Abramson Labor Group — Employment Lawyers Fighting for Oakland Workers
Oakland is one of the most diverse cities in the United States and one of the most economically dynamic in the Bay Area. It’s also a city where employment violations are pervasive — across the port, in the healthcare systems that employ tens of thousands, in the professional services and tech firms that have reshaped the local economy, in the hotels and restaurants that drive hospitality, and in the construction industry building the city’s future.
Abramson Labor Group represents Oakland workers in every major category of employment dispute. Our attorneys have more than 35 years of combined experience, over 500 five-star Google reviews, recognition from Super Lawyers, and a unanimous jury verdict in a workplace retaliation case. We work on contingency — you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Free consultations: (213) 493-6300
What Should I Do If I Was Wrongfully Terminated in Oakland?
If you’ve been fired and the reason doesn’t add up — or the timing lines up suspiciously with a complaint you filed, a medical leave you requested, a pregnancy you disclosed, or your age — you may have a wrongful termination claim under California law.
California is an at-will state, meaning most employees can be terminated for any lawful reason. But “any lawful reason” does an enormous amount of work in that sentence. Employers cannot fire you for a reason rooted in discrimination, in retaliation for exercising a legal right, or in violation of public policy. When they do, the termination is wrongful — and you may be entitled to lost wages, emotional distress damages, and potentially punitive damages.
Here’s what to do immediately after a termination you believe was unlawful. First, don’t sign a severance or separation agreement without having it reviewed by an attorney. Second, save any communications — emails, texts, Slack messages — related to the circumstances of your firing. Forward them to a personal account before you lose access. Third, write down everything you remember: dates, conversations, who said what, and who witnessed it. Fourth, call an employment lawyer. At Abramson Labor Group, the consultation is free and confidential.
Our wrongful termination attorneys will examine the full picture — the timeline of events, the employer’s stated reason versus the evidence, comparator treatment of other employees, and internal documents — to determine whether you have a case and what it may be worth.
Can I Sue My Employer for Discrimination in Oakland?
Yes. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act provides some of the broadest anti-discrimination protections in the country, and they apply fully to Oakland workers.
Under FEHA, it is illegal for any employer with five or more employees to discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age (40 and older), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, religion, or military and veteran status.
Discrimination doesn’t always look like an explicit slur or a blatant admission. More often, it appears as a pattern: the employee over 50 who keeps getting passed over for promotions that go to less-qualified younger colleagues. The Black employee who receives harsher discipline than white coworkers for the same infractions. The pregnant worker whose responsibilities are quietly reassigned until she’s told the position has been “restructured.” The employee with a disability whose accommodation requests are ignored or met with hostility.
Oakland’s workforce is among the most diverse in California. Roughly 21 percent of residents identify as Black or African American, 19 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 15 percent as Asian, and 27 percent as foreign-born. That diversity is one of Oakland’s greatest strengths — but it also means that when employers discriminate, the impact falls on communities that have historically been the most vulnerable to workplace abuse.
Our discrimination attorneys handle claims involving every protected category under FEHA, including racial discrimination, gender discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, religious discrimination, and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. If you’re being treated differently at work because of who you are, call us.
What Counts as Sexual Harassment Under California Law?
California recognizes two forms of sexual harassment, and both are illegal.
Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a supervisor or someone in a position of authority conditions a job benefit — a raise, a promotion, a favorable schedule, continued employment — on the employee’s submission to sexual advances or conduct. A single incident can be enough to establish this type of claim.
Hostile work environment harassment occurs when unwanted sexual conduct is severe enough or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would find intimidating, hostile, or abusive. This can include sexual comments, jokes, or innuendo. Unwanted touching or physical contact. Displaying sexually explicit images. Persistent requests for dates after being told no. Sexually charged emails, texts, or messages.
Employers are strictly liable for harassment committed by supervisors. For harassment by coworkers or third parties, employers are liable if they knew or should have known about the conduct and failed to take prompt corrective action. This means that if you reported harassment to HR and nothing changed — or if the harassment was so obvious that management should have noticed — your employer can be held accountable.
