deadlines, compare employment-law firms, and evaluate next steps.

Step 1: Identify Why You Were Terminated

Determine whether termination may violate employment protections. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act states that employers should pay overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate for covered nonexempt employees who worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Key issues to consider include:

• Wrongful termination: At-will employment has exceptions for unlawful reasons
• Discrimination: Race, gender, age, disability, pregnancy, religion, or national origin may be protected
• Harassment: Protected harassment may create a hostile work environment.
• Retaliation: Reporting discrimination, harassment, or wage violations may be protected.
• Wages: Unpaid overtime or missed breaks may support claims.
• Constructive discharge: Intolerable conditions may make resignation significant.
• Severance: Review agreements before signing.

Step 2: Compare Legal Representation

The following firms provide examples of California employment-law practices that employees may encounter.

1. Bryan Schwartz Law

An employee-focused employment firm handling discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wage-and-hour, misclassification, whistleblower, accommodation, and severance matters. The EEOC secured more than $469.6 million for 13,516 workers through mediation, conciliation, and settlements in FY 2024.

● Wrongful termination: Bryan Schwartz Law handles employee-side termination matters.

● Discrimination: Discrimination is a listed practice area, with a reported $37.5 million discrimination result.

● Harassment/hostile work environment: Harassment is among the firm's listed practice areas.

● Retaliation claims: Retaliation and whistleblower matters are included among its employment practice areas.

● Unpaid wages, overtime, and meal/rest break violations: The firm handles overtime and wage issues.

● Employee misclassification (IC vs. employee, ABC test): Misclassification is a significant part of its published results.

● Disability accommodation & interactive process (ADA, FEHA): Reasonable accommodation is a listed practice area

● Protected leave (CFRA, FMLA, PDL): Federal employment is among the firm's practice areas. Applicable leave rights can also arise under California law, depending on eligibility.

● Forced resignation / constructive discharge: Constructive-discharge questions can arise when an employee resigns because of allegedly intolerable conditions. The firm's broader employment practice includes termination-related disputes.

● Severance agreement review and negotiation: Severance is expressly listed among the firm's employment practice areas.

● Free consultation/contingency-fee representation: Prospective clients should confirm current availability and fee arrangements directly with the firm.

● Statute of limitations for CA employment claims: Deadlines depend on the claim, with discrimination, wage, contract, and retaliation claims potentially subject to different periods.

● DFEH/CRD and EEOC complaint process: Discrimination and federal employment matters may involve administrative agency procedures before litigation.

● Damages available: Potential remedies vary by claim.

Pros

● Strong employee-side focus across discrimination, retaliation, wage-and-hour, misclassification, whistleblower, accommodation, and severance matters.

● Reports substantial results in employment cases, including discrimination, wage, and misclassification matters.

Cons

● The firm currently states that it is not accepting new clients due to its caseload.

● Its broad practice and caseload may make availability more limited for new matters.

2. Manukyan Law Firm

Manukyan is a California employment law firm handling wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage disputes, disability matters, and related employee claims. The EEOC received 88,531 new discrimination charges in FY 2024.

For the client, employees looking specifically for a Burbank employment law team at Manukyan Law Firm can review the firm's employment-law information on their website.

● Wrongful termination: Manukyan Law Firm lists wrongful termination among its employment-law practice areas and addresses termination and retaliation matters.

● Discrimination: The firm handles employment discrimination matters, including disability and pregnancy discrimination.

● Harassment/hostile work environment: Sexual harassment is among the firm's employment matters.

● Retaliation claims: The firm handles retaliation and whistleblower matters.

● Unpaid wages, overtime, and meal/rest break violations: Wage-and-hour disputes are included in the firm's employment practice.

● Employee misclassification (IC vs. employee, ABC test): Classification disputes can affect overtime, break, and wage rights.

● Disability accommodation & interactive process (ADA, FEHA): The firm handles disability-discrimination matters. California's FEHA can require reasonable accommodation and an interactive process in qualifying circumstances.

● Protected leave (CFRA, FMLA, PDL): California employees may have rights under CFRA, FMLA, and PDL depending on eligibility. PDL can provide up to four months per pregnancy for a qualifying pregnancy disability.

● Forced resignation/constructive discharge: Constructive discharge may apply where working conditions become sufficiently intolerable that an employee is effectively forced to resign. Manukyan includes constructive-discharge matters among its employment services.

