Know your rights at work
Plain answers to the questions workers ask us most. General information for California workers, not legal advice for your situation.
Plain answers to the questions workers ask us most. General information for California workers, not legal advice for your situation.
Pick a topic
At-will has limits
Your employer can usually end the job for any reason, but never for an illegal one.
- Illegal reasons include a protected trait, a complaint, protected leave, jury service and refusing to break the law.
- A written contract or a promise of job security can change the at-will rule.
- A 'layoff' or 'restructuring' label does not decide whether a firing was legal.
Your pay
California pay rules are strict. Many workers are owed more than they think.
- Overtime can be owed after eight hours in a day, not just after 40 in a week.
- Meal and rest breaks are required, and missed breaks can earn premium pay.
- Your final paycheck has strict timing rules when you are fired or quit.
- A salary alone does not make you exempt from overtime.
Speaking up
Complaining about discrimination, harassment, pay or safety is protected.
- You do not have to be right, only to complain in good faith.
- Punishment can be cut hours, bad shifts or sudden write-ups, not only a firing.
- You can talk with coworkers about pay and working conditions.
Harassment
Unwelcome conduct based on sex or another protected trait can be illegal.
- It can come from a boss, a coworker, a client or a customer.
- In California, the harassment rules reach almost every employer, even very small ones.
- Reporting inside the company does not pause the legal deadlines.
Health, disability and leave
You can ask for reasonable changes and, in many jobs, protected time off.
- You do not need special words to ask for an accommodation.
- Employers must talk with you in good faith about what might work.
- Family and medical leave laws protect many workers' jobs during leave.
Leaving a job
Severance, releases and non-competes deserve a careful read.
- Most employers do not have to offer severance, but the terms are often negotiable.
- Workers 40 and older usually get time to consider a release that waives age claims.
- In California, most non-compete clauses cannot be enforced against employees.
If something just happened
Do
- Write a dated timeline tonight, while it is fresh
- Save copies of your own pay stubs, reviews and messages to you
- Use a personal phone and email to contact a lawyer
- Keep doing your job well if you are still employed
- Ask for any agreement in writing and take time to read it
Do not
- Do not take company files you are not allowed to have
- Do not post about the situation on social media
- Do not sign a release on the spot
- Do not quit before getting advice, unless you are unsafe
- Do not wait for an internal complaint to finish before checking deadlines
About deadlines, in general
Most workplace claims have more than one deadline. Some must start with a government agency, and some of those windows are measured in months, not years. Wage claims reach back a limited time, so older pay periods can drop out. An internal HR complaint usually does not pause any of it.
We cannot tell you your deadline from a web page. A free review can, and we put it in writing.
Rights only help if you use them in time.
Tell us what happened in a few minutes. A lawyer reads every inquiry and you hear back within one business day, with your deadlines explained either way.
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