Do I have to file with a government agency before I can sue for discrimination in Los Angeles?

Yes. For a FEHA claim you generally must first file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and obtain a right-to-sue notice before filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court. An attorney can often request that notice for you and file the case promptly.

My employer only has about eight workers. Am I still protected?

Most likely yes. California's FEHA covers employers with five or more employees, which is broader than the federal 15-employee threshold under Title VII. Many small Los Angeles businesses are therefore covered by state discrimination law.

How can I prove discrimination if no one admitted the real reason?

Discrimination is usually proven circumstantially. Evidence can include comparators treated more favorably, shifting or inconsistent reasons for the decision, suspicious timing after you reported something or requested accommodation, and a documented pattern of exclusion. Direct admissions are rare and not required.

What is the deadline to act on a workplace discrimination claim?

Deadlines are strict and fact-specific. You generally have a limited window to file a CRD complaint, and after receiving a right-to-sue notice you typically have one year to file suit. Because the clock can start early, it is best to consult a lawyer quickly rather than wait.

What does it cost to hire an employment discrimination lawyer?

Employee-side discrimination cases are commonly handled on a contingency fee, meaning you pay no attorney fee unless there is a recovery. Initial consultations are typically free, so you can learn where you stand before committing.

Los Angeles Discrimination Lawyer

If you believe you were treated differently at work in Los Angeles because of your race, sex, pregnancy, disability, age, religion, national origin, or another protected trait, California law may give you stronger rights than most employees realize. The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) protects workers at companies with as few as five employees and reaches firings, demotions, pay cuts, denied promotions, and a refusal to accommodate. Attorney Mihran M. Ghazaryan represents employees across LA on a contingency basis, and the office serves clients in English and Armenian. Most discrimination cases begin with a complaint to the California Civil Rights Department and a right-to-sue notice before any lawsuit is filed.

Workplace Discrimination matters in Los Angeles

Workplace Discrimination in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has one of the most varied labor markets in the country, spanning entertainment and media in Hollywood, aerospace and logistics near the ports and LAX, healthcare systems, garment and warehouse work downtown, and a vast hospitality and retail sector. That diversity means discrimination shows up in many forms: a pregnant warehouse associate denied light duty, an older studio employee passed over for a younger hire, a nurse written up after disclosing a disability, or a bilingual call-center worker mocked for an accent and then terminated.

Under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), it is unlawful for an employer to take an adverse action against you because of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, age (40 and over), disability, medical condition, religion, sexual orientation, and other protected categories. FEHA applies to employers with five or more employees, which is far broader than federal Title VII's fifteen-employee floor and brings many smaller LA businesses within reach.

Disability and Pregnancy Accommodation

A large share of discrimination claims involve a failure to accommodate. If you have a disability or a pregnancy-related condition, your employer must engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process to explore reasonable accommodations such as modified duties, a leave of absence, schedule changes, or equipment. Religious accommodations follow a similar path. When an employer skips that conversation, denies a reasonable request without exploring alternatives, or punishes you for asking, FEHA may have been violated even if you were never formally fired.

Filing in Los Angeles County

Discrimination is rarely admitted outright. It is usually proven through circumstantial evidence: comparators who were treated better, shifting or inconsistent explanations for the decision, suspicious timing after a protected disclosure, or a pattern of exclusion. Before suing, you generally must file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and obtain a right-to-sue notice. FEHA lawsuits in this area are typically litigated in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, with the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown handling many civil employment matters.

What a Claim Can Recover

A prevailing employee under FEHA may seek remedies that can include lost past and future wages and benefits, compensation for emotional distress, and, in appropriate cases, reinstatement and orders requiring the employer to change its practices. Keeping pay records, performance reviews, emails, text messages, and a dated timeline of events strengthens any claim and lets an attorney assess it early and accurately.

How Mihran M. Ghazaryan helps with workplace discrimination

Discrimination is rarely admitted, so Mihran M. Ghazaryan builds it from the evidence around it — how comparable employees were treated, shifting explanations, the accommodation requests that went unanswered, and the timing. He handles the FEHA complaint and right-to-sue process, and presses the employer on the interactive-process and reasonable-accommodation duties California imposes. You work directly with the attorney assembling that record.

Types of discrimination cases we handle

Adverse-action discrimination

Termination, demotion, denied promotion, or pay disparity tied to a protected characteristic rather than performance.

Pregnancy and disability discrimination

Failure to accommodate, or punishment for needing leave or a reasonable accommodation under FEHA and the PDLL.

Failure to accommodate / interactive process

California requires employers to engage in a good-faith interactive process and provide reasonable accommodation for disability, pregnancy, and religion.

What you may be able to recover

Every discrimination case case is different, but California law lets wronged employees pursue several categories of relief. We document each one — pay records, performance reviews, communications — so nothing is left on the table.

Back pay and lost benefits

Wages, commissions, and benefits you lost from the date of the wrongful act — a core remedy in wrongful-termination and discrimination claims.

Front pay

Future earnings you're likely to lose when reinstatement isn't realistic, measured until you can reasonably be expected to find comparable work.

Emotional distress

Compensation for the anxiety, humiliation, and harm to wellbeing that unlawful treatment at work can cause.

Penalties and punitive damages

Statutory penalties for wage violations, and — where an employer acted with malice or oppression — punitive damages meant to deter the conduct.

Attorney's fees and costs

Many California employment statutes shift the employee's reasonable attorney's fees and costs onto an employer that broke the law.

Reinstatement and policy change

Where it fits the case, getting your job back or forcing the employer to correct the practice that harmed you.

How we work

Free, confidential consultation

We listen first and tell you plainly whether you appear to have a claim. The conversation is confidential and there's no fee to have it — and we're careful if you're still employed.

Preserve the record

Offer letters, handbooks, performance reviews, emails and texts, pay stubs, and a dated timeline. The contemporaneous record is what wins an employment case, so we lock it down early.

Administrative exhaustion and the demand

FEHA claims generally require a complaint with the Civil Rights Department and a right-to-sue notice first. We handle that step, then present a documented demand to the employer.

Litigation when necessary

Many matters resolve through negotiation or mediation. When an employer won't be reasonable, we file and prepare the case fully — which is usually what moves the number.

What to do right away

Keep a dated log of incidents — what happened, who was present, what was said.

Save performance reviews and any written comparisons to other employees.

Put accommodation requests in writing and keep copies.

Report through your employer's stated process where it's safe to do so.

Preserve the record to a personal account and talk to a lawyer about the CRD complaint.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.