Before You Sign Anything, Read This
You were called into a conference room — or a Zoom — and told your position is being eliminated. You were handed a severance agreement and given 21 days to sign. The document is dense, full of legal language, and includes a release of claims, a non-disparagement clause, and maybe a non-compete. HR was polite but clear: sign this, or walk away with nothing.
This is the moment most Irvine professionals lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars — not because they don’t have rights, but because they don’t know what those rights are worth before they sign them away.
Abramson Labor Group is an employment law firm that represents employees — never employers. We have more than 35 years of combined experience, over 500 five-star Google reviews, five attorneys recognized by Super Lawyers and Rising Stars, and a track record that includes a unanimous jury verdict in a retaliation case. We represent Irvine workers across tech, finance, biotech, gaming, defense, healthcare, and every other industry and every case is handled on contingency. You pay nothing unless we win.
Free case evaluations: (213) 493-6300
Moment One: You Were Just Laid Off
Irvine is home to more than 17,000 companies, many of them in tech, cybersecurity, gaming, biotech, medical devices, and professional services. Corporate restructurings, RIFs, and mass layoffs are a regular feature of this economy — and when they happen, the company has a team of lawyers protecting its interests. You should too.
The Severance Agreement Sitting in Front of You
Most severance agreements are designed to benefit the employer, not the employee. They typically include a general release of claims (you waive your right to sue for anything — discrimination, retaliation, unpaid wages, wrongful termination), a non-disparagement clause (you agree not to say anything negative about the company), a confidentiality clause (you agree not to disclose the terms), and sometimes a non-compete or non-solicitation restriction.
What most people don’t know: Severance packages are almost always negotiable. The first offer is the company’s opening position. Employees with strong performance records, long tenure, access to sensitive
information, or potential legal claims (discrimination, retaliation, WARN Act violations) often have significant leverage to negotiate a better package — more money, extended benefits, equity acceleration, a neutral reference, or removal of restrictive clauses.
What California law protects: Under the Silenced No More Act (SB 331), confidentiality provisions in severance agreements cannot prevent you from disclosing information about workplace harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. Any clause that attempts to silence you on these topics is unenforceable.
Additionally, if you’re over 40, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requires your employer to give you at least 21 days to consider the agreement and 7 days to revoke it after signing.
Before you sign, call us. A single conversation with an employment lawyer can reveal whether you’re leaving money on the table — or signing away a claim that’s worth far more than the package being offered. (213) 660- 4461
California WARN Act Violations
California’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers with 75 or more employees to provide 60 days’ written notice before conducting a mass layoff (50 or more employees at a single site), a plant closure, or a relocation. If your employer failed to give adequate notice, you may be entitled to back pay and benefits for every day of the shortfall — up to 60 days of full compensation.
In Irvine’s fast-moving corporate environment, WARN violations happen more often than you’d expect.
Companies announce layoffs effective immediately, offer severance “in lieu of notice” without disclosing the legal obligation, or structure layoffs in waves to stay below the 50-employee threshold. All of these tactics can give rise to claims.
Moment Two: You Were Treated Differently Because of Who You Are
Irvine’s corporate campuses are filled with talented professionals from every background. But behind the polished facades, discrimination persists — often in subtle, systemic forms that are harder to see but no less damaging.
What Discrimination Looks Like in a Corporate Setting
Being passed over for promotions that consistently go to less-qualified colleagues of a different race, gender, or age. Receiving lower compensation than peers doing the same work. Being excluded from high-visibility projects, client meetings, or leadership development programs. Having your role quietly diminished after disclosing a pregnancy, a disability, or a need for accommodation. Being managed out through escalating performance reviews that don’t match your actual contributions. Being selected for layoff while younger, cheaper replacements are hired into similar roles.
What the Law Says
The Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age (40+), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, religion, and military/veteran status. FEHA covers employers with 5 or more employees.
Age discrimination in tech and corporate layoffs is a particularly active area of enforcement. When mass layoffs disproportionately affect workers over 40, it raises a presumption of disparate impact — even if the company claims the selections were performance-based. If the layoff criteria (recent hire date, salary level, “cultural fit”) tend to eliminate older workers, the employer faces liability.
Damages include back pay, front pay, emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees. There is no statutory cap on FEHA damages.
Moment Three: You Were Harassed
Sexual harassment doesn’t happen only in blue-collar workplaces. It happens in corner offices, at corporate retreats, in one-on-ones with managers who control your career trajectory, and in cultures that tolerate “locker room” behavior as long as the numbers are good.
