Choosing an Attorney for Workplace Discrimination in California

Look for three things: a firm that handles employment law and nothing else, years of doing it, and results you can check. Then confirm the license on the State Bar's search tool and get the fee agreement in writing. California gives you three years to file a state agency complaint, so there is room to choose carefully. Other clocks are shorter, and a government employer starts more of them, so do not treat three years as the deadline that matters.

At a glance

• California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) covers employers with five or more employees for discrimination, and employers with as few as one person for harassment. The protected characteristics are set out in the types of workplace discrimination guide.
• Before a discrimination lawsuit, you generally need a right to sue notice: from the Civil Rights Department (CRD) (formerly DFEH) for a state FEHA claim, or from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for a federal one. You can ask for the CRD notice immediately instead of waiting for an investigation, but asking for it ends the CRD investigation, and CRD will not then file your complaint with the EEOC for you.
• You have three years to file the CRD complaint, then one year from the right to sue notice to file in court. The federal deadline is much shorter: 300 days to file with the EEOC.
• There is no California Bar certification in employment law. Any lawyer describing themselves as a state certified employment law specialist is describing something that does not exist.
• Most employee side firms work on contingency. California law requires that agreement to be in writing, to state the rate, and to say in the document that the rate is negotiable.
• FEHA sets no statutory cap on emotional distress or punitive damages. Federal law does, on a sliding scale tied to the employer's headcount.

What people assume, and what California law says

Seven questions to ask before you hire a discrimination attorney

Ask these in the first call. The answers separate a firm that litigates discrimination cases from a firm that lists it on a menu.

1. Do you handle employment law exclusively, or alongside other practice areas? Employment law is its own body of statute, deadline and procedure. A firm splitting attention across personal injury, family law and employment is not living in it daily.
2. Do you represent employees only, or employers as well? A firm that defends employers most of the year brings a different instinct to your case. Super Lawyers lists an "Employment Law - Employee" practice area, which is one public place you can check.
3. Walk me through the CRD process. A lawyer who genuinely runs these cases can explain the complaint, the right to sue notice and the one year court deadline without hesitating. A vague or rehearsed answer tells you something.
4. What is your trial record against large employers? Settlement volume is not the same as a willingness to try a case. Employers price that difference into what they offer.
5. How do you get paid, and what happens to costs if we lose? Fees and costs are separate things. Ask for both answers, and ask for them in writing.
6. What is my deadline, counted from what date? A firm that cannot name your specific deadline in the first conversation has not listened to your facts.
7. Who will actually handle my case? The lawyer you meet is not always the lawyer who does the work.

What does an attorney for discrimination at work actually do?

Three jobs, in order.

The first is the paperwork nobody sees. Before a California discrimination case can reach court, a complaint generally has to go to the Civil Rights Department, or to the EEOC if the claim is a federal one. Your lawyer frames that complaint, because the wording sets the boundaries of everything that follows. What you have to prove inside it is covered separately in what you must show to sue for discrimination in California. A claim left out at this stage can be difficult to add later.

The second is building the record. Discrimination cases rarely turn on one admission. They turn on dates, documents, and the way an employer's stated reason shifts over time. Someone has to gather that, and gather it before your access to work email disappears.

The third is negotiation, then litigation if negotiation fails. Most cases resolve. The ones that do not go to trial, and the firms that have actually tried cases negotiate from a different position than the firms that have not. This firm's own discrimination practice is described on the Los Angeles discrimination lawyer page.

Which employers does California's discrimination law actually cover?

Smaller ones than most people expect, and the two thresholds are different. Government Code section 12926(d) defines a FEHA employer as anyone "regularly employing five or more persons", which is the threshold for discrimination generally. Harassment runs on its own, much lower rule: section 12940(j)(4)(A) sets it at "one or more persons", and the CRD states the same thing plainly, that harassment is prohibited in all workplaces, even those with only one employee or independent contractor.