● Severance agreement review and negotiation: Severance agreements can affect an employee's ability to pursue employment claims, making review important before signing.

● Free consultation/contingency-fee representation: Manukyan Law Firm advertises a free attorney consultation and states that its employment materials do not charge legal fees until the case is resolved. The actual fee arrangement depends on the individual engagement.

● Statute of limitations for CA employment claims: The applicable deadline depends on the claim.

● DFEH/CRD and EEOC complaint process: Employment discrimination and retaliation matters can involve the CRD or EEOC, depending on the legal claim.

● Damages available: Potential remedies depend on the claim and can include back pay, emotional distress, and punitive damages, where legally available

Pros

● Handles a broad range of California employment matters, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage disputes, and disability claims.

● Offers free consultations , with the firm stating that legal fees are not charged until the case is resolved.

Cons

● Primarily focused on California employment matters, so it may not be the best fit for disputes governed mainly by another state's law.

● Case suitability and representation depend on the specific facts and circumstances.

3. Setareh Law Group

A California employment firm representing workers in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage-and-hour, leave, and class-action matters. The EEOC successfully resolved 8,543 mediations in FY 2024, with a 71.2% resolution rate.

● Wrongful termination: Setareh Law Group handles wrongful-termination matters and broader employee-rights disputes.

● Discrimination: Workplace discrimination is part of the firm's employment practice and can involve state and federal protections depending on the facts.

● Harassment/hostile work environment: The firm handles sexual-harassment matters and reports more than $120 million recovered in sexual-harassment lawsuits.

● Retaliation claims: Retaliation is among the firm's employment matters. Protected activity can include reporting discrimination, harassment, or certain workplace violations.

● Unpaid wages, overtime, meal/rest break violations: Wage-and-hour litigation is a major practice area.

● Employee misclassification (IC vs. employee, ABC test): Misclassification can affect wage and hour protections. California's ABC test generally presumes employee status unless all three requirements are established, subject to exceptions.

● Disability accommodation & interactive process (ADA, FEHA): Disability discrimination and accommodation issues can arise under FEHA and the ADA, depending on the circumstances.

● Protected leave (CFRA, FMLA, PDL): The firm's employment practice includes family and medical leave matters.

● Forced resignation/constructive discharge: Constructive discharge may involve an employee's resignation in response to allegedly intolerable working conditions.

● Severance agreement review and negotiation: Employees considering severance may want to review releases, confidentiality terms, and other restrictions before signing.

● Free consultation/contingency-fee representation: Setareh advertises a free consultation and states that clients do not pay unless the firm wins or settles the case, subject to its engagement terms.

● Statute of limitations for CA employment claims: Employment claims have different deadlines.

● DFEH/CRD and EEOC complaint process: Depending on the claim, an employee may need to use the CRD or EEOC process before pursuing certain claims in court.

● Damages available: Potential remedies depend on the claim.

Pros

● Extensive experience with individual employment claims as well as wage-and-hour and class-action litigation.

● Offers free consultations and contingency-fee arrangements for qualifying cases.

Cons

● Selective case acceptance means not every potential claim will be taken.

● Its class-action and larger-scale litigation focus may not be necessary for a straightforward individual employment dispute.

4. Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blou

An employment practice focused on wage-and-hour disputes, overtime, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, breaks, and class actions. The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $259 million in back wages for 176,957 employees in FY 2025.

● Wrongful termination: The firm handles wrongful termination and other California employment-law disputes. Its practice includes termination, discrimination, retaliation, overtime, and wage claims.

● Discrimination: Discrimination is among the firm's California employment-law matters and can involve state or federal workplace protections.

● Harassment/hostile work environment: Workplace harassment can overlap with discrimination claims when conduct is connected to a protected characteristic. The firm's broader employment practice handles employee-rights disputes.

● Retaliation claims: Retaliation is expressly addressed in the firm's employment materials.

● Unpaid wages, overtime, meal/rest break violations: The firm's practice includes wage-and-hour, overtime, and labor-break claims.

● Employee misclassification (IC vs. employee, ABC test): Classification can determine whether wage-and-hour protections apply.

● Disability accommodation & interactive process (ADA, FEHA): Disability discrimination and accommodation issues can arise under California and federal law.

● Protected leave (CFRA, FMLA, PDL): Employees may have leave protections under CFRA, FMLA, and PDL depending on eligibility and employer coverage.

● Forced resignation / constructive discharge: Constructive discharge can arise when working conditions become sufficiently intolerable that an employee is effectively forced to resign. The firm's wrongful-termination practice addresses employment separations involving alleged unlawful conduct.

