Sacramento, California

Wrongful Termination Lawyer in Sacramento

California is at-will, but at-will has limits. The exceptions are the entire point of wrongful-termination law.

Most Californians work at will, which means an employer can let you go for almost any reason or no reason at all. The exceptions are the entire point of wrongful-termination law. Termination because you reported a violation of law. Termination because of your age, race, sex, pregnancy, or disability. Termination of a permanent civil-service employee without notice and an opportunity to respond. Termination as part of a layoff that should have triggered Cal-WARN notice and didn't. Each of these is a separate cause of action and each carries different deadlines.

If you're a state employee in Sacramento, you have an extra set of protections that private workers don't. The California Whistleblower Protection Act (Government Code section 8547 et seq.). The Skelly framework. The State Personnel Board appeals process. The Government Claims Act six-month deadline.

Visit our Sacramento office at 400 Capitol Mall Suite 444A, Sacramento, CA 95814 or call (415) 318-7920 for a free, confidential consultation.

What Is Wrongful Termination in Sacramento

California is an at-will state, but the at-will rule has many exceptions. The leading case is Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167, which established the public-policy tort: an employee fired for refusing to commit an illegal act, for asserting a statutory right, or for reporting illegal conduct can sue in tort. Other Sacramento wrongful-termination grounds include FEHA (Cal. Government Code section 12940), Labor Code section 1102.5 (whistleblower retaliation), Labor Code section 6310 (Cal/OSHA retaliation), Labor Code section 232 (wage-discussion retaliation), and Labor Code section 132a (workers' compensation retaliation).

Sacramento Industries Where Wrongful Termination Claims Are Most Common

State of California government workers - at the State Capitol (10th and L Streets), the Governor's Office, and the dozens of state-agency headquarters across Sacramento employing approximately 100,000+ State of California workers, including the Department of General Services (DGS), DMV, EDD, CRD, DLSE, Cal/OSHA, CalPERS, CalSTRS, California Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol headquarters, and hundreds more. State employees are covered by: (1) the California Government Code section 19570 et seq. civil-service system and the State Personnel Board (SPB); (2) Skelly v. State Personnel Board (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194 pre-deprivation due-process rights; (3) FEHA (Cal. Gov. Code section 12940 et seq.); (4) the California Whistleblower Protection Act (Cal. Gov. Code section 8547 et seq.), enforced by the State Auditor's Office for state employees; (5) the State Tort Claims Act (Cal. Gov. Code sections 810-996) with a 6-month claim-filing deadline (Cal. Gov. Code section 911.2); and (6) collective bargaining agreements with multiple state employee unions (SEIU Local 1000, CAHP, CCPOA, CAPS, IUOE).
Healthcare workers at the four dominant Sacramento hospital systems - at Sutter Health (Sacramento-headquartered, 50,000+ employees, 29% acute-care bed market share, named to Forbes' America's Best Large Employers list 2026), Dignity Health/CommonSpirit (28% market share including Mercy General Hospital, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Methodist Hospital), Kaiser Permanente (23% market share including Kaiser South Sacramento and Kaiser Roseville), and UC Davis Health (17% market share - operating the UC Davis Medical Center at 2315 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95817, (916) 734-2011 - a 653-bed multispecialty academic medical center with $1.7 billion annual budget, 30,000+ patients admitted/year, serving 33 counties). Covered by SB 525 healthcare worker minimum-wage schedule (Cal. Labor Code sections 1182.14, 1182.15, 1182.16), California Health and Safety Code section 1278.5 ($25,000-per-violation civil penalty for patient-safety retaliation), and CNA / SEIU-UHW collective bargaining agreements. UC Davis Medical Center employees, as employees of the Regents of the University of California, are subject to the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline.
K-12 education workers - at the Sacramento City Unified School District / SCUSD (5735 47th Avenue, Serna Center, PO Box 246870, Sacramento, CA 95824, (916) 643-7400 - the 11th-largest school district in California with 47,900 students in 81 schools), Twin Rivers Unified School District, Natomas Unified School District, San Juan Unified School District, and the Elk Grove Unified School District (in adjacent Elk Grove - the 4th-largest district in California). Public-school workers have pre-deprivation due-process rights under Skelly v. State Personnel Board (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194, California Whistleblower Protection Act (Cal. Gov. Code section 8547), and the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline.
Higher education workers - at California State University, Sacramento / Sacramento State / CSUS (6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 - the principal four-year public university in Sacramento, state-of-California employees subject to civil-service rules and CFA collective bargaining for faculty), the Los Rios Community College District (Sacramento City College, American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College), and UC Davis (in adjacent Davis). Subject to the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline.
City and county government workers - at the City of Sacramento (915 I Street - charter city), the County of Sacramento with 12,000+ employees across dozens of departments (Sacramento is the county seat), the Sacramento Police Department / SPD, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office / SSO, the Sacramento Fire Department, and the California Highway Patrol (Sacramento headquarters at 601 N. 7th Street). Peace officers are covered by the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights (POBR, Cal. Gov. Code section 3300 et seq.). Subject to the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline.
Retail, restaurant, and consumer-services workers - along J Street, K Street, the Downtown Commons (DOCO) at the Golden 1 Center (home of the Sacramento Kings), Arden Fair Mall, Sunrise Mall, and throughout Midtown and East Sacramento. Common claims: wage and hour (off-the-clock and rounding violations under Cal. Labor Code sections 226.7, 510, 512), commission disputes (Cal. Labor Code section 2751), and sexual harassment under FEHA (Cal. Gov. Code section 12940(j)). Fast-food workers at chains with 60+ national locations earn the $20.00/hour AB 1228 floor (Cal. Labor Code section 1474).
Transportation and federal government workers - at the Sacramento International Airport (SMF - operated by Sacramento County), the Union Pacific Railroad Sacramento yard, the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT - light rail and bus), and at the various federal agencies in Sacramento. Federal workers are covered by the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA, 5 U.S.C. section 2302), the Whistleblower Protection Act / WPA and WPEA (5 U.S.C. section 2302(b)(8)), and may file with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Federal EEO complaints go through the federal agency EEO process under 29 C.F.R. Part 1614 with a 45-day deadline. Rail workers are covered by the Federal Railroad Safety Act / FRSA (49 U.S.C. section 20109) whistleblower protection.