So a five-person company is inside the discrimination rules, and a two-person company is still inside the harassment rules. "We are too small for that to apply" is worth checking rather than accepting.

What should you look for in a workplace discrimination lawyer?

Jonathan Delshad's answer, given on video, is three things: the firm does employment law exclusively, it has real years behind it, and it has results you can check, including cases taken to trial against large employers.

Two of those you can verify yourself in about ten minutes.

Check the license. The State Bar of California runs a public attorney search. Type in a name or a bar number and you get license status, plus a route into the disciplinary and administrative status records. This takes a minute and almost nobody does it.

Check the side they work. Super Lawyers lists employee-side employment attorneys under its own "Employment Law - Employee" practice area, and describes its selection as peer nomination plus independent research, with the top five percent of attorneys in the state named to the Super Lawyers list and the top 2.5 percent to Rising Stars. A firm's own site should also say plainly which side it acts for. If it does not, ask.

There is one credential you should not go looking for. The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization certifies specialists in 12 areas: admiralty and maritime, appellate, bankruptcy, criminal, estate planning, family, franchise and distribution, immigration, legal malpractice, privacy (from 2027), taxation, and workers' compensation. Outside organizations are accredited to certify 11 more narrow areas. Labor and employment law appears on neither list. If a firm advertises a California certified employment law specialist, the certification does not exist.

How do employee side discrimination lawyers get paid in California?

Almost all of them work on contingency, meaning no fee unless they recover something for you. What matters more than the headline percentage is what the paperwork has to contain.

Business and Professions Code section 6147 requires a contingency fee agreement to be in writing, with a signed copy handed to you. It must state the rate. It must explain how costs and disbursements affect both the fee and what you take home. It must say whether you could owe anything for related work outside the agreement. And it must include a plain statement that the fee is not set by law and is negotiable between you and the attorney.

If the agreement misses any of that, section 6147(b) makes it voidable at your option, and the attorney is then limited to a reasonable fee rather than the rate the document named.

So the useful question is not "what is the standard percentage". There is no standard percentage. Employment contingency fees are uncapped and individually negotiated, which is exactly why the statute forces the negotiability line into the document. The useful question is: what is your rate, what happens to costs if we lose, and can I see it in writing before I commit?

One more piece of the money picture works in your favor. Under Government Code section 12965, a court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs, including expert witness fees, to the prevailing party. But a prevailing employer cannot recover from you unless the court finds the action was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless when brought, or that you kept litigating after it clearly became so. The rule is deliberately asymmetric. It exists so that a good faith claim is not too dangerous to bring.

How long do you have to act?

This is the part where waiting costs the most, and where the state and federal clocks are wildly different lengths.

The three year state window is newer than most people realize. Assembly Bill 9, chaptered in October 2019, extended it from one year, taking effect in January 2020. Anyone relying on older advice may still believe the deadline is one year.

Do not assume one filing covers both. Where the CRD investigates a complaint, its worksharing agreement with the EEOC means a complaint alleging facts the EEOC also enforces is filed with both. But if you take the immediate right to sue route, CRD states plainly that it will not file your complaint with the EEOC, and that a federal right to sue notice has to be obtained from the EEOC separately. That is the trap in the fast route: the state clock is protected and the 300 day federal one may quietly run out. Ask your lawyer which agencies you are actually on file with.

Two traps worth naming.

If your employer is a government body, the FEHA claim itself is exempt from the Government Claims Act presentation rule. That was settled in Snipes v. City of Bakersfield in 1983. Claims that are not FEHA claims are a separate question, and the Government Claims Act sets its own presentation deadlines under Government Code section 911.2: six months for a claim for death or injury to person or personal property, one year for other causes of action. A public employer is therefore a reason to take advice early rather than late, because more than one clock may be running.

And from January 2026, Senate Bill 477 added new tolling. If you appeal the CRD's closure of your complaint, the time to file your civil action is tolled until a year after the CRD says in writing that it remains closed following that appeal.

