To sue your employer in California, you first identify the legal basis for your claim, check whether you signed a mandatory arbitration agreement, complete any required administrative filing (with the California Civil Rights Department for discrimination claims, or optionally with the Labor Commissioner for wage claims), and then file a complaint in Superior Court before your deadline runs out. Those deadlines range from one to three years depending on the claim, and missing one usually ends the case before it starts.
Figure Out What Kind of Claim You Have
The procedure depends entirely on what your employer did. Most California employment lawsuits fall into three buckets, and many cases combine more than one.
Discrimination, harassment, or retaliation under FEHA. The Fair Employment and Housing Act is California’s main workplace anti-discrimination law and is broader than federal law. It applies to employers with five or more employees for discrimination and retaliation claims and covers harassment at employers of any size.1California Civil Rights Department. Employment Discrimination Protected characteristics include race, national origin, religion, age (40 and over), disability, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, and reproductive health decision-making, among others.2California Civil Rights Department. California Law Prohibits Workplace Discrimination and Harassment You can also bring a parallel federal claim through the EEOC under Title VII, which covers a narrower set of categories.
Wrongful termination. California is at-will, so your employer can generally fire you for almost any reason. The main exception is termination that violates public policy under the Tameny doctrine: being fired for refusing to break the law, reporting illegal conduct, exercising a legal right like filing a workers’ compensation claim, or performing a legal obligation like jury duty.3Justia Law. Tameny v Atlantic Richfield Co The policy has to be rooted in a statute or constitutional provision. A boss who dislikes you is not grounds; retaliation for reporting safety violations to OSHA is.
Wage and hour violations. California’s wage rules are more protective than federal law. Overtime kicks in after eight hours in a day or 40 in a week at 1.5 times your regular rate, and double time applies after 12 hours in a day.4California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 510 Shifts over five hours require an uninterrupted 30-minute meal period, with a second meal period required for shifts over 10 hours.5California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 512 A paid 10-minute rest break is required for every four hours worked. A missed or non-compliant meal or rest break entitles you to one additional hour of pay at your regular rate per violation.
Know Your Deadline Before You Do Anything Else
Statutes of limitations are the fastest way to lose a case you otherwise would have won. The clock usually starts on the date of the last harmful act.
- FEHA discrimination, harassment, or retaliation: three years from the last discriminatory act to file your administrative complaint with the CRD. After you receive your Right-to-Sue notice, one year to file in court.6California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 129607California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12965
- Wrongful termination in violation of public policy: two years from the date of termination.
- Wage and hour claims under the Labor Code: three years for most claims; four years for claims involving a written contract.
- Federal EEOC charges in California: 300 calendar days from the discriminatory act, because California has a state agency with concurrent jurisdiction.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
Delayed-discovery extensions exist but are narrow. Treat these deadlines as hard cutoffs.
Check Whether You Signed an Arbitration Agreement
Before you plan a lawsuit, go back through your offer letter, employee handbook, and any onboarding paperwork for a mandatory arbitration clause. If you signed one, you may be required to resolve your dispute through private arbitration instead of court. That means no jury, limited discovery, and a decision by a private arbitrator.
The Federal Arbitration Act generally makes these agreements enforceable, and courts have upheld them even when state law tried to restrict them. California Labor Code section 432.6 attempted to ban mandatory arbitration as a condition of employment but acknowledges on its face that it does not invalidate agreements enforceable under the FAA.9California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 432-6
One major exception matters. For claims involving sexual assault or sexual harassment, the Ending Forced Arbitration Act, effective March 2022, lets you choose court over arbitration no matter what you signed.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 9 USC 402 – No Validity or Enforceability If your case mixes sexual harassment with other discrimination claims, ask an attorney whether the EFAA pulls the whole case into court or only the harassment portion.
Complete the Required Administrative Step
FEHA Claims: File with the CRD First
You cannot go straight to court on a FEHA claim. You must first file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (formerly the DFEH), either online or by mail. The intake describes the conduct, identifies the protected characteristic, and states when the most recent incident occurred. The deadline is three years from the last harmful act.11California Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process
The CRD may investigate or offer mediation, but if you want to sue, you can request an immediate Right-to-Sue notice that bypasses the investigation and clears you to file in Superior Court. Once that notice issues, you have one year to file your lawsuit.7California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12965 That one-year deadline is firm.
