Orange County employment attorneys

It depends on the claim, and the clocks run at different speeds. Discrimination, harassment and retaliation under FEHA generally require a complaint with the Civil Rights Department within three years of the last violation, then a lawsuit within one year of your right-to-sue notice. Federal claims filed through the EEOC carry a 300-day deadline in California. Unpaid wages, overtime and missed breaks generally allow three years; written contract claims, four. Exceptions can shorten any of these. If the termination was recent, make the call this week rather than next month.

Final wages are due immediately at the time of termination when you are fired or laid off. If you quit with at least 72 hours' notice, they are due on your last day; without notice, within 72 hours. When an employer willfully misses that deadline, Labor Code section 203 adds a waiting-time penalty of one day's wages for every day late, capped at 30 days. Accrued unused vacation and earned commissions count as wages for this purpose. Bring your final pay stub, your offer letter, and any messages about your last day.

Overtime here is counted by the day, not only by the week. Non-exempt employees earn one and a half times their regular rate past eight hours in a workday and past 40 in a workweek, and double time past 12 hours in a day. On the seventh consecutive day of a workweek, the first eight hours are time and a half and everything after that is double time. A salary by itself does not make you exempt — an exempt employee must also meet a minimum salary threshold and actually perform exempt duties.

Meal and rest periods are not courtesies an employer can withdraw. You are owed an uninterrupted, unpaid 30-minute meal period before the end of your fifth hour of work, a second one when the day runs past ten hours, and a paid ten-minute rest break for every four hours worked or major fraction of four. When those are not provided, Labor Code section 226.7 requires one additional hour of pay at your regular rate, per day, per category. Those premiums are wages. The window is generally three years — write down dates while you still remember them.

Reporting suspected legal violations is protected activity. Labor Code section 1102.5 covers employees who disclose information they reasonably believe shows a violation of law — to a government agency, to a supervisor, or to anyone with authority to correct it — and protection applies even if the belief turns out to be mistaken. A prevailing employee may recover lost pay, a civil penalty payable to the employee, and attorney's fees. Since January 2024, an adverse action within 90 days of protected activity creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation.

Nearly all employee non-competes are void under Business and Professions Code section 16600, and the 2024 amendments went further: such an agreement is unenforceable in California even if it was signed in another state for work performed there. Employers were required to send individualized written notice to affected current and former employees by February 14, 2024. An employee can sue over an attempt to enforce one and seek injunctive relief, actual damages and attorney's fees. Narrow exceptions survive around the sale of a business. Trade secret duties are separate and still apply.

Cost should not be the thing that keeps you from getting an answer. Depending on the claim and the strength of the evidence, we handle employment matters on contingency or hourly, and we tell you which one fits after looking at the facts rather than before. Several California statutes shift attorney's fees to the employer when the employee prevails, which changes the math on a case that looks small on paper. The first 15 minutes of consultation are free; time beyond that is billed in 15-minute increments. We work in English and Farsi.