Sacramento Mass-Layoff Notice Rights

If you were part of a Sacramento mass layoff, the California WARN Act (California Labor Code sections 1400 through 1408) requires covered employers with 75 or more workers to give 60 days' advance written notice of a mass layoff of 50 or more employees in any 30-day period, a plant closing, or a relocation. Federal WARN (29 U.S.C. sections 2101-2109) applies to employers with 100+ employees. Damages: up to 60 days of back pay and benefits, plus an additional civil penalty of up to $500 per day under federal WARN if notice is not given to the local government. SB 617 (effective January 1, 2026) expanded the required notice content.

California Law

For the full California framework, including Tameny, Labor Code section 1102.5, FEHA, Cal-WARN, and public-employee due-process rights, see our California employment law page.

What Compensation Can You Recover

Back pay, front pay (or reinstatement where appropriate), emotional-distress damages, punitive damages (unlimited under FEHA and under the Tameny tort), 60-day Cal-WARN back-pay damages where applicable, and attorneys' fees and costs (Cal. Government Code section 12965(c); Labor Code section 1102.5(j)). For details, see our California employment law page.

How to File a Wrongful Termination Claim in Sacramento

FEHA charges go to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), 2218 Kausen Drive, Suite 100, Elk Grove, CA 95758. Federal charges go to the EEOC Oakland Local Office (Sacramento County jurisdiction), 1301 Clay Street, Suite 1170-N, Oakland, CA 94612. Whistleblower and wage claims can be filed with the California Labor Commissioner (DLSE Sacramento Office, 2031 Howe Avenue, Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95825, (916) 263-1811). Civil suits are heard at the Sacramento County Superior Court, Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse, 500 G Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. Call us at (415) 318-7920 before any deadline.

Frequently Asked Questions

If a permanent state employee was fired without a Skelly hearing, what can a worker do? +

Move fast. Skelly v. State Personnel Bd. (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194 requires that permanent civil-service employees receive notice of the proposed discipline, the materials supporting it, and a meaningful opportunity to respond before the discipline takes effect. If the worker's agency skipped that process, the termination may be reversible on appeal to the State Personnel Board. The SPB appeal deadline is short, typically 30 days from the effective date of the Notice of Adverse Action. Separately, if the termination was retaliatory under the California Whistleblower Protection Act (Government Code section 8547 et seq.) or Labor Code section 1102.5, or discriminatory under FEHA, those are independent claims with their own deadlines including the six-month Government Claims Act deadline under Government Code section 911.2. Call 1-800-371-3088.

What's a Tameny claim and does it apply to Sacramento workers? +

A Tameny claim is wrongful termination in violation of public policy, named after the California Supreme Court's decision in Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167. It applies anywhere in California, including Sacramento, and to almost any employer. The claim covers terminations because the employee refused to commit an illegal act, performed a statutory duty, exercised a constitutional or statutory right, or reported a violation of law. Tameny is a tort, so damages can include emotional distress and, where the employer's conduct was malicious or oppressive, punitive damages. For public-entity employers, the Government Claims Act six-month deadline applies on top of the standard statute of limitations.

If an employer just laid off 100 people at one site with no notice, is that legal? +

Probably not. California's Cal-WARN Act (Labor Code sections 1400 et seq.) requires 60 days' advance written notice for mass layoffs, plant closures, and relocations at employers with 75 or more employees. Notice has to go to affected employees, the Employment Development Department, the local workforce investment board, and the chief elected official of each city and county where the action occurs. If the worker's employer skipped the notice, a worker may be entitled to back pay, benefits, and a $500-per-day civil penalty for each day of the violation. Cal-WARN claims sit alongside individual wrongful-termination claims, so a single layoff can produce both an individual case and a class or representative WARN action. Call 1-800-371-3088.

A worker was fired three weeks after a worker told HR the worker's supervisor was committing time-card fraud. Is that retaliation? +

It looks like a strong retaliation case. Labor Code section 1102.5 protects employees who report a violation of law to a person with authority over them or to a government agency. SB 497 (effective January 1, 2024) added Labor Code section 1102.5(j), which creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation when an adverse action follows a protected disclosure within 90 days. Three weeks is well within that window. The presumption shifts the burden to the employer to prove, by the standard set in Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc. (2022) 12 Cal.5th 703, that they would have made the same decision for legitimate reasons even without the worker's report. If the worker's employer is a state agency, the California Whistleblower Protection Act (Government Code section 8547 et seq.) provides parallel protection through the State Auditor. Call workers right away: 1-800-371-3088.

Were You Wrongfully Fired?

Speak with a California wrongful termination lawyer today. Free confidential consultation. No fee unless you win. Call 1-800-371-3088.

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Legal Disclaimer: This page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Employment law is complex and fact-specific. The information on this page reflects California law as of 2026 and may change. If you believe your rights have been violated, please consult a licensed California employment attorney to evaluate your specific situation.