Hiring / Termination / Job Loss
Most employees in California are “at-will,” meaning that they can be suspended or fired at any time for any legal reason. There are exceptions, however, including union workers who have a contract that prohibits firing a worker unless the employer has a good reason. Also, certain laws protect workers from being fired or refused a job because of their race or sex or other types of illegal discrimination, or for “whistle blowing”—reporting an employer’s illegal conduct to a government agency.
Check these fact sheets and resources for information about your rights and steps you can take to protect them. If you need further information or assistance, contact the Workers’ Rights Clinic.
Fact Sheets and Other Self-Help Tools
- Lost Your Job? Your Rights and Benefits printer-friendly version
- Wrongful Termination printer-friendly version
- Quitting Your Job printer-friendly version
- Overview of Unemployment Benefits printer-friendly version
- Eligibility for Unemployment Insurance After Being Fired printer-friendly version
- Eligibility for Unemployment Insurance after Quitting printer-friendly version
- Domestic Violence: Unemployment Insurance if You Must Quit printer-friendly version
- Health Insurance After Employment: COBRA printer-friendly version
- Getting Your Final Paycheck printer-friendly version
- Severance Pay - Release of Legal Claims printer-friendly version
- Employer Bankruptcy, Sale, or Abandonment printer-friendly version
- Your Rights During a Mass Layoff or Closing printer-friendly version
- Credit Reports and Background Checks printer-friendly version
- Criminal Records and Employment printer-friendly version
- Hiring a Labor or Employment Lawyer printer-friendly version
Key Resources
- CA Employment Development Department (EDD)
- CA “Labor Commissioner” (Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement [DLSE])