California employment law
We represent California employees. Not employers.
Wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower and medical-leave claims. Free confidential consultation. No fee unless there is a recovery.
Consultations by phone and video. We respond within one business day.
Start with what happened
The problem usually has a legal name.
California law does not require employers to be fair. It requires them not to act for certain specific reasons. Most of the situations people bring us fall under one of these.
- Wrongful terminationCalifornia is an at-will state, but at-will has limits. If you were fired for a reason the law forbids, the termination was unlawful no matter what your offer letter said.
- DiscriminationCalifornia's Fair Employment and Housing Act protects a broader set of characteristics than federal law, and sets a lower bar for what counts as a disability.
- Sexual harassmentUnlike discrimination, FEHA's harassment provisions reach employers of any size — including one with a single employee — and extend beyond employees to interns and volunteers.
- RetaliationRetaliation is often the strongest claim in a case, because it does not depend on proving the underlying complaint was correct — only that you were punished for making it.
- Whistleblower claimsCalifornia's whistleblower statute protects internal reports, not just reports to the government — and once you show your report was a contributing factor, the burden shifts to the employer.
- Medical leaveCalifornia leave law reaches far smaller employers than the federal version, and pregnancy disability leave is separate from and in addition to family and medical leave.
Also: hostile work environment, meal and rest breaks, misclassification, off-the-clock work, unpaid overtime, unpaid wages, wage and hour.
Personal injury
Personal injury is a regular part of the firm's practice, alongside employment law. We represent people hurt in auto, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, slip and fall incidents and dog bites, people with catastrophic injuries, and families in wrongful death cases.
How a case starts with SoCo Law Firm
Call or write to us
Free confidential consultation, by phone or video.
We respond within one business day
If we are with a client, leave a message and we will call you back.
We look at what happened
We review what happened and any records you have, and tell you whether it is a case the firm can take.
Who we representIf we take your case: a contingency fee
If there is no recovery, nothing is owed. The fee agreement sets this out in writing before anything is filed.
The firm at a glance
- Clients
- Employees, injured people and families
- The firm never defends employers.
- Memberships
- CELA is a plaintiff-side organization.
Case results
- $1.2MSettlementDisability and race discrimination
- $1MSettlementRace and disability discrimination
- $950KSettlementAge and disability discrimination
- $380KSettlementDisability discrimination
- $350KSettlementPregnancy discrimination
- $300KSettlementSexual harassment
- $156KSettlementSexual harassment
- $150KSettlementSexual harassment
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts.
Someone who has seen it from the other side
SoCo Law Firm was founded by Michael Chang, Esq., who spent part of his career as staff counsel for a Fortune 500 company. He has sat in the meetings where a termination is planned, the file is assembled and the stated reason is chosen.
That matters because employment cases are rarely decided by a single document. They are decided by what the record shows — and by knowing which parts of it tend to be missing. Today the firm uses that experience on behalf of the people those processes are run against.
One office in Costa Mesa. Five counties.
We represent employees across Southern California. Our city pages cover some of the places we serve, not the limits of where we work: we represent employees anywhere in these five counties and throughout California.
SoCo Law Firm P.C.3420 Bristol Street, Suite 600
It costs nothing to ask.
Tell us what happened. The consultation is free and confidential, no fee unless there is a recovery, and nothing is filed because you called. We respond within one business day.