California law guarantees a workplace free of sexual harassment, and it holds employers responsible when they fail to prevent or stop it. Harassment takes two forms: quid pro quo (a manager conditioning a job benefit on sexual conduct) and a hostile work environment (severe or pervasive conduct that alters the conditions of your job). It can come from supervisors, coworkers, or even non-employees like clients. We handle these matters with discretion and build the record — the reports, the witnesses, the timeline — that an employer can't explain away.
Our attorney
How Mihran M. Ghazaryan helps with sexual harassment
Mihran M. Ghazaryan handles these matters with discretion and care. He preserves the messages, reports, and witness accounts before they disappear, evaluates both the harassment and any retaliation that followed, and holds the employer to its duty to prevent and stop it. He explains your options plainly — including what reporting and not-yet-reporting mean for your claim — and pursues the full range of relief the law provides.
What we handle
Quid pro quo harassment
A supervisor tying a raise, promotion, schedule, or continued employment to sexual demands.
Hostile work environment
Severe or pervasive unwelcome conduct — comments, advances, messages, touching — that a reasonable person would find abusive.
Retaliation for reporting
Punishment after you complained about harassment is itself unlawful, and the timing is often strong evidence.
Remedies
What you may be able to recover
Every sexual harassment 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
- Save harassing messages, emails, and texts — and screenshot anything that might be deleted.
- Keep a dated log of incidents and who witnessed them.
- Report through your employer's process where safe; their response (or lack of one) matters.
- Preserve everything to a personal account.
- Talk to a lawyer about your options before signing anything or resigning.
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.
Deadlines that matter
Most California FEHA claims require a complaint with the Civil Rights Department first — generally within three years of the discrimination, harassment, or retaliation (Gov. Code §12960). You then have one year from the right-to-sue notice to file in court.
Other employment deadlines run on their own clocks — unpaid-wage claims generally reach back three years (up to four under the UCL), and a wrongful-termination-in-violation-of-public- policy claim runs two years. Federal EEOC charges can be far shorter.
Exceptions exist in both directions — discovery rules, minors, continuing violations, out-of-state defendants — so don't assume your deadline has passed or that you have time to spare. Call (818) 539-7969 and we'll tell you exactly where you stand.