None of this replaces getting your own deadline confirmed against your own dates.

Does it matter where the lawyer's office is?

Less than people think. California's protections attach to where you worked, not to the nearest office to your house. Most California employment attorneys run cases across the state by phone and video, so the search is better aimed at fit than at geography.

The rule has a limit that is worth knowing, and a 2026 decision showed where it bites.

Courts look at where the conduct happened rather than where the employer is incorporated. In Campbell v. Arco Marine in 1996 the court held that FEHA was not intended to apply to non-residents where the conduct took place outside California, even though the employer was based here. A California head office did not carry the claim into California law.

In July 2026 the Court of Appeal reached the same result for two specific statutes in Saberin v. Alation. An employee working remotely from Utah, terminated by a decision made in Illinois, could not reach Government Code section 12952 or Labor Code section 432.7, despite the employer's principal office sitting in California. A California headquarters, a California choice of law clause and input from a California based HR employee were together not enough. The court was explicit that this calls for statute-specific analysis, so it is not a general rule that remote workers fall outside every California protection.

The practical reading: if your work and the treatment you are complaining about happened substantially in California, the protections generally apply wherever the company's head office is. If you worked mostly from another state and the decision was made elsewhere too, that is a question to raise in the first call rather than assume.

Do you have to be fired before you call?

No. Discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims can be pursued while you are still employed, and sometimes the record is easier to build from inside.

Government Code section 12940(h) makes it separately unlawful to punish someone for opposing practices forbidden by the Act, or for filing a complaint, testifying or assisting in a proceeding. That protection does not depend on the underlying discrimination claim being proven. It is why a retaliation claim sometimes ends up the stronger half of a case: the employer's response to the complaint is more visible, and better documented, than the original conduct.

Ready to talk it through? Send what happened in a sentence or two. If there is something to act on, we will say what it is and what to do next. If there is not, we will say that too. What follows a first call, from intake to resolution, is mapped out in what happens after you contact an employment lawyer.

What if you have already been handed a severance agreement?

Then read the release clause before anything else.

Civil Code section 1542 says a general release does not cover claims the releasing party does not know about at the time of signing. Which is precisely why employers write in an express waiver of section 1542, usually alongside a list of statutes by name. That wording is what converts a routine looking exit document into a full surrender of a discrimination claim you have not yet identified.

An employer offering severance after a layoff is not doing anything improper by asking for a release. The problem is signing one without knowing what it covers. What a review costs, and what the lawyer reads it for, is set out in what a severance agreement review costs.

What should you bring to a first consultation?

Whatever explains the situation. Termination paperwork, pay records, emails, text messages, your own performance reviews. There is a fuller method in documenting workplace evidence. Save copies of what is genuinely yours to keep before your access to work systems is switched off, not after.

Then write a timeline. Dates of when things started, what happened in what order, and when it ended. A short note written the same day something happened carries more weight later than a polished account written months afterwards.

One caution. California is an all party consent state for confidential conversations. Penal Code section 632 makes it a criminal offense to record a confidential communication without everyone's consent, and section 632(d) makes the recording inadmissible in court or in an administrative proceeding. Recording openly is treated differently, because section 632(b) excludes a person known by all parties to be recording, but a secretly recorded meeting is not the evidence people imagine it is. Stick to written communications, your own files and dated notes, and ask before you rely on a recording.

Nothing needs to be organized before you walk in. Sorting out what matters is the attorney's job.

What can a discrimination claim actually recover?

The CRD lists the available remedies as back pay, front pay, hiring or reinstatement, promotion, out of pocket expenses, policy changes, training, reasonable accommodation, damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney's fees and costs.

Where state and federal law separate sharply is the ceiling.

Two limits sit outside that table. Punitive damages are not available against a public entity at all: Government Code section 818 says a public entity is not liable for damages under Civil Code section 3294 or any other damages imposed to punish a defendant. And punitive damages against a private employer are not routine, because section 3294 requires clear and convincing evidence of oppression, fraud or malice.

