California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) is broader than federal law: it protects employees from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, age (40+), disability, medical condition, religion, sexual orientation, and more — and it applies to employers with as few as five employees. Discrimination can be an obvious adverse action (firing, demotion, pay cut) or a pattern of being passed over, written up, or excluded. We document the comparators and the timeline that show the real reason.
Our attorney
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.
What 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.
Remedies
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
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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
- 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.
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.