Employees Can Seek Damages for Wrongful Termination After a Medical Disclosure

Employees fired after disclosing a medical condition, including a pregnancy, have three years to file a discrimination complaint with the state.
JLG Lawyers represents employees exclusively and now applies a defined intake standard to employees fired after disclosing a medical condition across Los Angeles and California.
Initial consultations and contingency or hybrid fee arrangements let fired employees learn whether they have a claim without paying anything upfront.

Glendale, CA, July 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Employees fired after disclosing a medical condition in California are turning to JLG Lawyers, a Glendale employment law firm that represents employees exclusively and applies a defined intake standard to these terminations across Los Angeles and the rest of the state. State law gives most workers three years to file a discrimination complaint after a firing, and the employers on the other side are usually far better resourced. The firm confirms three criteria before taking a matter: the termination happened within the last three years, the employee hasn’t signed a severance agreement, and no other attorney is already on the case.

"For many people, losing a job is one of the most stressful moments of their working life, and they don't always know where to turn," said Alex Tieu, CEO of JLG Lawyers. "We built the firm around one side of that equation, representing employees, so that anyone in that position has a place to start."

California Law Protects Employees Fired After Disclosing a Pregnancy

California's Fair Employment and Housing Act and the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act make it unlawful to fire or refuse to accommodate an employee because of pregnancy or a related medical condition. An employee who is fired days or weeks after telling a manager she’s pregnant is describing the pattern JLG Lawyers screens for first where the timing itself is evidence. The firm handles pregnancy discrimination claims in California for employees across Los Angeles and the rest of the state, including firings framed as performance problems that follow a pregnancy announcement or an accommodation request. A worker asking for time off for prenatal appointments is asking for an accommodation California law recognizes, and a termination that follows quickly hands a jury a timeline to weigh. In the firm's experience, the strongest pregnancy cases pair a documented announcement with a sudden change in how the employee was treated afterward, and the review of that timeline costs the employee nothing.

Employees Fired After Disclosing an Illness Can Pursue Disability Discrimination Claims

The pattern JLG Lawyers sees often in its highest value cases starts with a disclosure, where an employee tells their employer about a diagnosis and asks for time off for treatment or a lighter schedule while they recover. California's Fair Employment and Housing Act requires employers to consider reasonable accommodations for a known medical condition, such as treatment leave or a modified schedule. When the request is denied and the employee is terminated soon after, that order of events can support a medical and disability discrimination claim. The facts that carry weight in front of a jury include a doctor's note on file, a written request for leave, a denial, and a termination that followed. The scenario JLG Lawyers cites internally as its clearest case profile is a twenty year employee with strong reviews who’s fired weeks after disclosing a cancer diagnosis and requesting time off for treatment.

Contingency and Hybrid Fees Let California Employees Pursue Discrimination Claims Without Paying Upfront

JLG Lawyers handles discrimination termination cases on contingency, meaning the fee is a percentage of any settlement or verdict and the employee pays nothing unless the case succeeds. A contingency arrangement covers attorney fees; case costs such as filing fees and expert witnesses are typically advanced by the firm and recovered from the result. A firm should walk a prospective client through exactly how its fees work before any agreement is signed so the client understands the full cost structure from the outset. This structure exists because employees with the strongest discrimination claims have usually just lost their income.

JLG Lawyers Builds Cases Anticipating How Employers Defend Them

Case value in a discrimination termination turns on two measures JLG Lawyers evaluates at intake: what the employee earned and how long they were there. A six-figure salary raises the economic damages at stake, and a long employment history undercuts the performance narrative employers reach for. Founded by Michael Jaurigue and Alexandra Tieu, the firm draws on backgrounds spanning Fortune 100 employment defense, so each claim is prepared anticipating how a well-resourced employer will defend it. The firm accepts California cases where the termination happened within the last three years, where the employee hasn’t signed a severance agreement, and where no other attorney is already on the matter. Employees who report conduct they reasonably believe is unsafe or illegal and are then terminated may also have a retaliation claim alongside a discrimination claim.

For employees fired after disclosing a medical condition in California, the timing of the termination remains the central question in a wrongful termination claim, and the three-year filing window makes early review the difference between a documented case and a missed one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What makes a wrongful termination case high value in California?
Answer: Value tracks two things: the size of the economic loss and the strength of the discrimination or retaliation evidence. Salary, tenure, and how closely termination followed a protected disclosure, illness, pregnancy, or misconduct report, all factor in. JLG Lawyers evaluates salary, tenure, and timeline at intake to determine what a case is worth.

Question: Can my employer fire me in California after I tell them I am sick?
Answer: No. Firing someone because of a known medical condition is illegal in California, and a termination that closely follows a disclosure or accommodation request is strong evidence of disability discrimination. JLG Lawyers screens these timelines for free, looking for a disclosure, a request, a denial, then the firing.

Question: What should I do if I was fired right after announcing my pregnancy?
Answer: Document everything first, the announcement, any accommodation requests, and the termination notice, then contact an employment lawyer promptly. Pregnancy firings are treated as serious discrimination claims in California, and timing matters: a firing that closely follows an announcement strengthens the claim. JLG Lawyers reviews these timelines for free.

Question: How long do I have to file a wrongful termination claim in California?
Answer: It depends on the theory: two years for an oral or implied contract or public policy claim, three years to file with the Civil Rights Department for FEHA discrimination or retaliation, and four years for a written contract claim. JLG Lawyers' cases center on discrimination, so the three-year CRD window usually applies, and earlier filing is stronger.

About JLG Lawyers:

JLG Lawyers is a Glendale, California employment law firm founded by Michael Jaurigue and Alexandra Tieu, built to serve people, not just cases. The firm represents employees exclusively in matters involving wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wage and hour violations. Rather than relying on quick case valuations, JLG invests in developing each matter thoroughly, gathering evidence, documenting impact and positioning claims for maximum strength. That approach is paired with the transparency and efficiency of a modern business, informed by the founders' backgrounds spanning Fortune 100 employment defense and real estate/technology entrepreneurship.

Sarah Evans
Head of PR, Zen Media
sarah@zenmedia.com

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