California Wrongful Termination Lawyer for Employees

If you were fired, laid off, or pushed out of your job in California and the reason you were given doesn't match what actually happened, this page is for you. Pletcher Law, APC, in Westlake Village, represents employees throughout Ventura County, Los Angeles County, and the rest of California, in the trial court and on appeal. I do not represent employers, and I never have.

Does this sound like your situation?

You complained — about harassment, safety, unpaid wages, discrimination, or something illegal — and were fired within weeks.
You were let go right after medical leave, pregnancy leave, family leave, or a request for a disability accommodation.
Years of good reviews, then a sudden “performance” problem, a performance improvement plan, and the exit.
You raised a compliance, accounting, or financial-reporting concern and were shown the door.
You refused to do something you believed was illegal — falsify a record, skip a safety step, misclassify workers — and lost your job.
Your “layoff” eliminated exactly one position: yours.
Conditions got so bad — hours slashed, humiliation, impossible demands — that you had no real choice but to quit.
You work for a city, a county, a school district, or another public agency and were terminated after reporting a problem.

If one of these is you, the next step is a free 15-minute call. I'll tell you whether you have a case and what it would take to pursue it.

Book a free 15-minute case review or call/text (805) 630-3245

Free. Confidential. No attorney's fee unless we win. Your employer does not find out you called.

“At-will” is true. It is also not the whole story.

California is an at-will state: unless you have a contract saying otherwise, your employer can end your job for any reason or no reason, and does not have to explain (Lab. Code § 2922). Most people are told this and stop there. Employers count on it.

What at-will does not allow is firing you for an unlawful reason. California has more of those than any other state, and they are written into statute. The employer's stated reason — restructuring, performance, attitude, “not a fit” — is the start of the case, not the end of it. The question is whether that reason is the real one, and the evidence is usually timing, comparison, and paperwork.

The reasons an employer cannot fire you in California

Retaliation for complaining. If you reported harassment or discrimination — to a supervisor, HR, or the state — and were fired, that is retaliation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code § 12940(h)). The retaliation claim is often stronger than the underlying complaint, because the sequence tells the story: complaint, then write-up, then termination.

Whistleblower retaliation. If you disclosed what you reasonably believed was a violation of law — to a government agency, to law enforcement, or to anyone at work with authority over you — Labor Code section 1102.5 protects you, whether or not reporting was part of your job. You only have to show your report was a contributing factor in the firing; the employer then has to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that it would have fired you anyway (§ 1102.6; Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc. (2022) 12 Cal.5th 703). Safety complaints are separately protected (§ 6310), and so are wage complaints and Labor Commissioner claims (§ 98.6). If the concern you raised was financial — accounting, securities, fraud on investors — federal whistleblower law may add a claim, but with a much shorter deadline (180 days to OSHA under Sarbanes-Oxley), so the first call matters.

Discrimination. FEHA bars termination because of disability, pregnancy, age (40 and over), race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, medical condition, and more, at employers with five or more employees (§ 12940(a)). It also bars firing you instead of accommodating a disability or engaging in the interactive process (§ 12940(m), (n)).

Taking leave you were entitled to. Firing you for taking — or asking for — Pregnancy Disability Leave, California Family Rights Act leave, paid sick leave, jury duty, time to appear in court as a victim or witness, or time for a child's school activities is unlawful (Gov. Code §§ 12945, 12945.2; Lab. Code §§ 246.5, 230, 230.8). “Your position was eliminated while you were out” is the pattern; reinstatement is the rule.

Refusing to break the law. If you were fired for refusing to do something illegal, for exercising a legal right, or for reporting a violation — a wrongful termination in violation of public policy claim, named for Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167 — California recognizes a direct claim against private employers. The policy has to be a fundamental one grounded in a statute or the Constitution, not a personal disagreement with management. This claim is not available against public employers; see below.

Discussing your pay, your politics, or your off-duty life. Employers cannot fire you for talking about your wages (Lab. Code § 232), for your political activities (§§ 1101–1102), or for lawful conduct on your own time (§ 96(k), § 98.6).

Breaking a promise. If you had a written contract, or a clear pattern of promises and practice that amounted to one — “you'll always have a job here as long as you perform” — an implied-contract claim may exist (Foley v. Interactive Data Corp. (1988) 47 Cal.3d 654; Guz v. Bechtel National, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 317). These are harder cases, and handbooks that say “at-will” cut against them, but the facts decide.

Forced to quit? That can be a firing.

If your employer made conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person in your position would have had no choice but to resign — and the employer knew or intended it — the law treats your resignation as a termination. California calls it constructive discharge (Turner v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 1238). It requires more than a bad boss or an unpleasant month; it requires conditions that were extraordinary and egregious, and it is proven with the same evidence as a firing: what changed, when, and what you had reported just before it did.