What the Law Says
California law prohibits quid pro quo harassment (career advancement conditioned on sexual compliance) and hostile work environment harassment (severe or pervasive unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that alters your working conditions). Employers are strictly liable for harassment committed by supervisors. For coworker or third-party harassment, employers are liable if they knew or should have known and failed to act.
What you should know about HR: HR works for the company, not for you. Filing an internal complaint can be an important step, but it can also be used against you if the company retaliates. Before filing internally, consider consulting an employment lawyer who can help you document the situation, preserve evidence, and protect yourself from retaliation.
The Silenced No More Act ensures that any NDA or confidentiality agreement you signed during employment cannot prevent you from disclosing facts about harassment or discrimination. You can speak about what happened to you — to a lawyer, to an investigator, to the Civil Rights Department — regardless of what you signed.
Moment Four: You Were Fired and the Reason Doesn’t Add Up
California is an at-will state. But “at-will” has limits — and those limits are where wrongful termination claims live.
Terminations That Are Illegal Under California Law
Discriminatory termination: Firing motivated by race, gender, age, disability, pregnancy, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other protected characteristic.
Retaliatory termination: Firing in response to a complaint about discrimination, harassment, or safety. Firing for requesting medical leave, disability accommodation, or pregnancy leave. Firing for reporting fraud, regulatory violations, or illegal activity. Firing for participating in a government investigation. Firing for refusing to do something illegal.
WARN Act violations: Termination as part of a mass layoff without the required 60 days’ notice.
Breach of contract: Termination that violates an express employment agreement, an implied contract created by company policies or handbooks, or an oral promise of continued employment.
The Pattern to Watch For
In corporate settings, wrongful termination rarely looks like a single dramatic firing. It looks like a pattern: a previously excellent employee suddenly receives negative performance reviews shortly after filing a complaint, requesting FMLA leave, disclosing a disability, or approaching the age where their salary and benefits become “expensive.” The escalating documentation creates a paper trail that the company uses to justify the eventual termination. Our job is to show that the paper trail was pretextual — that the real reason was illegal.
Moment Five: You Reported Something Wrong and Paid for It
Irvine’s corporate economy — tech, defense, biotech, finance — generates situations where employees discover that their employer is breaking the law. Falsifying financial reports. Cutting corners on product safety. Violating data privacy regulations. Discriminating against customers or employees. Billing the government fraudulently. Ignoring regulatory requirements.
What the Law Says
California Whistleblower Protection Act (Labor Code Section 1102.5): Prohibits retaliation against any employee who reports a reasonably suspected violation of law to a supervisor, a government agency, or a person with authority to investigate. You don’t have to prove the violation occurred — a reasonable belief is enough. Remedies include reinstatement, back pay, and damages.
California False Claims Act: Provides additional protections and financial incentives for employees who report fraud against the government — particularly relevant for Irvine’s defense and healthcare sectors.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Protects employees of publicly traded companies who report securities fraud, shareholder deception, or violations of SEC regulations.
Dodd-Frank Act: Provides whistleblower protections and financial rewards for employees who report violations of securities law to the SEC.
What Retaliation Looks Like
Being transferred, demoted, or reassigned to less desirable duties. Having your responsibilities quietly stripped. Being excluded from communications and meetings. Receiving sudden negative performance evaluations after years of positive ones. Being laid off as part of a “restructuring” that conveniently includes you. Being forced out through intolerable working conditions (constructive termination).
If you reported something illegal and your employer made your job worse in any way, call us. (213) 660-4461
Wage and Hour Claims for Irvine Professionals
Not every employment violation in Irvine involves a layoff or discrimination. Many involve pay.
Exempt Status Misclassification
To be legally exempt from overtime in California, an employee must earn at least twice the state minimum wage on a salary basis — $70,720/year in 2026 — and spend more than 50 percent of their time on genuinely executive, administrative, or professional duties. Many Irvine companies classify employees as exempt (and pay them a salary) even when their actual work is primarily routine, task-based, or non-managerial. If this is you, you may be owed years of unpaid overtime, meal break premiums, and rest break premiums.
Commission and Bonus Disputes
If your compensation includes commissions or bonuses, California law treats them as earned wages — not discretionary gifts. Once earned, they cannot be withheld, clawed back, or forfeited, even after termination. If your employer changed the commission structure retroactively, denied a bonus you earned, or refused to pay commissions on deals closed before your departure, you have a claim.
Final Paycheck Violations
California requires that all wages owed — including accrued vacation — be paid on the date of termination. For employees who resign with notice, payment is due within 72 hours. Every day of delay triggers waiting time penalties equal to one day’s wages, up to 30 days. In a high-salary market like Irvine, those penalties can be substantial.