Wage Claims: Court or the Labor Commissioner
Wage and hour claims don’t require an administrative filing. You can go directly to Superior Court. You also have the option of filing a wage claim with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (the Labor Commissioner’s Office) using their Initial Report or Claim form.12Department of Industrial Relations. Division of Labor Standards Enforcement WCA Form 1 The DLSE process doesn’t require an attorney and uses an informal settlement conference followed by a hearing if the dispute isn’t resolved. For smaller, straightforward unpaid-wage claims, it’s faster and cheaper than a civil lawsuit.
File and Serve the Complaint
Once the administrative prerequisite is satisfied (or doesn’t apply), you file a complaint in California Superior Court laying out the facts, the legal claims, and the relief sought. Employment lawsuits seeking more than $35,000 are filed as unlimited civil cases, with a filing fee of $435 in most counties.13Superior Court of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2026
After filing, you have to formally serve the complaint and summons on your employer, usually through a professional process server or the county sheriff’s office. Your employer then typically has 30 days to respond.
What Happens After You File
Discovery is the longest and often most expensive phase. Both sides exchange evidence through written interrogatories, requests for payroll records, emails, personnel files, and depositions where witnesses answer questions under oath on the record. Deposition testimony locks a witness into an account that can be used against them later.
Expect your employer to move for summary judgment at some point before trial, asking the court to dismiss the case without a jury. Under California law, summary judgment is granted only when there’s no triable issue of material fact and the employer is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.14California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 437c Employers win these motions more often than employees expect, especially when the plaintiff lacks documentary evidence or credible witnesses. Thorough discovery is what defeats them.
As trial approaches, the court will order a Mandatory Settlement Conference, where both sides must appear with full authority to settle. Most employment cases settle before trial, and the MSC is often where that happens.
Consider a PAGA Claim for Labor Code Violations
If your case involves Labor Code violations, California’s Private Attorneys General Act lets you sue on behalf of the state to recover civil penalties. A PAGA plaintiff essentially acts as a labor law prosecutor, and penalties get split between the employees and the state.
Following the 2024 PAGA reform (AB 2288 and SB 92), 35% of penalties go to the affected employees and 65% to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The reform also tightened standing: you have to have personally experienced the violations you’re suing over, not just claim violations that affected other workers.15Office of the Governor. Governor Newsom Signs PAGA Reform Before filing suit, you must give written notice to both the LWDA and your employer describing the violations, and the agency has a window to decide whether to investigate before you move forward.
Penalties accumulate per employee, per pay period, so even modest per-violation amounts become significant across a workforce. Employers negotiate these cases accordingly.
What You Can Recover
A successful employment case can produce several categories of damages.
Economic damages cover measurable financial losses. Back pay covers lost wages and benefits from the adverse action through judgment or settlement. Front pay covers future lost earnings when reinstatement isn’t realistic, which is most cases. Out-of-pocket costs like job search expenses and medical bills caused by the employer’s conduct are also recoverable.
Non-economic damages compensate for emotional distress, anxiety, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life. These awards vary widely based on severity and duration.
Punitive damages are available only when the employer’s conduct is especially egregious. Civil Code section 3294 requires clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud, and for a corporate employer, that conduct must be attributable to an officer, director, or managing agent rather than a low-level supervisor acting alone.16California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 3294 – Exemplary Damages
Attorney’s fees. Under FEHA, a prevailing plaintiff can recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, including expert witness fees. The rule isn’t symmetrical: a prevailing defendant can only recover fees if the court finds the lawsuit was frivolous or groundless when filed.7California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12965 This one-way fee-shifting is what makes contingency representation possible for employees with legitimate claims.
How Your Recovery Gets Taxed
Damages for personal physical injuries or physical sickness are excluded from gross income under federal tax law.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness Most employment claims don’t involve physical injury, so back pay, front pay, and emotional distress damages in a discrimination or wrongful termination case are generally taxable as ordinary income. The IRS treats emotional distress by itself as not a physical injury or sickness.
There is a narrow exception: if you paid for medical care to treat emotional distress, you can exclude the portion of your damages that reimburses those costs.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness Punitive damages are always taxable regardless of the claim type. How a settlement is allocated between damage categories can meaningfully change your after-tax recovery, so negotiate the allocation with your attorney and a tax professional before signing.