If you are undergoing harassment or discrimination on the job, you can sue the employer or victimizer to stop the conduct and receive compensation. However, you need an experienced attorney to explain your rights, legal options, and steps to file a claim within the set timeline. There are time limits to bring a case: the ‘statute of limitations.’ These laws provide a window for you, the plaintiff, to lodge a claim. If the timeline lapses, you lose the right to sue for damages. At Empower Sexual Harassment Attorneys, we will explain these timelines, collect evidence, lodge a lawsuit, and help you receive maximum compensation in San Diego, CA.

Statute of Limitations Legal Definition

The law that sets the timeline or window within which one should take legal action is the statute of limitations. These timelines apply primarily to civil lawsuits, and the period within which you should take legal recourse hinges on the laws that apply to the case and the expectations. Therefore, if you plan on taking civil action against another party, you must understand the statutes of limitations to increase the chances of a favorable outcome. Filing a claim after the lapse of the timeline will lead to a case dismissal, denying the right to justice.

Setting windows or headlines is necessary for many reasons. First, if civil cases did not have deadlines, they could drag on for years, leading to denial of justice to the victims. The law does not protect plaintiffs alone. Even defendants are protected by the same law. For the plaintiff, these headlines ensure you receive justice and compensation early. For the defendant, when the case is resolved on time, they stop carrying the burden and can move on with their life.

Evidence in civil cases can be lost if cases are unresolved for a long time, especially if not well preserved. The plaintiff and the accused can only store evidence for at most two years, after which it degrades and could lack the legal relevance it held. If evidence is degraded, it becomes inadmissible in court, leading to unfair verdicts. If significant evidence was from eyewitnesses, they could relocate, fall sick, die, or change their minds about testifying if the matter takes too long to resolve. The evidence you gathered at the beginning of the case becomes undependable or unavailable, making it difficult for the trier of facts to issue a fair verdict.

So, when you plan to sue your victimizer or employer for workplace harassment or discrimination, you should consult with a sexual harassment attorney to understand the window within which you should lodge the claim to preserve your right to compensation. Several steps are involved in the lawsuit, with each phase having timelines. An attorney will explain the various stages in the case and work tirelessly to try and complete each step within the available timeline, keeping your claim valid. If you delay at any stage and the timeline expires, the court will not accept your lawsuit, even if you have strong evidence.

In workplace discrimination lawsuits, the time bar depends on the applicable law. The standard employment discrimination statutes are:

  • Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Acts, which prohibits sex, color, religion, or race-based discrimination or harassment.
  • The Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination or sexual harassment based on marital status, medical condition, physical impairment, religion, race, or sex.

When your attorney evaluates your case’s facts, they can tell the applicable law and timeline.

You must partner with your attorney to gather all the necessary evidence and file a claim before the deadline. If you delay and the window set by the law expires, you relinquish your right to the claim indefinitely. For sexual harassment or discrimination cases, you have a one-year window to lodge a complaint with DFEH and at most 36 months for a lawsuit based on your unique circumstances. The clock starts ticking from the date of the alleged harassment.

Workplace Harassment Time Bar

When suing your victimizer or employer for workplace harassment, you must start by notifying the employer of the harassment before lodging a formal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). After the agency investigates the case, they can issue you a Right to Sue letter, which gives you the green light to sue the employer. It is strongly recommended to seek legal representation when filing a lawsuit against your employer to navigate the complexities of the legal process. An experienced attorney will convince CRD to issue a strongly worded letter that will compel your employer to grant a financial settlement without going to court.

If you are a victim of harassment, you should fill out the CRD forms within 36 months of the harassment date. Three years seems like a long time, but if you are unsure when the unwanted behavior attained the threshold of harassment or you are giving the employer time to resolve the case, the timeline for lodging a lawsuit can expire before you exercise your right to seek compensation. Filing the lawsuit after the lapse of the provided time bar can result in case dismissal by the court, but not always. The court can allow you to file a claim after the expiry of the timeline under exceptional circumstances.

