San Jose Employment Lawyer

Under FEHA, you have three years from the last unlawful act to file a charge with the California Civil Rights Department, Gov. Code §12960(e). For Title VII claims, the EEOC deadline is 300 days in California because the state has CRD as an equivalent enforcement agency. After a right-to-sue letter issues, you have one year (CRD) or 90 days (EEOC) to file suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court or the Northern District of California. Evidence ages, witnesses leave, and document retention policies destroy records on a schedule, so the practical deadline to act is usually well before the statutory cutoff.

Probably yes, on more than one ground. FEHA prohibits harassment based on national origin and ancestry under Gov. Code §12940(j). Title VII does the same at 42 U.S.C. §2000e-2. Conduct rises to a hostile work environment when it is severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment, the standard from Lyle v. Warner Bros. Television Prods. (2006) 38 Cal.4th 264. The strength of the case depends on frequency, severity, whether the manager is the harasser, and whether you complained to HR. Visa status itself is not a protected category, but discrimination based on country of origin or accent tied to country of origin is unlawful.

No. Lab. Code §1102.5 protects employees from retaliation after a report of suspected violations of state, federal, or local rules, including reports made internally to a supervisor. Wrongful termination in violation of public policy is a separate tort under Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167. Remedies include back pay, front pay, emotional distress damages, and attorney's fees. The statute of limitations is three years. In tech, the pattern often runs: engineer flags a security or compliance issue, manager responds with a negative review or PIP, termination follows within weeks. Temporal proximity supports a prima facie retaliation case.

FEHA Gov. Code §12940(m) and ADA Title I both require an employer to engage in an interactive process when an employee asks for an accommodation related to a disability or medical condition. The employer is not required to provide your preferred accommodation, but it is required to explore options in good faith and to provide a reasonable one if it exists. Refusal to engage in the process, automatic denials, and demands for excessive medical detail can each support a claim. Scotch v. Art Inst. of Cal. (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 986 outlines the interactive-process duty in California.

They can be. Unvested equity that you lost because of an unlawful termination is potentially recoverable as part of the back-pay and front-pay calculation. The recovery depends on the grant agreement, the vesting schedule, and the date of termination relative to vesting milestones. RSUs that would have vested during the back-pay period are typically included. Options are valued using accepted financial methods that account for strike price, term, and volatility. This is an area where a generalist civil firm often undercounts the recovery.

For FEHA claims, you generally must file an administrative charge with the California Civil Rights Department before suing in court. CRD will either investigate or, on request, issue an immediate right-to-sue letter. Once the letter issues, you have one year to file a civil action in superior court. Filing with CRD preserves the statute of limitations and, in some cases, leads to a mediation or investigation that resolves the matter without litigation. Most employment lawyers request an immediate right-to-sue rather than wait for CRD's investigation queue, because the agency is heavily backlogged.

FEHA covers employers with five or more employees for most claims, and zero for harassment, which is broader than Title VII's 15-employee threshold. California recognizes individual supervisor liability for harassment, while Title VII generally does not. Damages under FEHA are uncapped, while federal compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII are subject to statutory caps tied to employer size. Aguilar v. Avis Rent A Car (1999) 21 Cal.4th 121 sets out the employer-liability standard for hostile work environment claims under California law.

It depends on the data. ADEA protects workers 40 and older, and FEHA protects against age discrimination at Gov. Code §12940(a). In a reduction in force, courts look at the demographics of the group selected for layoff compared with the group retained, the criteria used for selection, and whether the criteria were applied consistently. Statistical evidence often matters. Some tech-industry RIFs use proxies (compensation tier, tenure, role level) that correlate with age and produce disparate-impact effects. The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act also imposes specific disclosure requirements where severance is offered in exchange for a release.

No. Gov. Code §12945 protects up to four months of pregnancy disability leave, and termination because of leave or pregnancy is unlawful under FEHA. CFRA at Gov. Code §12945.2 provides additional bonding leave for parents. Federal FMLA at 29 U.S.C. §2601 provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for serious health conditions, including pregnancy-related conditions. If you were terminated, demoted, or had your role materially changed during or after pregnancy leave, the timing alone often supports a prima facie claim of discrimination or retaliation.

Maybe. California uses the ABC test, codified at Lab. Code §2775, which presumes employment unless the hiring entity shows that (A) the worker is free from control, (B) the work is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and (C) the worker is engaged in an independently established trade. Several gig-economy categories were carved out by Proposition 22, but the carve-out is narrow. If you are misclassified, you may have claims for unpaid overtime, missed meal and rest breaks, expense reimbursement under Lab. Code §2802, and pay-stub penalties.

Anything documenting the conduct and your performance. Emails, text messages, Slack or Teams messages, performance reviews, written discipline, offer letters, severance proposals, and timecards. Forward copies to a personal email account where lawful and allowed by company policy. Do not take confidential documents that are not yours, including source code or proprietary technical information. Write down the timeline while it is fresh, including the names of witnesses, the dates of conversations, and the precise words used in the worst incidents.

The initial case review is free. Qualifying matters proceed on a contingency basis, where the firm's fee is a percentage of the recovery and there is no out-of-pocket cost to the employee unless the case recovers. FEHA at Gov. Code §12965(c) allows the prevailing employee to recover attorney's fees from the employer, which often offsets or covers the contingency fee. We explain the fee agreement in writing before any work begins.