Where would my San Diego discrimination case be filed?

FEHA discrimination lawsuits for San Diego employees are filed in the San Diego County Superior Court. Before filing, you generally must obtain a right-to-sue notice from the California Civil Rights Department.

Do I have to go through a state agency before suing?

Yes. A FEHA claim generally requires first filing a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and obtaining a right-to-sue notice before a lawsuit can be filed. An attorney can often request that notice and file the case for you.

My startup or clinic is small. Does discrimination law apply?

Usually yes. California's FEHA covers employers with five or more employees, broader than the federal Title VII threshold of fifteen. Many smaller San Diego startups, labs, and clinics are subject to state discrimination law.

How can discrimination be proven if the employer cites 'restructuring'?

Through circumstantial evidence. A neutral label like 'restructuring' can be tested against comparators who were retained, shifting or inconsistent explanations, suspicious timing after a complaint or accommodation request, and a pattern of exclusion. A direct admission is not required.

What are the deadlines and what does it cost?

Deadlines are strict and fact-specific; you generally have a limited window to file with the CRD and typically one year after a right-to-sue notice to file suit, so act promptly. Cases are usually handled on contingency, meaning no attorney fee unless there is a recovery, with free consultations.

San Diego Discrimination Lawyer

San Diego employees who were treated unfairly at work because of a protected characteristic have powerful rights under California law. The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) bars discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, pregnancy, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation, and more, and it covers employers with five or more employees, far below the federal threshold. Attorney Mihran M. Ghazaryan represents San Diego workers on a contingency basis, with service in English and Armenian. From biotech and defense to tourism and healthcare, discrimination can take many forms. Most 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 San Diego

Workplace Discrimination in San Diego

San Diego's economy is anchored by biotech and life sciences, defense and military-adjacent contractors, a large healthcare and research sector, tourism and hospitality, craft brewing and manufacturing, and a growing tech scene. In each of these settings discrimination can appear: a lab technician passed over for a younger comparator, a hotel worker denied pregnancy-related light duty, a contractor employee written up after disclosing a disability, or a long-tenured engineer eased out under vague "restructuring."

California's FEHA prohibits adverse employment actions, including termination, demotion, pay cuts, and denial of advancement, taken because of a protected trait such as race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, age (40 and over), disability, medical condition, religion, or sexual orientation. FEHA applies to employers with five or more employees, a much lower bar than the fifteen-employee minimum under federal Title VII, so many smaller San Diego companies, startups, and clinics are covered. California's protections are generally broader than federal law, which can matter a great deal to how a claim is built.

Disability and Pregnancy Accommodation

A significant share of San Diego claims involve a failure to accommodate. If you have a disability, a medical condition, or a pregnancy-related limitation, your employer must engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process to consider reasonable accommodations such as modified duties, leave, schedule changes, or assistive equipment. Religious accommodation follows a similar path. Refusing to discuss reasonable options, disregarding medical documentation, or retaliating against you for asking can each violate FEHA, even where there was never a formal termination.

Proving Discrimination and Where to File

Because employers rarely state a discriminatory motive, these cases turn on circumstantial evidence: comparators outside your protected group who fared better, shifting or inconsistent reasons for the decision, suspicious timing after a complaint or accommodation request, and a pattern of exclusion. Before filing suit you generally must obtain a right-to-sue notice from the California Civil Rights Department. San Diego matters are filed in the San Diego County Superior Court.

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 emails, performance reviews, pay records, text messages, and a written, dated timeline of events makes any claim substantially stronger and lets an attorney assess it early.

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.