The timeline for harassment cases is protracted to allow victims who are afraid of coming forward because of fear or shame enough time to report. Before the adoption of Assembly Bill (AB) 9, victimized parties had only twelve months to report their cases. This time was inadequate for most parties to process the harassment, report it, gather evidence, and lodge a claim. AB 9 extended the timeframe for particular cases to 36 months, but the extension was not universal to all harassment cases.

While the deadline is 36 months, there are exceptions where the time bar can be extended or reduced. For instance, a lawsuit against a government entity must be filed within six months of the harassment. Also, when you suffer sexual assault, you will enjoy an extended deadline. If the victimized party is underage, the timeline could be extended until the party becomes an adult, based on the case’s nature.

Another exception to the time bar is if the victim was unaware that the harasser’s conduct was unlawful and that they were entitled to justice. Under these circumstances, the clock will start ticking when the victim discovers that the behavior directed at them amounts to workplace harassment and is unlawful.

Finally, if the harassment continues or happens over an extended time, the victim will have more time to take legal recourse.

To better understand and appreciate the timelines for workplace harassment lawsuits, here are the phases involved in the claim:

Notify the Employer

When you discover workplace harassment, you should notify your boss to take measures to curb the conduct and resolve the problem between you and your victimizer. Failure by the employer to take appropriate action after a harassment incident has been reported may strengthen your legal claim. Employers are prohibited from retaliating. So, do not allow fear of retaliation to discourage you from reporting the case.

Lodging a Complaint With CRD

If the employer does not take action and the behavior continues, you should take the matter to CRD. The department has an online form intake platform that allows victims to initiate complaints. When filling out the forms, include all the relevant details for the CRD to take your case with the weight it deserves.

The details you will provide in the paperwork will determine if your case will undergo further investigation. Your complaint will undergo further investigations if it is among the laws CRD enforces, including:

  • FEHA
  • Disabled Persons Act
  • Unruh Civil Rights Act
  • Ralph Civil Rights Act

CRD does not enforce federal statutes like the 1964 Civil Rights Act. These are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The agency will give you the right to sue if your case cannot be enforced under the anti-harassment statutes. The letter allows you to sue the accused on your own or independently. However, if it is enforceable, they will send you the complaint for signing before sending it to the victimizer or employer for a response.

When the defendant responds, CRD will commence investigations. If, after investigations, the agency does not find any reasonable belief that you were harassed, they will allow you to proceed with the lawsuit against the harasser or employer alone. However, if there is proof of harassment, you, the victimized, and the victimizer will mediate to resolve the case. You can file a lawsuit against your employer in a civil court if no settlement is reached.

The statute of limitations applies from when the harassment incident happened, depending on when you discovered the behavior was illegal or amounted to harassment. Therefore, waiting for CRD investigations will consume a lot of time, and by the time you file a lawsuit, the time bar will have lapsed, leading to case dismissal. Therefore, you are better off completing the intake forms and requesting a ‘right to sue’ letter to start litigation early instead of waiting for a go-ahead from CRD. Doing so ensures that you have time to prepare your lawsuit. Besides, employers are scared of lawsuits and could be forced into agreeing to a favorable settlement to avoid being sued.

Acquiring the Letter to Sue

Before taking your employer to court to demand compensation, FEHA demands that you have a letter from CRD giving you the right to sue.

After you obtain the letter, you will have three months to prepare and lodge a lawsuit. However, the time bar could be extended if you filed the complaint with EEOC under Title VII.

Do not delay contacting your attorney once you have the letter because gathering evidence to submit a solid lawsuit could consume a lot of time. The need to beat the timeline could result in weak evidence and poor preparation, leading to unfavorable results. Therefore, contact your attorney early in the case to gather evidence that will convince CRD to issue a demand letter or lead to a substantial lawsuit. If you work within the law’s timeframes, you will not need to rush your case in certain stages, ensuring proper evidence gathering and lawsuit preparation.

Wrongful Termination Time Bar

California statutes of limitations have a window for lodging wrongful termination claims. Unfortunately, no single law applies to all wrongful termination lawsuits.

