Wrongful termination lawyer in Los Angeles

Was I fired illegally, or just unfairly?

Plenty of firings are unfair without being illegal, and it's worth being honest about that up front. The ones that cross the line usually look like this:

• You reported something, inside the company or to an agency. Harassment, discrimination, safety, fraud, wages that weren't being paid.
• You took leave you were entitled to. Medical leave, pregnancy, caring for a family member, time off after getting hurt at work.
• You refused to do something illegal, or wouldn't keep quiet about it.
• Something about you changed in their eyes. You hit a certain age, you disclosed a disability, you got pregnant, you said something about how people were being spoken to.
• You asked what someone else was paid, or told a colleague what you earn.

Timing carries a lot of weight. Being let go three weeks after a complaint, by a manager who'd never written up a performance problem before, reads very differently from a termination at the end of a documented year.

The employer will have a reason

They usually do. Performance, restructuring, not a culture fit.

The question isn't whether their reason sounds plausible, it's whether it's the real one, and that gets tested with fairly ordinary evidence. What your reviews said before you complained. Who else did the same thing and kept their job. What your manager wrote in Slack at the time. How fast the role was filled, and by whom.

So when you call, I won't ask you for a legal argument. I'll ask you to walk me through what happened and when.

How long do I have?

Deadlines and filing dates matter here more than in most areas of law, and there is usually more than one running at the same time. Discrimination and retaliation claims work to one timetable, wage claims to another, and if your employer was a public agency the window is much shorter than anyone expects.

They're all shorter than people assume, and when one passes the claim is over no matter how strong it was.

If you were let go in the last few weeks, you have room to think about it. If it was months ago, call this week.

What it costs

Nothing to talk to me, and no obligation afterwards.

If I take the case, you pay nothing unless money is recovered for you. Case costs come out of the recovery, not out of your pocket. If we don't win, you don't pay. All of it goes in writing before you sign anything.

What to gather

Don't hold off calling for this. But if you have your termination letter, your last couple of reviews, whatever complaint you made and how you made it, and the names of people who saw any of it, that gives us a head start. Keep the handbook if you've got one.

One thing to avoid: don't go back into a work account or system you no longer have permission to use. It takes a clean case and makes it complicated.

Call (424) 222-9787

Questions people ask

Can I be fired for reporting harassment? Retaliation for reporting is its own violation, and you can lose the harassment claim and still win it.

Can I be fired while on medical leave? Leave isn't immunity from a layoff, but a firing during leave has to survive a question most employers can't answer.

Get in touch

Beverly Hills, working across California.

Leave your name, a number, and a sentence about what happened, and I'll call you back. Keep it brief. Don't attach documents and don't write out the confidential details here.

Two things to be clear about, because they matter to both of us. Sending this form doesn't make me your lawyer, and nothing protects a filing deadline until we've both signed a written agreement. Messages sent here aren't monitored around the clock, so if your deadline is close, call rather than write.