Discrimination cases are not won by describing a hostile manager. They are won by naming a protected category, producing someone comparable who was treated better, and showing what the employer wrote down before it decided.
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Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (619) 612-9902The Fair Employment and Housing Act lists the grounds precisely. Government Code 12940(a) covers race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, reproductive health decisionmaking, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, and veteran or military status (Gov. Code 12940).
Once the category is named, the useful evidence becomes comparative. Who else violated the same rule and kept their job. Which employee got the schedule that was refused to you. When a supervisor learned about the diagnosis, the pregnancy, or the religious observance, and what changed in the following pay period.
Thresholds under this statute are low by national standards. California family and medical leave protections attach to any employer of five or more people, under Government Code 12945.2(b)(4)(A). Harassment prevention training obligations begin at five employees under 12950.1(a)(1), and the conviction history restrictions in 12952(a) use the same count. A twelve-person North Park practice or a small Hillcrest retailer is squarely inside the statute, which surprises both sides regularly.
Three separate provisions do three separate jobs. Section 12940(m)(1) makes it unlawful to fail to make reasonable accommodation for a known physical or mental disability, subject to an undue hardship defense defined in 12926(u). Section 12940(m)(2) bars retaliation against a person for requesting accommodation, "regardless of whether the request was granted." Section 12940(n) makes it unlawful to fail to engage in a "timely, good faith, interactive process" to determine effective accommodations.
Read those together and the practical rule is that silence is actionable. An employer that receives a doctor's note, never replies, and then terminates for attendance has a problem independent of whether the accommodation itself was owed. Keep the request, the note, and the dates of every meeting that followed.
Confusing the two statutes is a common and expensive error. State leave under 12945.2(a) requires more than 12 months of service, at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months, and provides up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period, at an employer with five or more employees. Federal leave requires an employer with 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks, a worksite with 50 employees within 75 miles, 1,250 hours, and 12 months of employment (U.S. Department of Labor).
Pregnancy adds a third layer. Employers of five or more must provide up to four months of pregnancy disability leave, which the agency calculates as 17 1/3 weeks of the employee's normal schedule, and state family leave for bonding is counted separately from it (CRD). So an employee who used four months of disability leave has not necessarily used any bonding leave at all, and a termination premised on the opposite assumption is worth examining closely.
Before most FEHA suits, the state requires an administrative filing, and the agency says an intake form must arrive within three years of the date you were last harmed (CRD complaint process). The verified complaint relates back to that intake under Government Code 12960(b). The agency generally has up to a year to investigate, and a right-to-sue notice then leaves one year to file in court under 12965(c)(1)(C).
Federal coverage runs on a 300-day charge window in this state, and the two agencies dual-file each other's charges under a work-sharing agreement (CRD employment). Dual filing is convenient and misleading in equal measure, because it does not lengthen the federal window or excuse a missed 90-day deadline after a federal notice (EEOC).
Request the personnel file in writing early. The employer owes production within 30 calendar days, or 35 by written agreement, a former employee may make one request a year, and $750 attaches to a refusal, with the right suspended once a related lawsuit is pending (Labor Code 1198.5). Add the handbook version in force at the time, the accommodation correspondence, schedules showing who covered which shift, and the names of anyone who heard the remark you remember.
Under Government Code 12965(c)(6) a court may award the prevailing party reasonable fees, costs and expert witness fees, and a prevailing employer may recover only where the action was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless when brought or continued. That one-sided structure is deliberate. It lets a worker earning the city wage floor pursue a claim against an employer with a standing defense budget.
Workplace Discrimination Lawyer in San Diego. Call (619) 612-9902 and a San Diego lawyer reviews the claim and the deadline that applies. Nothing is signed on that call.
Call (619) 612-9902San Diego County Superior Court's Hall of Justice at 330 West Broadway houses the Civil Independent Calendar courtrooms and Civil Business Office.
Why it matters: A CRD filing and a court case are different stages. When a civil employment dispute proceeds in local Superior Court, filings, discovery, service, and court-specific deadlines become part of the work.
Source: sdcourt.ca.gov
California Labor Code section 2922 provides that employment with no specified term may be terminated at the will of either party on notice to the other.
Why it matters: At-will is the starting rule, not the end of the analysis. A firing becomes a potential wrongful-termination claim when it was motivated by a reason the law prohibits, such as discrimination, retaliation, protected reporting, refusal to break the law, or an enforceable employment protection.
Source: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
California's Civil Rights Department says that, in general, an employment discrimination complaint must be filed within three years from the date an alleged discriminatory act occurred, and that a CRD complaint is required even if the person wishes to go directly to court.
Why it matters: The administrative filing is a real clock. An employee can request an immediate right-to-sue notice at the time of filing, but waiting to decide whether to sue can risk the CRD deadline.
Source: calcivilrights.ca.gov
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