Employers can revoke employees’ contracts at will if genuine reasons exist. Nevertheless, termination should not breach anti-harassment or discrimination laws and policies. Any firing or termination of an employment agreement that contravenes these laws and policies is unlawful, and the affected employee can lodge a civil lawsuit against the employer for wrongful termination. Therefore, an illegal discharge or wrongful termination is a firing that happens for unlawful reasons like:

  • Workplace discrimination
  • Retaliation against whistleblowers or employees who exercise their rights

Under federal and state labor statutes, you can sue the employer if you have been unlawfully discharged. However, you must know that these laws have timelines or deadlines for lawsuit filing. Others prescribe administrative remedies you must explore before taking the matter to court.

In California, you can base your unlawful discharge or termination case on FEHA, a state statute, and Title VII, a federal statute. However, before the lawsuit, your sexual harassment attorney must evaluate the case and advise on the law that you have a stronger complaint and should lodge your civil lawsuit. Each of these statutes has a different deadline for complaints. For instance, federal anti-discrimination regulations give workers 180 days to file civil lawsuits against employers for wrongful discharge. The clock begins ticking from the date of the unlawful termination. You must submit your complaint to the EEOC within 180 days to conduct inquiries and issue a verdict.

The agency will notify you through a letter to sue the employer alone if they cannot determine the matter. You will have twelve months from the day of the notice to lodge the civil suit.

The timeline for submitting a complaint under FEHA is 300 days. The clock starts ticking from the day you were harassed on the job. The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) investigates complaints filed under FEHA to determine if the firing of an employee was within the law. If DFEH does not sufficiently resolve the matter, they will inform you that you can file a lawsuit against the employer alone. You will also have twelve months to file this lawsuit.

A discharge or termination is illegal if it is based on workers’ characteristics that are protected under FEHA and Title VII. These statutes prohibit wrongful termination based on discrimination due to the following:

  • An employee’s medical disorder like physical impairment, pregnancy, or mental incapacity
  • Worker’s sex or sexual orientation
  • Worker’s race
  • Worker’s color
  • Worker’s nationality
  • Worker’s age

Sexual harassment is among the unlawful activities in the workplace that are prescribed under the anti-discrimination laws. It also falls under wrongful discharge or termination because of whistleblowing, reporting ongoing sexual harassment on the job to the authorities, or agreeing to testify or provide information to a public inquiry on workplace sexual harassment.

Some laws, like the California Labor Code (LC) 1102.5, prohibit employers from retaliatory termination of whistleblowers who report unlawful activities to external agencies. LC 1102.5 forbids your employer from retaliatory firing for:

  • Divulging details to the police that you reasonably believe demonstrate your employer’s compliance with or disregard of the law.
  • Testifying or providing details to a public inquiry on what you reasonably believe is noncompliance or breach of labor policies by your employer.

If you are a whistleblower wrongfully terminated, you have thirty-six months to lodge a wrongful discharge lawsuit against your employer.

Wrongful discharge happens in violation of many state and federal statutes. Although these laws provide additional protection, they can be confusing, leading to delays in filing the claim, hence the expiration of the set windows for bringing such claims. The laws also have nuanced distinctions on timelines that can make or break your claim. Therefore, you should hire a wrongful discharge attorney who understands these differences to ensure you work within the timelines and preserve your right to compensation.

  1. Special Procedures for Lodging Unlawful Termination Cases

Many statutes protecting against wrongful termination provide administrative remedies before you can submit a lawsuit against the employer. These administrative processes are designed to:

  • Allow the employer to remedy the situation in the workplace
  • Resolve the case through mediation instead of going directly to court
  • Allow law enforcers to conduct investigations on the alleged violations
  • Reduce the congestion in the legal system

However, these processes can shorten what seemed like an extended statute of limitations. As a terminated worker, you could be confused about the deadline for lodging a formal complaint or realize when it is too late to prepare for the court process adequately. For instance, if you file your wrongful termination claim under Title VII of federal law, you only have 180 days to prepare the case and submit it to the EEOC. Besides, you must handle other strict deadlines.

