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- Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- - SE HABLA ESPAÑOL
Mercer Legal Group represents Los Angeles and California employees terminated for reasons California law protects — discrimination, retaliation, protected leave, whistleblowing, or refusing to break the law. Not every firing is illegal, but some are. We can tell you which one yours is.
Wrongful termination in California means you were fired for a reason the law forbids, not just a reason that felt unfair. California is an at-will state under Labor Code §2922, so an employer can usually fire you for almost any reason. The exceptions are what matter: a firing tied to a protected trait under FEHA (Gov. Code §12940), or to protected activity like whistleblowing under Labor Code §1102.5, crosses into wrongful termination.
The legal test is not whether the firing was fair. It is whether it was tied to a protected characteristic — race, gender, age 40 or older, disability, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity — or to a protected activity, such as reporting discrimination or harassment, requesting an accommodation, taking medical or family leave, reporting illegal conduct, or refusing to do something illegal. If yes, you may have a case. If the answer is genuinely no, an attorney will tell you that on the first call.
Mercer Legal Group reviews employment law claims carefully, explains available options, and pursues appropriate remedies when the facts and law support them. Every case is different, and no attorney can guarantee a specific result.
Our California wrongful termination attorneys read the facts, explain whether your firing fits a recognized wrongful-termination category, file the right administrative charge or civil claim, and pursue available remedies when the facts support them. From the first call you talk to a senior attorney. Cases are handled on a contingency-fee basis — no upfront cost to bring a claim.
If you were fired and are not sure whether the firing was legal, the procedural questions matter as much as the legal ones. Below are the questions clients ask us most.
California gives wrongful termination plaintiffs more room than federal law. Performance reasons can be pretext when the documented record does not support them — when reviews were strong until shortly before termination, when the alleged misconduct was inconsistently disciplined, or when comparator coworkers committed the same conduct without termination. Los Angeles juries respond strongly to pretext evidence built from the employer’s own HR file.
It can be. California treats close temporal proximity between a protected complaint and termination as strong evidence of retaliation under FEHA and Labor Code §1102.5. Los Angeles courts examine the employer’s documented reasoning, comparator treatment, and whether the stated termination reason existed before the complaint.
Strong protection under California law. Under the Tameny doctrine and Labor Code §1102.5, California treats firing an employee for refusing to commit an illegal act, or for reporting illegal conduct, as wrongful termination in violation of public policy. Los Angeles cases under §1102.5 can be filed directly in court without administrative exhaustion.
Maybe yes. California severance releases must meet specific requirements — clear language, adequate consideration, knowing and voluntary execution, and special disclosures for age claims under OWBPA. Many California employer releases fail one or more of these requirements. Have a California employment attorney review the release before assuming the claim is lost.
It depends on the legal basis. FEHA-based wrongful termination claims (discrimination, retaliation) have three years to file with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). Labor Code §1102.5 whistleblower claims have three years and can be filed directly in court. Tameny common-law wrongful termination claims have two years from the termination date.
If you were fired and you believe the firing was tied to discrimination, retaliation, protected leave, whistleblowing, or refusing to break the law, contact Mercer Legal Group for a free, confidential case review with a Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.