Our Oakland sexual harassment lawyers pursue claims against both the individual harasser and the employer, seeking lost wages, emotional distress damages, therapy and counseling costs, and punitive damages where the employer’s conduct was especially egregious.
How Do I Know If My Employer Is Stealing My Wages?
Wage theft is the most common employment violation in California, and many workers don’t recognize it because they’ve never been told what they’re actually owed. Here are the specific questions to ask yourself.
Are you earning at least the minimum wage for every hour worked? California’s statewide minimum wage is $16.90/hour as of 2026. But Oakland has its own minimum wage ordinance — the city’s rate is adjusted annually based on CPI and has consistently exceeded the state minimum. Oakland hotel workers at properties with 50 or more rooms are entitled to an even higher rate: $18.36/hour with employer-provided health benefits, or $24.48/hour without, as of 2025. If you’re earning less than the applicable minimum, your employer is violating the law.
Are you getting overtime pay? Non-exempt employees in California are entitled to 1.5 times their regular rate after 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double their regular rate after 12 hours in a day. If you’re working extra hours and your paycheck doesn’t reflect overtime premiums, that’s wage theft.
Are you receiving your meal and rest breaks? California law requires a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break before the end of the 5th hour of work, and a 10-minute paid rest break for every 4 hours worked. If your employer routinely skips, shortens, or interrupts these breaks — or expects you to work through them — you’re owed one additional hour of pay for each violation, per day.
Were you correctly classified? If your employer calls you an independent contractor but controls your schedule, your methods, and your assignments, you may be misclassified under California’s ABC test. If you’re classified as a salaried “exempt” employee but your job duties don’t actually qualify for an exemption, you may be owed years of unpaid overtime. Misclassification is one of the most expensive mistakes an employer can make — and one of the most lucrative claims an employee can bring.
Did you get your final paycheck on time? California law requires employers to pay all wages owed on the day of termination (or within 72 hours if the employee resigns without notice). Every day your employer is late, you’re owed one additional day’s wages as a penalty — for up to 30 days.
Our wage and overtime attorneys recover back pay, interest, waiting time penalties, pay stub penalties, and PAGA penalties on behalf of Oakland workers. If the violations are systemic — affecting multiple employees — a representative PAGA action can recover penalties for everyone.
What If My Employer Retaliates Against Me for Filing a Complaint?
Retaliation is illegal under multiple California statutes, and it’s one of the most commonly filed employment claims in the state — because employers do it constantly.
California law protects employees who engage in “protected activity,” which includes filing a discrimination or harassment complaint (internally or with a government agency), reporting wage violations, requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability, taking legally protected medical or family leave, reporting workplace safety hazards, refusing to participate in illegal conduct, or cooperating with a government investigation.
If your employer responds to any of these actions by terminating you, demoting you, cutting your hours, reassigning you to less desirable work, issuing unwarranted discipline, excluding you from opportunities, or creating conditions designed to force you to quit — that’s retaliation.
The legal standard requires showing a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse action. Timing is often the strongest evidence: if you were fired two weeks after filing an HR complaint, that timeline speaks for itself. But our attorneys also look at inconsistencies in the employer’s stated reason, departures from standard practices, comparator evidence, and internal communications that reveal the real motivation.
Retaliation claims can be brought under FEHA, the California Labor Code, and the California Whistleblower Protection Act, among other statutes. In many cases, the retaliation claim is stronger than the underlying complaint — even if the original issue is difficult to prove, the employer’s retaliatory response is often well- documented and indefensible.
Am I Protected If I Blow the Whistle on My Employer in California?
Yes. California Labor Code Section 1102.5 is one of the broadest whistle blower protection statutes in the country. It prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who disclose information to a government or law enforcement agency, to a person with authority over the employee, or to another employee with authority to investigate, correct, or report the violation — if the employee has reasonable cause to believe the information discloses a violation of state or federal law.
