Which California Employment Laws Protect You Depends on Your Employer’s Size
Michael Trust founded Michael Trust Law, APC after more than 35 years in HR leadership across entertainment, healthcare, higher education, finance, banking, solar energy, and other industries, including managing approximately 35,000 disability and leave-of-absence cases. He holds the SPHR, PHRca, and SHRM-SCP credentials. The PHRca is a California-specific HR credential focused on California employment law and HR practice. The SPHR, PHRca, and SHRM-SCP are HR credentials, not State Bar certifications. Michael Trust does not hold a State Bar certified specialization, and currently the State Bar of California does not offer a specialization in employment law. According to HRCI’s published pass-rate statistics at https://www.hrci.org/pass-rates, the PHRca has the lowest pass rate of all HRCI credentials (47% as of December 31, 2025, compared with 71% to 84% for HRCI’s other certifications), and only 293 candidates worldwide tested for it in 2025. That HR-systems background helps identify HR process issues early, which can shape legal analysis on both sides. Here, that background helps employees see which protections reach their job.
On this page: Protections by employer size | When to contact us
Protections by Employer Size
Many California worker protections start at a certain number of employees: four, five, 10, 15, 16, 20, 25, 50, 75, and 100. Find out how many people work for your employer, including part-time workers, and then find your line below.
This page lists the protections workers ask about most, and it is not a complete list. For example, it leaves out the federal wage law (the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA). It includes a few federal laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the federal COBRA health coverage law, and the federal WARN notice law, because they give separate rights or because they overlap with California law.
| If your employer has | You are protected by |
|---|---|
| Any number of employees (one or more) | Whistleblower retaliation protection; paid sick leave; lactation break time; protection from harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA); jury, witness, and crime victim court-time protections; a ban on employers asking about your salary history; the right to ask for the pay scale for your job; California’s equal pay law for sex, race, and ethnicity; safety programs, including heat illness rules; work permits for minors; time off to vote; state protection against immigration-related retaliation and unfair document practices; the right of a human trafficking victim to sue for damages and attorney’s fees |
| Four or more employees | The federal ban on citizenship-status and national-origin discrimination in hiring and firing (employers with three or fewer employees are excluded) |
| Five or more employees | FEHA discrimination and retaliation protection, including disability accommodation (the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and FEHA overlap, and Title VII and FEHA overlap; see the note below the table); the California Family Rights Act (CFRA); pregnancy disability leave; bereavement leave; reproductive loss leave; national-origin protection that includes holders of certain driver’s licenses |
| 15 or more employees | Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin); the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); pay scale in job postings; organ and bone marrow donor leave |
| 16 or more employees (more than 15) | Civil Air Patrol leave |
| 19 or fewer employees | Cal-COBRA, the state’s continued health coverage law for employers with two to 19 eligible employees |
| 20 or more employees | Federal COBRA continued health coverage |
| 25 or more employees | School and child care leave (at your location); leave for family members of crime victims; military spouse leave; alcohol and drug rehabilitation accommodation |
| 50 or more employees | The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); training leave for volunteer firefighters, reserve peace officers, and emergency rescue personnel |
| 75 or more employees (at your workplace) | Cal-WARN, the state’s advance-notice law for mass layoffs, relocations, and terminations (a facility that employs, or within the past 12 months employed, 75 or more persons) |
| 100 or more employees | Federal WARN, the federal advance-notice law for plant closings and mass layoffs (100 or more employees, not counting part-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week, not counting overtime) |
Title VII and the ADA apply to employers with 15 or more employees. In California, FEHA covers the same ground at a lower headcount (five), so for most California employers FEHA is the law that does the work, and many people use “Title VII” or “ADA” to mean both the federal law and FEHA. 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e(b) (opens in a new tab), 12111(5)(A) (opens in a new tab); Cal. Gov’t Code § 12926(d) (opens in a new tab); Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, § 11008(d).
Cal-WARN counts the persons a facility employs now or has employed in the past 12 months, and federal WARN does not count part-time employees, meaning employees who average fewer than 20 hours a week or have worked fewer than six of the past 12 months. Cal. Lab. Code § 1400.5 (opens in a new tab); 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(1), (8) (opens in a new tab).
For more on these protections, see Leaves and Disability, Wage and Hour, Wrongful Termination, Age Discrimination, Other Discrimination, and Sexual Harassment.
When to Contact Us
If something at your job is not right and it has affected you, contact Michael Trust Law, APC for help with resolving it.
If something at your job is not right and it has affected you, contact Michael Trust Law, APC. That includes a termination, a performance improvement plan, discipline, retaliation, discrimination, or harassment, whether you still work there or not. Deadlines to act can be short, so please call or email promptly. A no-charge consultation is a first conversation about your own situation, and we will tell you whether and how we can help.
No attorney-client relationship exists until a fee agreement is fully executed by all parties. See Disclaimers.
Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 12926 (opens in a new tab), 12940 (opens in a new tab), 12945 (opens in a new tab), 12945.2 (opens in a new tab), 12945.6 (opens in a new tab), 12945.7 (opens in a new tab), 12945.8 (opens in a new tab), 100032 (opens in a new tab); Cal. Lab. Code §§ 98.6 (opens in a new tab), 230.3 (opens in a new tab), 230.4 (opens in a new tab), 230.8 (opens in a new tab), 244 (opens in a new tab), 246 (opens in a new tab), 432.3 (opens in a new tab), 1019 (opens in a new tab), 1019.1 (opens in a new tab), 1025 (opens in a new tab), 1030 (opens in a new tab), 1102.5 (opens in a new tab), 1171.5 (opens in a new tab), 1197.5 (opens in a new tab), 1501 (opens in a new tab), 1509 (opens in a new tab); Cal. Civ. Code §§ 52.5 (opens in a new tab), 52.6 (opens in a new tab); Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §§ 11008, 11035; 29 U.S.C. §§ 1161 (opens in a new tab), 2611 (opens in a new tab); 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e(b) (opens in a new tab), 12111(5) (opens in a new tab); 8 U.S.C. § 1324b (opens in a new tab).
Not Sure Which Protections Apply to You?
Michael Trust Law, APC helps California employees with problems at work. Contact Michael Trust Law, APC to discuss your situation.
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