The federal figures come from 42 U.S.C. section 1981a(b)(3) and are repeated on the EEOC's own remedies page. Back pay sits outside the cap. FEHA carries no equivalent limit on emotional distress or punitive damages, which is one reason California claims are often brought under state law rather than federal law.

How long any of it takes is harder to answer honestly. The CRD's 2024 annual report says it will close an investigation and issue a right to sue once the investigation is at least 150 days old, and that it can issue one earlier on request. The statute separately requires the notice within one year of the complaint. Beyond that stage there is no reliable published average for a full case, because the answer depends entirely on whether it settles, goes to arbitration, or reaches trial. Treat any firm quoting you a confident timeline with mild suspicion.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an employment lawyer and a discrimination lawyer?

Discrimination is one part of employment law, alongside wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment, and wage and hour claims. Most California firms that handle discrimination handle all of them, because the same facts often support more than one claim. What matters is whether employment law is the whole practice or one line on a longer list.

Can I sue my employer for discrimination without going to the CRD first?

Not in a normal case. A state FEHA claim needs a right to sue notice from the Civil Rights Department first. A federal claim runs through the EEOC instead, and there are two exceptions worth knowing: an age discrimination lawsuit needs a charge on file but no right to sue notice, and an Equal Pay Act lawsuit needs neither. You can request the CRD notice immediately rather than waiting for an investigation, but requesting it means the CRD will not investigate the complaint even if you later decide not to sue.

How much does a workplace discrimination lawyer cost in California?

Most employee side firms work on contingency, so there is nothing to pay up front and the fee comes out of any recovery. The percentage is not fixed by law and is negotiable, and the written agreement is legally required to say so. Ask separately about litigation costs, which are treated differently from fees.

Is there a certified employment law specialist in California?

No. The State Bar certifies legal specialists in 12 areas and accredits outside bodies for 11 more. Neither list includes employment or labor law. The nearest is workers' compensation, which is a different practice area.

How do I check whether an attorney is in good standing?

Use the State Bar of California's attorney search. It takes a name or a bar number and returns license status, with access to disciplinary and administrative status changes.

Does California protect me if I worked remotely for a California company?

It depends on where the work and the decision actually happened, not on where the company is headquartered. If both were substantially in California, the protections generally apply. If you worked mostly from another state and the decision was made outside California too, a 2026 Court of Appeal decision found that a California head office alone was not enough.

What changed for California discrimination claims in 2026?

Senate Bill 477 added tolling of the civil action deadline while a CRD complaint closure is under appeal. Senate Bill 642 extended the Equal Pay Act filing window to three years with a six year lookback for back pay. Senate Bill 303 addressed bias training, and Senate Bill 464 expanded pay data reporting for large employers.

Should I record my manager to prove discrimination?

Not secretly. California requires the consent of everyone in a confidential conversation, and a recording made without it is both a criminal offense under Penal Code section 632 and inadmissible as evidence. Recording openly is a different act: section 632(b) carves out a person known by all parties to be recording. The narrow statutory exception for gathering evidence does not cover workplace discrimination or harassment. There is a fuller treatment in can I record my boss in California. Written communications, your own records and dated notes remain the safer route.

The Law Offices of Jonathan J. Delshad is a Los Angeles based employment law firm representing employees across California in wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wage and hour matters. Representing employees is the core of the firm's practice. Mr. Delshad serves as Editor-in-Chief of the California Wrongful Termination Law Review and trained at Latham & Watkins. Recognition includes Super Lawyers (2022 to 2027), Best Lawyers (since 2017), and an Avvo 10.0 "Superb" rating. Reviewed for California employment law accuracy. Last updated: September 9, 2026.

Attorney advertising. This article is educational only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship, which exists only under a signed engagement agreement. Every case is different, and outcomes depend on the specific facts. Deadlines can run early, so consult a lawyer promptly about your situation.