You don’t need to be right that a violation occurred. You need to have had a reasonable belief at the time you reported it. And you don’t need to report to an outside agency — reporting internally to a supervisor or compliance officer is protected conduct.
Oakland’s economy includes significant public-sector employment, healthcare systems, educational institutions, and organizations that receive public funding. In all of these settings, whistle blower claims arise with regularity — fraud, safety violations, misuse of funds, regulatory noncompliance, and retaliation against the employees who report them.
Additional protections apply under the California False Claims Act (for fraud involving government funds), Cal/OSHA (for workplace safety reports), and federal statutes like Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank (for financial and securities fraud).
What Are My Rights If I’m Injured at Work in Oakland?
Every California employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. If you suffer an injury or develop an illness as a result of your job, you’re entitled to medical treatment, temporary disability benefits (wage replacement while you recover), permanent disability benefits (if your injury causes lasting impairment), supplemental job displacement benefits (vouchers for retraining if you can’t return to your previous job), and death benefits for surviving family members in fatal cases.
Your entitlement to these benefits does not depend on who was at fault for the injury. Even if you made a mistake that contributed to the accident, you’re still covered. The only question is whether the injury arose out of and in the course of your employment.
The most common problems Oakland workers face with workers’ compensation claims include employers or insurers denying legitimate claims, delaying authorization for medical treatment, minimizing disability ratings to reduce payout amounts, and retaliating against employees for filing claims.
Our workers’ compensation attorneys represent injured workers at every stage — initial filing, medical treatment disputes, disability rating challenges, and appeals before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.
Can I File a Personal Injury Claim in Addition to a Workers’ Comp Claim?
Workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer for workplace injuries. But if a third party contributed to your injury — a equipment manufacturer, a property owner, a subcontractor — you may have a separate personal injury claim that allows you to recover additional damages, including pain and suffering, which workers’ comp does not cover.
Abramson Labor Group also handles personal injury cases outside the employment context, including wrongful death claims for families who have lost a loved one due to negligence, slip, trip, and fall accidents caused by unsafe property conditions, product liability claims involving defective equipment or consumer products, and car accident claims for injuries sustained in collisions.
Does Oakland Have Employment Laws Beyond California State Law?
Yes. Oakland has enacted several local ordinances that provide protections beyond what state law requires. If you work in Oakland, you may have additional rights that your employer isn’t telling you about.
Oakland Minimum Wage Ordinance (Measure FF):
Oakland sets its own minimum wage, adjusted annually by CPI. The rate has consistently exceeded California’s statewide minimum. All employers with employees who work at least 2 hours per week in Oakland must comply.
Oakland Hotel Minimum Wage and Working Conditions Ordinance:
Hotels with 50 or more guest rooms must pay a higher minimum wage ($18.36/hour with health benefits, $24.48/hour without, as of 2025). Covered hotel employers must provide panic buttons to employees who work alone in guest rooms, maintain workload limits, restrict mandatory overtime, and provide employees access to records of their daily workload and pay rate.
Oakland Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (Measure FF):
Employees who work at least 2 hours per week in Oakland accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with 10 or more employees must allow accrual up to 72 hours. Small employers (fewer than 10 employees) can cap accrual at 40 hours. The Oakland ordinance is more generous than the state minimum.
Worker Retention at Large-Scale Hospitality Businesses:
When large hospitality businesses change ownership, the new owner must retain existing workers for a transition period and cannot terminate them without cause during that period.
Oakland’s Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES)
enforces these local ordinances. But if your employer violates them, you may also have a private right of action — meaning you can sue to recover what you’re owed, plus penalties. Our attorneys can help you determine whether a local ordinance claim adds value to your case.
How Much Does an Oakland Employment Lawyer Cost?
At Abramson Labor Group, the answer is nothing — unless we win.
We handle every case on a contingency fee basis. There is no retainer, no hourly rate, no consultation fee, and no out-of-pocket cost at any stage of the process. We fund the investigation, the legal research, the filings, and the litigation ourselves. If we don’t recover money for you, you owe us nothing.
