10 Employee Rights Every California Worker Should Know

Ten of the most important rights that you have under California employment law include:

1. Overtime pay,
2. Meal and rest breaks,
3. Anti-discrimination rights,
4. Protection from sexual harassment,
5. Family and medical leave,
6. Minimum wages,
7. Protection from workplace retaliation,
8. Workplace safety and privacy,
9. Sick leave, and
10. Protection from wrongful termination.

All of these rights apply if you are a non-exempt employee. If you are an exempt employee, you are not entitled to the minimum wage, overtime, and meal and rest breaks protections.

To be exempt, you must spend more than half your work time on “exempt duties” (typically administrative, executive, and professional work). Plus you must earn at least twice California’s minimum wage for full-time employment: For 2025, that is $68,640 a year.

Meanwhile, none of these employment protections extend to independent contractors. However, independent contractors are still free to sue their employers if they suffer physical or financial harm on the job.

In this article I discuss what you need to know about these 10 employee rights in California. Also listen to our informative podcast:

1. The Right to Overtime Pay

If you are a non-exempt employee in California, you must receive overtime pay (1.5 times your regular rate of pay) for working more than:

• 8 hours in a workday,
• 40 hours in a workweek, or
• 6 days in a workweek.

You can also earn overtime premium pay – double your pay – if you work:

• more than 12 hours in a single day, or
• more than 8 hours on your seventh consecutive day of work.¹

However, your overtime rights can be changed by:

• working an alternative workweek schedule,
• union contracts, or
• collective bargaining agreements.

Employers might try to misclassify you as an exempt employees or as independent contractors in an effort to get out of paying overtime.

2. The Right to Meal and Rest Breaks

If you are a non-exempt California worker, you have a right to a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours you work (or “major fraction” thereof).

You also have a right to an unpaid 30-minute lunch break if you work more than five hours in a day. If you work more than 10 hours in a day, you are entitled to a second 30-minute meal break.²

3. The Right to Protection from Discrimination

Both California and federal laws protect you from workplace discrimination. In California specifically, employers may not terminate, deny employment or training to, demote, discipline, or otherwise harass or discriminate against you based on these protected characteristics:

• race (or characteristics associated with it such as color, hair texture or facial features),
• religion,
• gender,
• sex (including pregnancy, breastfeeding, and related conditions),
• pregnancy,
• age (40 or older),
• disability (mental or physical),
• medical condition,
• genetic information,
• sexual orientation,
• gender identity & expression (including transgenderism),
• marital status,
• military/veteran status,
• national origin, and
• ethnicity.³

If you have been discriminated against in the workplace, you can file a claim with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If they do not resolve your case, you can file a lawsuit instead.

4. The Right to Protection from Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment comes in two forms. It can:

1. create a hostile working environment with pervasive or severe inappropriate behavior by co-workers, supervisors, or even clients; or
2. amount to a quid pro quo, where a supervisor conditions a job-related benefit on a sexual favor.

Both forms of sexual harassment are unlawful under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which applies to companies with 15 employees or more).

Note that sexual harassment comprises not only sexual comments or actions; they can also include comments or actions that degrade your gender. Mild, one-time teasing usually does not qualify as harassment.⁴

5. The Right to Family and Medical Leave

You have rights to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off from work to care for a sick family member. These rights come from:

• the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and
• the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

While you are on leave, your employer is required to:

• continue providing healthcare coverage and
• let you return to your same or similar job.⁵

6. The Right to Minimum Wage

Non-exempt workers in California must earn at least the state’s minimum wage. For 2025, that is $16.50 for each hour of work. (The federal minimum wage is only $7.25.)⁶

7. The Right to Protection from Workplace Retaliation

In California, your employer may not retaliate against you for either:

• reporting violations of state or federal law,
• requesting reasonable accommodations for your disability or religious beliefs,
• opposing workplace harassment or discrimination (or filing a complaint about it or participating in an investigation),
• asking co-workers about salary information to see whether there is any discrimination, or
• filing or assisting in a government “qui tam” claim against your employer under the California False Claims Act.

Retaliation is any adverse employment action that targets you because you engaged in one of these protected activities. Examples of adverse employment actions include not only termination and demotion but also:

• giving you unjustified poor performance reviews,
• inflicting physical or verbal threats or abuse on you, or
• spreading lies about you.⁷

8. The Right to Workplace Safety and Privacy

California employers are required to:

• inspect worksites for dangerous conditions,
• correct workplace hazards, and
• maintain safe machinery and provide personal protective equipment.

You have a right to file a complaint about unsafe working conditions with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or its California equivalent, Cal/OSHA.

Should you get hurt on the job, workers’ compensation should cover the costs of your work-related injuries. Note that employers may not retaliate against you for refusing to work because you reasonably believe the workplace is unsafe.

In addition to safety, you also have the right to the reasonable expectation of privacy in the workplace. This means you are generally entitled to the privacy of their personal possessions, such as backpacks, purses, briefcases, and storage lockers as long as those items are not accessible to others.

You also have a right to privacy regarding personal phone calls and conversations that take place at work as long as they do not interfere with work duties. However, your privacy rights do not extend to company-owned equipment such as computers and phones.⁸

9. The Right to Sick Leave

California law requires you to earn paid sick leave at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked. If you are full-time, you must get at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per 12 months.⁹

Most employers, however, have more generous sick leave provisions.

10. The Right to Protection from Wrongful Termination

Among other things, California employers may not fire or lay you off for:

• filing a workers’ compensation claim or reporting a workplace injury,
• engaging in whistleblower activities,
• exercising your First Amendment rights or your rights under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), or
• using your employee leave.

If you get fired for one of these reasons, you have legal grounds to go after your employer for wrongful termination.¹⁰

My Workplace Rights Have Been Violated. Now What?

If your employee rights have been violated, request a copy of your personnel file and any employment contract or employee handbook that may be relevant. Refuse to sign any documents you are uncomfortable with, and be sure to document any unlawful or retaliatory actions taken against you.

Consider going to your company’s human resources department and show them the evidence of your violated rights. In many cases, this can be enough to remedy the situation.

If HR does not help you, contact me so we can discuss filing a claim with the appropriate state agency (typically the Labor Commissioner or the Civil Rights Department). Alternatively, we can file a traditional lawsuit.

Depending on your case, we would seek the following remedies:

• all back pay you are owed plus interest,
• all the paid or unpaid leave you are entitled to,
• promotions and bonuses,
• changes to your job so that your harasser has no contact with you,
• reinstatement to your job,
• court costs, and/or
• attorney’s fees.

Understandably, you may not wish to return to your old job due to the abuse you suffered there. In those cases, I would fight for a generous severance package.

Additional Resources

For more information, refer to the following:

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – Federal law that forbids employment discrimination based on mental or physical disabilities by employers with 15 or more employees. The ADA also requires reasonable accommodations such as disabled parking, modified work schedules, and assistive devices.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) – Federal law that protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from age-related employment discrimination by employers with 20 or more employees.
• Equal Pay Act of 1963 – Federal law that prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment.
• Employee Rights – Summary provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
• 13 Things Your Boss Can’t Legally Do – List by U.S. News and World Report.
• Worker Rights – Overview by the U.S. Department of Labor.
• National Labor Relations Board – An independent federal agency protecting the rights of private sector workers.
• Journal of Workplace Rights – A quarterly academic journal that publishes research related to employment rights, labor laws, and management-labor relations.

Also see our Los Angeles employment lawyers’ related articles on the California Equal Pay Act and pay stub requirements.

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Legal References