● Severance agreement review and negotiation: Severance negotiations can involve releases and other contractual restrictions. The firm's employment practice includes employee-rights disputes related to employment separation.

● Free consultation / contingency-fee representation: The firm advertises free consultations and no-win/no-fee representation for qualifying cases.

● Statute of limitations for CA employment claims: The applicable period depends on the claim. Employees should identify the individual deadline rather than relying on a general employment-law limitation period.

● DFEH/CRD and EEOC complaint process: Discrimination claims can involve the CRD and/or EEOC, depending on the applicable law.

● Damages available: Potential remedies vary by claim.

Pros

● Handles a wide range of employment disputes, particularly wage-and-hour, overtime, meal/rest break, discrimination, retaliation, and class-action cases.

● Offers free consultations and no-win/no-fee representation for qualifying matters.

Cons

● Strong emphasis on wage-and-hour and class-action litigation may be less relevant to some purely individual claims.

● Representation depends on whether a case meets the firm's eligibility and evaluation requirements.

5. Shegerian & Associate

A California employment litigation firm handling wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, harassment, disability, pregnancy, and other employee-rights disputes. California employers reported 344,500 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2024, including 224,100 cases involving days away from work, job transfer, or work restrictions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

● Wrongful termination: Shegerian & Associates focuses heavily on employee-side employment litigation, including wrongful termination.

● Discrimination: The firm handles discrimination matters involving areas such as race, age, disability, and gender.

● Harassment/hostile work environment: Discrimination and harassment are listed among the firm's employment practice areas.

● Retaliation claims: Wrongful termination and retaliation are specifically listed as practice areas.

● Unpaid wages, overtime, meal/rest break violations: Wage-related employment disputes can be part of broader employee-rights litigation. California wage-and-hour claims can involve unpaid wages, overtime, and qualifying meal or rest-break violations.

● Employee misclassification (IC vs. employee, ABC test): Misclassification can affect whether California wage-and-hour protections apply. Under the ABC test, the hiring entity generally must establish all three elements required for independent-contractor status, subject to exceptions.

● Disability accommodation & interactive process (ADA, FEHA): The firm handles disability-discrimination matters, with published disability verdicts

● Protected leave (CFRA, FMLA, PDL): The firm's employment practice identifies pregnancy and family-leave/FMLA violations among its matters. California also provides PDL protections for qualifying pregnancy disabilities.

● Forced resignation/constructive discharge: Constructive discharge can arise where an employee resigns because workplace conditions allegedly became intolerable. The legal assessment depends on the circumstances surrounding the resignation.

● Severance agreement review and negotiation: Employees considering severance may want to understand whether the agreement releases potential discrimination, retaliation, wage, or wrongful-termination claims.

● Free consultation/contingency-fee representation: Prospective clients should confirm the current consultation and fee arrangement for their particular matter.

● Statute of limitations for CA employment claims: Deadlines vary depending on the claim.

● DFEH/CRD and EEOC complaint process: Employees pursuing discrimination claims may need to consider the CRD or EEOC administrative process before litigation, depending on the applicable law.

● Damages available: The firm reports that it has dealt with a wrongful-termination verdict.

Pros

● Focuses heavily on employment litigation, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, disability, and pregnancy-related claims.

● Has published numerous significant employment verdicts and settlements.

Cons

● Litigation-oriented representation may not be necessary for employees seeking only straightforward advice or document review.

● Case acceptance depends on the circumstances and merits of the individual claim.

Summary Table

Frequently Asked Questions

What are an employee's rights if they are wrongfully terminated in California?

Employees may have rights when termination violates anti-discrimination laws, retaliation protections, wage laws, protected-leave rules, disability-accommodation requirements, or established public policy.

How long does an employee have to file a California employment claim?

The deadline depends on the claim. California CRD employment discrimination claims generally have a three-year filing period, while federal discrimination claims can have 180- or 300-day EEOC deadlines.

What happens if an employee is classified as an independent contractor?

California generally presumes employee status under the ABC test unless the hiring entity satisfies the applicable requirements or an exception applies.

Key Takeaways

California employees have protections that extend beyond the basic at-will employment rule. The most useful first steps are to identify why the termination occurred, preserve evidence, check applicable deadlines, and understand which legal protections may apply. If the situation involves several overlapping issues, an employment attorney can help evaluate the available options.