Failure to adhere to the provided procedures means the case could be dropped because of not exhausting all administrative remedies. On the other hand, trying to exhaust all administrative solutions could take up most of your time, leading to the expiry of the timeline set by law for filing the complaint. You can avoid confusion and delays by partnering with a sexual harassment attorney who will ensure you comply with all timelines.

  1. The Timeline For California’s Wrongful Termination

The window for lodging your lawsuit depends on your claim’s nature. However, you will have 24 to 36 months to submit a claim.

When the grounds for the unlawful termination is a breach of employment contract, the timeline for lodging a civil suit is 24 months. Also, you have 24 months to sue if the wrongful termination is based on a violation of public policy by the employer. Therefore, if you were illegally fired for the following, you should submit a claim within two years:

  • Exercising your constitutional rights, like claiming workers’ compensation benefits after a work-related injury
  • Decline to break the law on behalf of the company
  • Reporting possible violations like non-compliance with anti-discrimination policies by the employer
  • Undertaking a lawful duty

The timeline will be extended to 36 months if the unlawful discharge violates LC 1102.5 or the WARN Act. Additionally, you will have three years to sue the employer for wrongful discharge that violates FEHA.

Civil Lawsuit Preparations

The plaintiff and the defendant must prepare for the civil case adequately within the timeframe provided by the statute of limitations. As the plaintiff, you must prepare sufficiently within these timelines to ensure you file a successful lawsuit for harassment or wrongful discharge. The steps you must take are:

Retain the Services of a Profound Attorney

Hiring legal counsel should be the first step you take toward seeking compensation. Experienced attorneys understand local and federal laws that apply to your case and will help you gather evidence and file a claim within the required timeframe.

Recognize Workplace Discrimination and Sexual Harassment

Some victims of sexual harassment are reluctant to report, while society is quick to dismiss those who report. Therefore, you should start by understanding unlawful termination or unwanted conduct on the job that amounts to sexual harassment. A competent attorney will explain the wrongful termination, discrimination, or harassment, how it violates your rights, and the steps you can take to hold those responsible accountable. A reliable attorney will even review your employment contract and anti-discrimination policies at work to understand your situation and advise accordingly.

Exhaust Administrative Processes

Before filing a lawsuit in court, you must exhaust administrative remedies. If these do not resolve the matter adequately, that is when you sue the employer. Your attorney should explain these procedures and their importance so that you do not overlook them.

Commence Legal Action

There are strict deadlines for filing legal claims in court. Therefore, you must act immediately before the deadline lapses. Your attorney should gather evidence, interview witnesses, and file the relevant paperwork with the court.

Attend the Court Proceeding

You must prepare to submit crucial evidence in court for a favorable hearing. Your attorney will represent you in the hearing and will explain how you should conduct yourself, especially when testifying or giving your statement.

Once all sides present their evidence and statements before the EEOC or the civil court, the agency or judge will examine the facts presented to issue a verdict. If the decision is unfavorable, you can appeal. However, if you win the lawsuit, you will receive compensation for:

  • Lost wages
  • Emotional distress
  • Pain and suffering for illegal termination
  • Reimbursement for the legal fees and filing fees

In unique circumstances, the attorney can pursue punitive damages.

Find an Experienced Sexual Harassment Attorney Near Me

Wrongful termination and on-the-job harassment can cause massive financial losses, emotional distress, pain, and suffering. Therefore, if you have suffered these losses, you can lodge a lawsuit in court or through EEOC for compensation, depending on your case’s circumstances. However, you must exhaust administrative remedies first before the civil case. All this should happen within a given window; your claim will be dismissed.

At Empower Sexual Harassment Attorneys, we understand the time limits to bring a case and will gather evidence and prepare a lawsuit before the statute of limitations lapses. Call us today at 619-604-3027 to discuss your claim and the window for taking legal action in San Diego, CA.