The discrimination statute of limitations in California gives you three years from the last discriminatory act to file a complaint with the state’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).1California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12960 If you also want to preserve a federal claim, you have only 300 days to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 2000e-5 – Enforcement Provisions Miss either window and the door closes, no matter how strong the case behind it.
The Three-Year State Deadline
Most California workplace discrimination claims run through the CRD, formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Under FEHA, you have three years from the date the discrimination last occurred to submit an intake form. Filing with the CRD is not optional if you eventually want to sue: before you can bring a FEHA lawsuit, you must either complete the agency’s investigation process or request a right-to-sue notice.3Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process
FEHA’s anti-discrimination protections apply to employers with five or more employees, and its anti-harassment protections cover workplaces of any size.4California Civil Rights Department. Employment Discrimination Covered characteristics include race, religion, age (40 and over), disability, sex and gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, reproductive health decision-making, and military or veteran status, among others.5California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12940 Once the three-year window closes, the state claim is gone.
The 300-Day Federal Deadline
Federal anti-discrimination laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, are enforced by the EEOC. The baseline deadline for filing an EEOC charge is 180 days, but because California has its own enforcement agency, that period stretches to 300 days.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 2000e-5 – Enforcement Provisions That’s still far shorter than the three-year state deadline, and workers who focus only on the FEHA window often lose their federal rights without realizing it.
The CRD and EEOC operate under a worksharing agreement, so a complaint filed with one agency can be automatically dual-filed with the other.6Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 2 Section 10019 – Complaints Dual-Filed With the EEOC If you file with the CRD and your claim also falls under federal law, the CRD will typically share the charge with the EEOC.7California Civil Rights Department. Worksharing Agreement Between State of California Civil Rights Department and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission There’s a catch. If you request an immediate right-to-sue from the CRD instead of using the investigation process, the CRD will not send your complaint to the EEOC. You’d need to contact the EEOC yourself to preserve the federal claim.8Civil Rights Department. Obtain a Right to Sue
When the Clock Starts
The statute of limitations begins on the date the discriminatory act occurred. For clear-cut events, that’s the day you were fired, the day a demotion took effect, or the day you were denied a promotion. For harassment, it’s the last day the conduct occurred.
Pay discrimination follows a different rule. Under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, each paycheck that reflects a discriminatory pay decision resets the filing deadline.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 2000e-5 – Enforcement Provisions So if your employer set your salary lower than a colleague’s for a discriminatory reason years ago, every tainted paycheck counts as a fresh violation for deadline purposes.
California also allows a narrow extension for late discovery. If you first learn the facts of the unlawful practice within 90 days after the three-year window expires, you can get up to an additional 90 days to file.1California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12960 It does not help someone who suspected discrimination but didn’t look into it. You must have had no reasonable way to know.
Doctrines That Can Extend the Deadline
Continuing Violation
When an employer engages in an ongoing pattern of related discriminatory acts and at least one act falls within the filing period, the continuing violation doctrine can bring earlier acts back into play. Courts look at whether the acts are related enough to form a single unlawful practice rather than isolated incidents. The doctrine fits hostile work environment claims especially well, since no single comment may be actionable on its own but the cumulative pattern is.
Equitable Tolling
Equitable tolling pauses the clock when fairness demands it. In California, this often comes up when a worker is already pursuing an administrative remedy elsewhere. If you filed with the EEOC and are waiting for the outcome, the FEHA filing period may be tolled during that time so you aren’t forced to run two proceedings at once on the same facts. Tolling can also apply when an employer actively misled you about the reason for an adverse action, keeping you from recognizing the discrimination in time. Courts decide these cases individually, and tolling is never automatic.
The Deadline After a Right-to-Sue Notice
Filing a complaint is the first step. Before going to court, you need a right-to-sue notice from the relevant agency, and each notice starts its own separate clock.
After a CRD Notice
When you file with the CRD, you can let the agency investigate or request an immediate right-to-sue and go straight to court.3Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process9California Legislative Information. California Government Code 129658Civil Rights Department. Obtain a Right to Sue
After an EEOC Notice
The federal clock is tighter. Once the EEOC issues a right-to-sue notice, whether after completing its investigation or dismissing the charge, you have 90 days to file a lawsuit in federal court.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 2000e-5 – Enforcement Provisions You can request the notice before the investigation finishes, but the EEOC will only grant it if it determines it cannot complete the investigation within 180 days.10U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Filing a Lawsuit Ninety days is unforgiving. If the notice arrives on a Friday and you set it aside, the clock is already running.
Federal Employees Have a Much Shorter Window
If you work for a federal agency in California, none of the deadlines above apply to you in the usual way. Federal-sector employees must contact an Equal Employment Opportunity counselor at their agency within 45 days of the discriminatory event. That 45-day window is the strictest in employment discrimination law. If counseling doesn’t resolve the issue, you then have 15 days from the date you receive notice from the counselor to file a formal complaint with your agency’s EEO office.11U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Overview of Federal Sector EEO Complaint Process Federal workers who assume they have three years, or even 300 days, often find out too late.
Why the State Deadline Is Worth Protecting
Meeting the FEHA deadline matters for reasons beyond keeping the case alive. Federal law caps combined compensatory and punitive damages for intentional discrimination based on employer size:12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 1981a – Damages in Cases of Intentional Discrimination in Employment
- 15–100 employees: $50,000
- 101–200 employees: $100,000
- 201–500 employees: $200,000
- More than 500 employees: $300,000
FEHA has no equivalent cap. California does not limit compensatory or punitive damages in employment discrimination cases, so a state-court FEHA claim can produce a substantially larger award than a federal Title VII claim on the same facts. That advantage only survives if you filed with the CRD within three years and got into court within one year of your right-to-sue notice.9California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12965
Key Deadlines at a Glance
- CRD complaint (FEHA): 3 years from the last discriminatory act
- EEOC charge (federal): 300 days from the discriminatory act
- Federal employee EEO counselor contact: 45 days
- Federal employee formal complaint: 15 days after the counselor’s notice
- Lawsuit after a CRD right-to-sue notice: 1 year
- Lawsuit after an EEOC right-to-sue notice: 90 days
Every one of these deadlines is rigid. Filing with both the CRD and EEOC as early as possible protects both tracks, since the 300-day federal window closes long before the three-year state window, and one missed date can wipe out an entire category of relief.