California employers are not allowed to punish employees for asserting their rights. If you were fired, demoted, written up, excluded, threatened, or pushed out after reporting unlawful conduct or engaging in protected activity, you may have a strong retaliation claim under California law.
Retaliation is one of the most common forms of workplace misconduct. Employers often believe they can silence employees through fear, pressure, or punishment. They count on workers staying quiet. Our firm does not.
We represent employees across California who were retaliated against for speaking up, reporting wrongdoing, requesting protected leave, disclosing unlawful conduct, or refusing to participate in illegal activity. We act quickly to expose retaliation, preserve evidence, and hold employers accountable.
Unlawful retaliation occurs when an employer takes adverse action against an employee because the employee engaged in protected activity. Protected activity can include reporting misconduct, complaining about harassment or discrimination, requesting accommodations, taking protected leave, reporting wage violations, or participating in an investigation.
Employees are protected when they engage in legally protected conduct, including:
You do not have to prove the underlying violation before bringing a retaliation claim. In many cases, it is enough that you made a protected complaint or opposed conduct you reasonably believed was unlawful.
Our firm represents employees in retaliation cases involving:
Employers may try to hide retaliation behind claims of “performance issues,” “business decisions,” or “restructuring.” We know those tactics, and we know how to challenge them.
Many employers do not retaliate immediately in obvious ways. Instead, they create a paper trail. They begin documenting supposed performance issues. They exclude the employee from meetings. They reduce hours. They suddenly become critical. They isolate the employee and build toward termination.
This is how retaliation is often disguised.
Our firm knows how to identify the warning signs, connect the timeline, and expose the real reason behind the employer’s actions.
Retaliation often ends in termination. If you were fired after reporting misconduct, requesting leave, opposing discrimination, or asserting your legal rights, you may have claims for both retaliation and wrongful termination.
Timing matters in these cases. If the adverse action closely followed your complaint, request, or refusal to participate in unlawful conduct, that may be important evidence of retaliation.
The longer you wait, the more time your employer has to delete communications, shape witness accounts, revise records, and strengthen a false narrative. Retaliation cases are evidence-driven, and early action can be critical to preserving proof and protecting your claim.
If you believe your employer retaliated against you, now is the time to act.
If you were subjected to unlawful retaliation, you may be entitled to recover compensation for:
If you were sexually harassed or sexually assaulted in the workplace, do not wait. Let us evaluate your situation, explain your options, and help you take the next step.