The record matters

Most lawyer websites say “aggressive” and “experienced.” These are court records with my name in them. In Romero v. County of Kern (2025) 116 Cal.App.5th 1189, I briefed and argued the published decision holding that a fired Kern County fire captain did not have to take his whistleblower claim through the county's civil-service process before suing — a question that comes up for every public employee in the state. The rest of the record — Velarde, Okonowsky, Palumbo, the Ninth Circuit ministerial-exception appeals — is on the Employment Law page and the Case Results page. You can read every one of them on the court's own website.

If your employer is a county, a city, or a school district

Public employees have the same protections and three rules that are different. Six months: most claims against a public entity for money damages require a written government claim within six months of the termination (Gov. Code §§ 911.2, 945.4), including Labor Code whistleblower claims. No public-policy claim: the Tameny claim does not exist against public entities (Miklosy v. Regents of University of California (2008) 44 Cal.4th 876); your case is built on the statutes. The civil-service appeal: sometimes required, sometimes not (Romero), and losing one can bind you unless you overturn it by writ (Johnson v. City of Loma Linda (2000) 24 Cal.4th 61). I wrote about all three here: Can I Sue My County Employer for Retaliation in California?

Deadlines

FEHA claims (discrimination, harassment, retaliation, leave): three years from the termination to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, then one year after the right-to-sue notice to file in court (Gov. Code §§ 12960(e), 12965(c)).
Wrongful termination in violation of public policy: two years (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1).
Labor Code § 1102.5 whistleblower claims: generally three years; no agency complaint required first (Lab. Code § 244).
Public employers: six months to present a government claim for Labor Code and tort claims. FEHA claims are the exception and follow the FEHA deadlines.
Federal whistleblower (SOX): 180 days to OSHA.

Three years sounds like a long time. Witnesses leave, phones get replaced, and the company's version hardens every month. Call while it is fresh.

What to do first

Don't sign anything on the spot. A severance agreement, a release, an “acknowledgment,” a resignation letter. You can take it home. California requires an employer offering a separation agreement to tell you that you have the right to consult a lawyer and to give you at least five business days to do it (Gov. Code § 12964.5). If you're 40 or older and the agreement waives age claims, federal law adds 21 days to consider it and 7 to revoke after signing. See: Severance Review.
Get your file. Ask in writing for your personnel file (due within 30 days — Lab. Code § 1198.5), your payroll records (21 days — § 226), and a copy of everything you signed (§ 432). The termination paperwork and your reviews are in there.
Get your final paycheck — all of it, immediately. If you were fired, every dollar owed, including unused vacation, is due the day you're let go (Lab. Code §§ 201, 227.3). If you quit with 72 hours' notice, it's due your last day; otherwise within 72 hours (§ 202). Late pay carries a penalty of a day's wages per day, up to 30 (§ 203).
Write the timeline. What you reported or requested, to whom, when — and every change that followed: schedule, duties, reviews, write-ups, the termination meeting. Save texts and emails somewhere your employer can't reach.
File for unemployment. It doesn't waive anything, and the employer's stated reason to the EDD is often the first time it commits to a story.
Don't sign a non-disparagement or no-rehire term without having it read. Some of what employers ask for in these agreements isn't enforceable in California.

How it works

Book the call or pick up the phone. Fifteen minutes, free, on your schedule. Nothing you tell me leaves this office.
I listen and give you a straight answer. Whether you have a case, which statutes fit, and what the deadlines are. If I'm not the right lawyer, I'll tell you who is.
If we go forward, you pay no attorney's fee unless we win. Wrongful termination cases are handled on contingency.

Questions people ask before they call

Do you represent employers? No. Pletcher Law, APC represents employees only.

I was at-will. Doesn't that mean they can fire me for anything? For any lawful reason, yes. Not for complaining, taking protected leave, refusing to break the law, or because of who you are. The stated reason is where the investigation starts.

They said it was a layoff. Can it still be wrongful? Yes. A layoff that reaches one person — the one who complained, or the one on leave — gets a hard look. Who was kept, who was let go, and whether the “eliminated” job still exists under another name are the evidence.

I never complained to HR. Do I still have a case? Often. Complaints to a supervisor count, and some claims — discrimination, leave retaliation, public policy — don't require a prior complaint at all.

Do I have to file with a state agency first? For FEHA claims, yes — a Civil Rights Department complaint and right-to-sue notice come before the lawsuit; it's a filing, not a hearing. For Labor Code § 1102.5 claims, no.

Can I get my job back? Reinstatement is a remedy under FEHA and most leave statutes. Most people don't want it; the law provides lost wages, emotional-distress damages, and attorney's fees instead, and punitive damages against private employers in egregious cases.

How much does this cost? The first call is free. If I take your case, it's on contingency — no attorney's fee unless we win.

Will my employer find out I called? No. The consultation is confidential and creates no record with your employer.

Where do you take cases? Based in Westlake Village. Ventura County, Santa Barbara County, and Los Angeles County primarily; anywhere in California for the right case.

Ready when you are