Workers’ Compensation and Personal Injury
Workers’ Compensation
Even in an office or corporate setting, workplace injuries happen — repetitive stress injuries from prolonged computer use, falls on commercial property, car accidents during work travel, and stress-related conditions exacerbated by workplace harassment or toxic environments. Every California employer must carry workers’ compensation insurance, and benefits include medical treatment, temporary and permanent disability payments, and supplemental job displacement.
Personal Injury
Abramson Labor Group also handles personal injury cases, including wrongful death, slip and fall injuries, product liability, and car accidents. If negligence caused your injury, you may be entitled to full compensation for medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering.
How We Take Your Case
Free consultation. You tell us what happened. We assess the strength of your claim, what it could be worth, and the best strategy. Confidential. No cost. No obligation.
Investigation. We gather employment records, performance reviews, communications, compensation data, and witness accounts. In corporate cases, the evidence is often in emails, Slack messages, and HR files — and we
know how to obtain it.
Negotiation or litigation. We present your case with evidence and a clear demand. If the employer settles, you get your money. If they don’t, we go to court. We have a unanimous jury verdict and the courtroom experience to back every claim.
You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Serving Irvine and Orange County
Abramson Labor Group represents employees throughout Irvine and the broader Orange County area, including the Irvine Spectrum, University Research Park, UCI area, Irvine Business Complex, Woodbridge, Northwood, Turtle Rock, Quail Hill, Great Park neighborhoods, Tustin, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, and Anaheim.
Our firm is headquartered at 1700 W Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA 91506, and we represent employees in every county in California.
Questions Irvine Professionals Ask Us
Not before having it reviewed by an employment lawyer. Severance agreements are drafted to protect the company, not you. They typically include a full release of claims — meaning you give up your right to sue for discrimination, retaliation, unpaid compensation, and everything else. An attorney can identify whether you have claims worth more than the offer, negotiate better terms, and ensure you’re not waiving rights you don’t know you have. This review is free.
Yes. A layoff does not immunize an employer from liability. If you were selected for layoff based on your age, race, gender, disability, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic — or if the layoff followed a complaint, a leave request, or a report of illegal activity — you may have a discrimination or retaliation claim regardless of how the company characterizes the termination.
California Business and Professions Code Section 16600 renders non-compete agreements virtually unenforceable in the state. With narrow exceptions (such as the sale of a business), your employer cannot restrict your right to work for a competitor or start a competing business after your employment ends. If a non- compete clause is included in your severance agreement, it should be challenged.
Under the Silenced No More Act (SB 331), no agreement can prevent you from disclosing information about workplace harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. This applies regardless of when the NDA was signed. You can speak to a lawyer, a government investigator, or the Civil Rights Department about what happened.
Possibly not. California’s exempt classification test is stricter than the federal standard. You must earn at least twice the state minimum wage as a salary ($70,720/year in 2026) AND spend more than half your working time on executive, administrative, or professional duties — not routine tasks. If your actual work doesn’t match the exempt criteria, you’re entitled to overtime, meal break premiums, and rest break premiums going back three years.
Deadlines vary. Discrimination and harassment claims: three years with the Civil Rights Department. Wage claims: three years. WARN Act claims: generally three years. PAGA claims: one year. Severance agreement review periods: often 21 days, sometimes less. The most important deadline is the one you don’t know about — call as soon as possible.
Why Irvine Professionals Choose Abramson Labor Group
Employee-side only. We represent workers — never employers. No conflicts.
Corporate-level experience. We understand how layoffs are structured, how severance agreements are drafted, how discrimination is disguised as restructuring, and how companies build paper trails to justify illegal terminations. We’ve seen the playbook and we know how to beat it.
Proven results. Over 500 five-star Google reviews. Five attorneys on Super Lawyers and Rising Stars. A unanimous jury verdict in a retaliation case. More than 35 years of combined experience.
Zero cost unless we win. Contingency representation. No retainer. No hourly billing. The financial risk is entirely ours.
Contact an Irvine Employment Lawyer Today
Whether you’re negotiating a severance package, questioning a layoff that doesn’t add up, dealing with discrimination that HR won’t address, or sitting on evidence of corporate wrongdoing — the next move matters. Your consultation is free. Your case costs you nothing unless we win. And the window to act may be shorter than you think.
Phone: (213) 493-6300 Address: 1700 W Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA 91506 Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM Website: abramsonlaborgroup.com
Free consultations. No fees unless we win. Serving Irvine, Orange County, and all of California.