At Chami Law, we are committed to protecting and advancing employees’ rights throughout California. Our attorneys represent individuals and groups of employees facing a wide range of unlawful workplace practices. With extensive experience handling complex employment disputes, our firm understands the challenges employees face when going up against an employer. We approach every case with careful attention to the facts, a thorough understanding of employment law, and a strong commitment to pursuing justice for our clients.
Mr. Chami has been recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer in Employment Law for 10 consecutive years, from 2014 through 2024. He has also been recognized by Los Angeles Magazine as a “Top Attorney” in Southern California and received the AVVO Client’s Choice Award for Labor & Employment Law, earning a perfect 10.0 “Superb” rating.
Our clients choose Chami Law because they want experienced advocates who will take their concerns seriously, explain their options clearly, and fight to protect their rights. Whether you are facing an individual workplace dispute or believe an unlawful practice has affected a larger group of employees, our team is prepared to help you understand your legal options and pursue the best path forward.
Explore our employment law practice areas below to learn more about the workplace violations we handle, the laws that may protect you, and how Chami Law can help.
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Our team is here to help you understand your rights, answer your questions, evaluate your situation, and determine what options may be available. Below, we address some of the most common questions we hear from California employees.
Every workplace situation is different, and the right legal strategy depends on the facts of your individual circumstances. If you believe your rights may have been violated or simply want to understand your legal options better, contact Chami Law to schedule a free and confidential consultation with our experienced employment law team.
California law protects employees and job applicants from discrimination based on a wide range of protected characteristics. Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), these include race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or creed, age (40 and over), disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex, gender, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, and military or veteran status.
These protections can apply to decisions involving hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, job assignments, training, working conditions, and other aspects of employment. Discrimination is not always obvious, and an employer does not necessarily have to expressly state that a protected characteristic was the reason for its decision for unlawful discrimination to have occurred.
At Chami Law, we evaluate the circumstances surrounding an employment decision, including what happened before and after the decision, how similarly situated employees were treated, and what explanations the employer has provided. If you believe you have been treated differently because of a protected characteristic, we can help you understand whether the conduct may violate California law.
Wage theft occurs when an employer fails to pay an employee wages or benefits the employee is legally owed. In California, wage theft can take many forms, including failure to pay minimum wage or overtime, requiring employees to work off the clock, failing to provide required meal or rest breaks, making unlawful deductions from wages, or failing to reimburse certain necessary business expenses. Wage theft is not limited to situations where an employer refuses to pay an employee. It can also occur through workplace policies or practices that result in employees working without proper compensation. For example, an employer may require employees to perform work before clocking in, after clocking out, or during an unpaid break. If you believe you have not been paid everything you are owed, it is important to preserve pay stubs, time records, schedules, emails, text messages, and other documents that may help establish what happened. The attorneys at Chami Law can review your compensation and working conditions, determine whether wage-and-hour violations may have occurred, and discuss your legal options.
Generally, California law protects employees who engage in certain legally protected activities from retaliation. Depending on the circumstances, protected activity can include reporting suspected violations of law, complaining about unpaid wages, reporting workplace safety concerns, exercising certain rights under the Labor Code, or participating in an investigation or proceeding involving workplace rights. An employer cannot lawfully fire an employee simply because the employee engaged in activity protected by law. Retaliation can also take forms other than termination, including demotion, reduced hours or pay, suspension, disciplinary action, threats, or other adverse changes to the terms and conditions of employment.
However, not every workplace complaint automatically creates a retaliation claim. The specific law involved, what you reported, how you reported it, and what happened afterward can all matter. At Chami Law, we can evaluate the circumstances surrounding your complaint and any subsequent employment action to determine whether you may have been protected from retaliation.
It can be. Retaliation occurs when an employee engages in legally protected activity, and the employer responds with an adverse employment action because of that activity. Termination is one example, but retaliation can also include demotion, reduced pay or hours, suspension, unfavorable assignments, disciplinary actions, threats, or other significant changes to an employee’s working conditions. Timing can sometimes be important. For example, if an employee makes a protected complaint and is shortly afterward disciplined, denied a promotion, or terminated, those circumstances may warrant closer examination. If you believe your employer began treating you differently after you complained about discrimination, harassment, wages, safety, or another workplace violation, Chami Law can help evaluate what happened and whether the conduct may constitute unlawful retaliation.
Sexual harassment is a form of unlawful workplace harassment that can involve unwanted sexual advances or other unwelcome visual, verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Examples can include sexually suggestive comments or jokes, unwanted touching, sexual propositions, displaying sexually explicit material, inappropriate comments about someone’s body, or other offensive sexual conduct. Sexual harassment can also involve quid pro quo conduct, such as conditioning a job benefit on submission to a sexual request or threatening an employee with an adverse employment consequence for rejecting such conduct. Harassment can come from a supervisor, coworker, or, in appropriate circumstances, another person in the workplace. You do not have to wait until conduct becomes more serious before seeking advice. If you are experiencing unwanted sexual conduct at work, Chami Law can help you understand your rights, evaluate what has occurred, and determine what options may be available to you.
Yes. You do not necessarily have to leave your job or be terminated before you can pursue an employment claim. Depending on the circumstances, employees may have legal claims while they are still working for the employer. Many employees hesitate to seek legal advice because they are concerned about losing their job or making their situation worse. Those concerns are understandable, but you do not have to wait until your employment ends to learn about your rights. Chami Law can review your situation confidentially and help you understand your options while you remain employed.
If other employees have experienced the same or similar unlawful treatment, it may indicate that the conduct is part of a broader workplace practice or policy rather than an isolated incident. That can be particularly important in cases involving wage violations, discriminatory policies, retaliation, or other practices affecting multiple employees. You do not need to investigate the entire workplace or identify every affected employee before speaking with an attorney. If you believe other employees have experienced similar conduct, tell us what you know. Our team can investigate the circumstances, look for common issues and patterns, and determine whether the claims may be appropriate for individual representation, a class action, or another form of collective legal action.
A class action is a lawsuit in which one or more representative plaintiffs seek relief on behalf of a larger group of people who have claims involving sufficiently common legal or factual issues. In an employment context, class actions can arise when an employer’s policy or practice allegedly violates the rights of a group of employees in a similar way.
Class actions can efficiently address widespread workplace practices rather than requiring every affected employee to pursue a separate lawsuit. However, not every group of similar claims qualifies for class treatment. A court must determine whether the legal requirements for proceeding as a class action have been satisfied. If a class is certified, affected employees may receive notice about the case and, depending on the circumstances, may have an opportunity to participate or exclude themselves.
At Chami Law, we handle employment matters involving groups of employees and can investigate whether a workplace practice may support class-wide claims. If you believe you and other employees have been subjected to the same unlawful conduct, contact us to discuss what happened.
No single deadline applies to every employment claim. The time limit depends on the type of claim, the law involved, what happened, and sometimes which agency or court must receive the claim.
For example, California’s Civil Rights Department generally requires employment discrimination complaints under the FEHA to be filed within three years of the alleged discriminatory act. Certain retaliation complaints handled by the Labor Commissioner’s Office generally have a one-year deadline, while some claims have shorter or longer deadlines depending on the specific law. Wage claims can also have different limitation periods depending on the type of claim.
Because missing a deadline can affect your ability to pursue a claim, it is important not to assume that you have plenty of time. Do not wait until you are certain you have a case before seeking legal advice. At Chami Law, we can review the circumstances of your situation, identify the laws that may apply, and help you understand the deadlines and options that may affect your claim.