California AB 9: 3-Year FEHA Deadline and One Year to Sue

In California, you have three years from the date workplace discrimination, harassment, or retaliation occurred to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. That three-year window under California’s AB 9 is the FEHA filing deadline, and it took effect on January 1, 2020, replacing the previous one-year limit.¹ It is the main deadline, but not the only one you need to track, and missing any of the related deadlines can end your case.

When the Clock Starts

Under Government Code Section 12960, the three years run from the date the unlawful conduct occurred, not from the date you realized it was illegal or decided to do something about it.² The statute does not contain a general discovery rule, so a mistaken belief about when the clock began is a common and expensive error.

There is one narrow extension built into the statute. If you first learned the facts of the unlawful practice within 90 days after the three-year deadline expired, you can still file during that 90-day window.² It is fact-specific and limited. Do not plan around it.

What the Three-Year Deadline Covers

The three-year window applies to employment practices prohibited under FEHA’s Article 1. Government Code Section 12940 makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, religious creed, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, reproductive health decisions, or veteran or military status. The same three years applies to harassment claims based on any of those protected traits, and to retaliation claims, including firings, hour cuts, reassignments, or other punishment for reporting discrimination, filing a complaint, or cooperating with an investigation.³

Employer size matters for whether you can bring a claim at all. FEHA’s discrimination protections apply to employers with five or more employees, including part-time workers; harassment protections reach employers with even a single employee.⁴ If your employer is below the five-employee threshold, a harassment claim is still possible even though a discrimination claim is not.

When Misconduct Spans Years: The Continuing Violation Doctrine

If harassment or discrimination happened repeatedly over a long period, the three-year clock does not necessarily run from the first incident. California courts apply a continuing violation doctrine that lets you recover for earlier acts, even ones more than three years old, when they were part of an ongoing pattern of related conduct that continued into the filing period.

To qualify, the earlier conduct must have been similar or related to the conduct inside the three-year window, reasonably frequent, and not yet “permanent.” Courts treat a pattern as permanent when the conduct stops, you resign, or the employer’s actions make clear that trying to resolve it internally would accomplish nothing. Once the situation becomes permanent, the clock starts. Proving a continuing violation takes detailed documentation of the full timeline.

Incidents Before January 1, 2020

AB 9 does not revive claims that had already expired under the old one-year deadline.¹ If an incident occurred before January 1, 2019, and you did not file within one year, that claim was already time-barred when AB 9 took effect and remains so.

For incidents in 2019, the analysis is trickier. If the old one-year deadline had not yet expired by January 1, 2020, the new three-year deadline arguably applied. A borderline case from that transition period is worth running past an employment attorney rather than estimating the cutoff on your own.

The Other Deadline Most People Miss: One Year to Sue

Filing on time with the CRD is only half the picture. Before you can sue your employer in California court for a FEHA violation, you need a right-to-sue notice from the CRD. Once you receive that notice, you have exactly one year to file your lawsuit.⁵ Miss that year and your right to sue is gone, no matter how strong the underlying claim.

There are two ways to get the notice. You can request an immediate right-to-sue notice when you file your complaint, available through the CCRS portal or a downloadable form. Choosing this route means the CRD will not investigate; you are telling the state you plan to handle the matter in court. The CRD’s own guidance says this path is advisable only if you already have an attorney.⁶

The alternative is to let the CRD investigate. If the department does not file its own civil action within 150 days after you submit your complaint, it must notify you that a right-to-sue notice is available on request. If you never request one, the CRD will issue the notice on its own after completing its investigation or no later than one year after you filed.⁵ Either way, the one-year clock to sue starts on the date the notice is issued, not the date you open the envelope.

Federal Deadlines Run on Their Own, Much Shorter Schedule

AB 9 did nothing to the federal timeline. If your claim also falls under federal law, such as Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, you have a separate filing deadline with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Because California has a state enforcement agency, the federal deadline is extended from the standard 180 days to 300 calendar days from the date of the last discriminatory act.⁷

Three hundred days is far shorter than three years, and the gap trips people up constantly. Someone who waits two years to file with the CRD, which is fine under AB 9, has long since lost the ability to bring a federal charge. If your situation involves a federal claim, you need to be at the EEOC within 300 days even if you plan to pursue the state claim later.

The EEOC and CRD have a work-sharing agreement that allows charges to be dual-filed, so filing with the CRD within 300 days typically cross-files with the EEOC automatically.⁸ One important exception: if you request an immediate right-to-sue notice from the CRD, the CRD will not file your complaint with the EEOC. You would need to do that separately.⁶

How to File With the CRD Before the Deadline

The first step is submitting an intake form to the California Civil Rights Department. You can file online through the Cal Civil Rights System (CCRS) portal or download a printable form from the CRD website.⁹ The online system lets you save your progress and come back to add information, which helps when you are still gathering evidence.

Before you start, pull together:

The name and contact details of the person or business you believe harmed you
A description of what happened, with dates and any related documents
Names and contact details of anyone who saw or knows about the conduct
Copies of emails, text messages, performance reviews, termination letters, or other materials that support your account

You do not need a polished case to file. CRD guidance notes that you can begin the process and add materials as you get them.⁹ What matters is filing before three years run out. A bare-bones filing submitted on time beats a thorough one submitted a day late.

1
California Legislative Information. Assembly Bill 9 – SHARE Act
2
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12960 – Complaint Filing Procedures
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California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12940 – Unlawful Employment Practices
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California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12926 – Definitions
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California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12965 – Civil Actions
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California Civil Rights Department. Obtain a Right to Sue
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. State and Local Programs
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California Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process