The numbers at a glance
- 4,750 discrimination charges filed in California with the EEOC in fiscal 2025
- 16,924 right to sue complaints filed with the California Civil Rights Department in 2024, nearly all employment
- 4,077 employment complaints CRD accepted for investigation in 2024
- 24.4 EEOC charges per 100,000 California workers in fiscal 2025
- 62% of California EEOC charges in fiscal 2025 alleged retaliation, the most common basis
California workers file discrimination complaints in two places. The federal EEOC received 4,750 charges from California in fiscal 2025, 5.4 percent of the national total. The state Civil Rights Department received 33,505 intake forms in 2024, issued 16,924 right to sue notices and opened 6,089 investigations. Together they are the most complete count of workplace discrimination in the state, and this page reads both.
California EEOC charges by basis, fiscal 2025
| Basis | California charges | Share of California charges | U.S. charges | California share of U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retaliation, all statutes | 2,926 | 61.6% | 54,350 | 5.4% |
| Disability | 2,066 | 43.5% | 36,256 | 5.7% |
| Race | 1,572 | 33.1% | 29,338 | 5.4% |
| Sex | 1,350 | 28.4% | 26,941 | 5.0% |
| Age | 1,057 | 22.3% | 16,353 | 6.5% |
| National origin | 684 | 14.4% | 7,856 | 8.7% |
| Color | 387 | 8.1% | 6,738 | 5.7% |
| Religion | 312 | 6.6% | 3,710 | 8.4% |
| Pregnant Workers Fairness Act | 195 | 4.1% | 3,448 | 5.7% |
| Equal Pay Act | 65 | 1.4% | 928 | 7.0% |
| Genetic information | 24 | 0.5% | 449 | 5.3% |
| All charges | 4,750 | 88,201 | 5.4% |
Retaliation leads, as it has in every year of this series. Disability is second, and it has grown faster than any other basis, from 31.9 percent of California charges in fiscal 2015 to 43.5 percent in fiscal 2025. Race and sex are close behind. Age charges are a larger share in California than nationally, 22.3 percent against 18.5 percent.
A note on how to read the EEOC figures. The EEOC counts a charge under every basis it alleges, so a single charge that claims sex discrimination and retaliation shows up in both columns and the columns add up to more than the total. The state figures cover charges filed with the EEOC itself, not the tens of thousands of complaints California workers file with the state Civil Rights Department, which we cover separately.
The state count from CRD
CRD complaints are the larger stream. In 2024 the department opened 4,077 employment investigations and issued 16,924 right to sue notices, against 5,099 EEOC charges in fiscal 2024. The most common bases in the 2024 right to sue complaints were disability (14,430), retaliation for reporting or resisting discrimination (11,837), sex or gender (9,131), leave under the California Family Rights Act (8,340), requests for disability accommodation (8,288) and race (7,655).
| Year | Intake forms | Right to sue notices | Investigations opened | Employment complaints investigated | Complaints closed | Settlements | Settlement dollars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 33,505 | 16,924 | 6,089 | 4,077 | 5,099 | 872 | $99,411,396 |
| 2023 | 29,877 | 14,982 | 5,765 | 4,072 | 4,554 | 788 | $116,506,424 |
| 2022 | 25,961 | 12,457 | 4,813 | 3,419 | 656 | $12,419,947 |
Intakes rose 29 percent from 2022 to 2024 and right to sue notices rose 36 percent. The number of complaints the department can investigate barely moved, which is why the right to sue route has become the default for anyone with a lawyer.
A note on how to read the CRD figures. The Civil Rights Department publishes its numbers by calendar year, and it counts a complaint under every basis it lists, so the basis rows add up to more than the number of complaints. Most California workers who go to court first ask CRD for an immediate right to sue notice rather than an investigation, so the right to sue table is the closer measure of how many people are actually pursuing a claim.
Rates per 100,000 workers
California had 19,499,116 people in its labor force in August 2026. Against that base, the fiscal 2025 EEOC charges work out to 24.4 per 100,000 workers, and the 2024 CRD employment filings (investigated complaints plus right to sue notices) to 107.7 per 100,000. The state agency is the reason the two rates are so far apart: a California worker with a strong claim usually files with CRD, and often only with CRD, so the EEOC rate understates how much is filed here.
Rates on this page divide the count by the California civilian labor force of 19,499,116 reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for August 2026, and are shown per 100,000 workers.
Fifteen years of California EEOC charges
| Fiscal year | California charges | U.S. charges | California share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4,750 | 88,201 | 5.4% |
| 2024 | 5,099 | 88,531 | 5.8% |
| 2023 | 5,143 | 81,055 | 6.3% |
| 2022 | 4,404 | 73,485 | 6.0% |
| 2021 | 3,865 | 61,331 | 6.3% |
| 2020 | 4,130 | 67,448 | 6.1% |
| 2019 | 4,276 | 72,675 | 5.9% |
| 2018 | 4,344 | 76,418 | 5.7% |
| 2017 | 5,423 | 84,254 | 6.4% |
| 2016 | 5,870 | 91,503 | 6.4% |
| 2015 | 6,199 | 89,385 | 6.9% |
| 2014 | 6,363 | 88,778 | 7.2% |
| 2013 | 6,892 | 93,727 | 7.4% |
| 2012 | 7,399 | 99,412 | 7.4% |
| 2011 | 7,166 | 99,947 | 7.2% |
| 2010 | 7,161 | 99,922 | 7.2% |
| 2009 | 6,654 | 93,277 | 7.1% |
California EEOC charges fell by about half from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2021 and have risen since, though the fiscal 2025 total of 4,750 is still well under the 7,399 of fiscal 2012. The long decline tracks the growth of the state system: CRD issues right to sue notices online, immediately, and since 2020 the state deadline has been three years, so the federal charge became the second choice for California claims.
What these numbers mean if it happened to you
- California law covers employers with five or more employees for discrimination and every employer for harassment. Federal law starts at fifteen employees, or twenty for age.
- California damages are uncapped. Federal Title VII caps combined compensatory and punitive damages between $50,000 and $300,000 depending on employer size.
- You can file with either agency and the charge is cross filed, but the state route gives you three years instead of 300 days and an immediate right to sue.
- Retaliation is a separate claim with its own damages, and it is now the most common allegation in the state.
Deadlines that decide these cases
A California worker has three years from the last act of harassment or discrimination to file with the Civil Rights Department, and one year after a right to sue notice to file in court. The federal deadline is much shorter, 300 days to file a charge with the EEOC. The counts on this page only include people who filed inside those windows. Everyone who waited too long is missing from every table here.
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Sources
The figures on this page were taken from the following publications, as released by the agencies. Percentages, changes, sums and rates per 100,000 workers are our own arithmetic from those figures.
- EEOC, Table E1b, charge receipts by state and basis, FY 2009 to FY 2025, www.eeoc.gov
- California Civil Rights Department, 2024 Annual Report (complaint tables and county appendix), calcivilrights.ca.gov
- California Civil Rights Department, 2023 Annual Report, calcivilrights.ca.gov
- California Civil Rights Department, 2022 Annual Report, calcivilrights.ca.gov
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, California and county labor force, latest month available in September 2026, www.bls.gov
Frequently asked questions
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Attorney advertising. The figures on this page come from the public sources listed above and are reproduced or computed as described. They are provided for general information and do not constitute legal advice, nor does reading this page create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. If you believe your rights were violated, consult a California employment attorney promptly, filing deadlines apply.