This isn’t unusual in employment law — it’s the standard model for firms that represent employees rather than employers. California law also allows prevailing employees to recover their attorney fees in many types of cases, including discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. The system is designed so that cost is never a barrier to justice.
What Damages Can I Recover in an Oakland Employment Case?
The answer depends on the type of claim, but California law provides for substantial recovery across most categories of employment violation.
Wrongful termination and discrimination:
Back pay (wages lost from the date of termination to resolution), front pay (future lost earnings if reinstatement isn’t feasible), emotional distress damages, out-of-pocket costs (job search expenses, medical bills), attorney fees, and in cases of egregious or willful misconduct, punitive damages.
Sexual harassment:
Compensatory damages for emotional distress, therapy and counseling costs, lost wages, and punitive damages against the harasser and/or employer.
Wage and hour violations:
Unpaid wages, interest, waiting time penalties (up to 30 days of additional wages for late final paychecks), pay stub violation penalties, and PAGA penalties that can aggregate to significant amounts in representative actions.
Retaliation and whistle blower claims:
Lost wages, emotional distress, reinstatement where appropriate, and attorney fees.
Workers’ compensation:
Medical treatment, temporary and permanent disability benefits, supplemental job displacement benefits, and death benefits.
Personal injury:
Medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and in some cases punitive damages.
Our attorneys evaluate the full scope of available damages during your free consultation, so you understand what your case may be worth before you decide to proceed.
How Long Do I Have to File an Employment Claim in Oakland?
Every claim type has its own statute of limitations, and missing the deadline means losing your right to sue — regardless of how strong your case is.
Discrimination and harassment (FEHA):
You must file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department within three years of the last discriminatory or harassing act. After receiving a right-to-sue notice, you have one year to file a lawsuit.
Wage and hour claims:
Most wage violations under the California Labor Code carry a three-year statute of limitations. Claims for breach of a written employment contract allow four years. PAGA claims must be filed within one year of the most recent violation.
Retaliation:
Timelines vary depending on the statute. FEHA retaliation claims follow the three-year CRD filing deadline. Labor Code retaliation claims (Section 1102.5) generally have a three-year statute of limitations.
Workers’ compensation:
Claims must generally be filed within one year of the date of injury, or within one year of the date you knew or should have known the injury was work-related.
Personal injury:
Generally two years from the date of injury.
These deadlines are why we recommend contacting an employment lawyer as early as possible. Evidence deteriorates. Witnesses forget. And administrative filing deadlines can arrive much faster than you expect.
Serving Oakland and the East Bay
Abramson Labor Group represents employees throughout Oakland and the broader East Bay, including:
- Downtown Oakland and Jack London Square
- West Oakland and the Port area
- East Oakland and the Fruitvale District
- Temescal, Rockridge, and Piedmont Avenue
- Lake Merritt and Grand Lake
- North Oakland and Emeryville
- Berkeley
- Alameda
- San Leandro
- Hayward
- Fremont
- Richmond
- Concord and Walnut Creek
- and communities throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties
Our firm is headquartered at 1700 W Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA 91506 and represents employees in every county in California.
Why Oakland Workers Choose Abramson Labor Group
We only represent employees. No corporate clients, no employer defense work. Every decision we make is oriented toward the best possible result for workers.
We’ve built our reputation on results. Over 500 five-star Google reviews. Five attorneys recognized by Super Lawyers and Rising Stars. More than 35 years of combined experience. A unanimous jury verdict in a retaliation case.
There’s no cost to you unless we win. Contingency representation means we take on the financial risk so you don’t have to.
We communicate. You’ll hear from us regularly, you’ll understand the strategy, and you’ll never be left wondering what’s happening with your case.
Contact an Oakland Employment Lawyer Today
If something is wrong at work — a firing that doesn’t make sense, treatment that feels discriminatory, wages that don’t add up, punishment for doing the right thing — don’t wait to find out whether you have a case. The consultation is free, confidential, and comes with no obligation.
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 Oakland and all of California.