Jurisdiction: California, Los Angeles County
Workers in Los Angeles face a wide range of employment disputes, from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation to wrongful termination, unpaid wages and overtime, denied medical or pregnancy leave, and whistleblower retaliation. California gives employees some of the strongest workplace protections in the country, including the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), which the California Civil Rights Department enforces, and a Labor Code with wage and hour rules that go well beyond federal law. The firms below all represent employees in these disputes across Los Angeles County.
Here Is The List of Best Los Angeles Employment Law Attorneys & Law Firms:
1. Shirazi Law Firm, P.C.
Firm Details
- Attorney: Emanuel Shirazi
- Founded: 2011
- Headquarters: 9454 Wilshire Blvd, Penthouse, Beverly Hills, CA 90212
- Phone: (310) 400-5891
- Website: Shirazi Law Firm
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Disability Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodation, Pregnancy Discrimination, FMLA, CFRA, Medical Leave Retaliation, Wrongful Termination, Sexual Harassment, Hostile Work Environment, Whistleblower Retaliation, Wage & Hour, Employee Misclassification
- Firm Size: Boutique employee-side employment law firm
- Google Rating: 5.0 ★★★★★ (44 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
Shirazi Law Firm, P.C. is an employee-side employment practice led by founder Emanuel Shirazi. Before representing employees, Shirazi defended employers at some of the nation's largest employment law firms and later became a partner at a large California firm, experience he now uses to anticipate how employers build their defenses.
Disability, pregnancy, and medical leave claims are the center of the firm's practice. Its published results include more than $2.4 million in a failure to provide medical leave case, more than $2.1 million in a disability discrimination case, and more than $1.6 million in a pregnancy discrimination case.
Clients work directly with Shirazi from the first call through resolution. He has presented on trial tips in employment cases for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the firm handles cases on contingency.
2. Law Offices of Reisner & King LLP
Firm Details
- Attorneys: Adam Reisner and Tessa King, Founding Partners
- Founded: 1999
- Headquarters: 15303 Ventura Blvd, Suite 1260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
- Phone: (818) 981-0901
- Website: Reisner & King
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Workplace Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Whistleblower Claims, Retaliation, Wrongful Termination, Wage & Hour, Meal & Rest Breaks, Commission & Bonus Disputes, Unpaid Overtime, CFRA, FMLA, Severance Agreements, Title IX, Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Boutique with five attorneys
- Google Rating: 3.0 ★★★ (18 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
The Law Offices of Reisner & King LLP was founded in 1999 by Adam Reisner and Tessa King and represents employees in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County, and throughout California. The firm handles FEHA discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims along with wrongful discharge, whistleblower, unpaid wage and overtime, meal and rest period, CFRA, and FMLA cases.
Reisner brings more than 25 years of civil litigation experience with a concentration in discrimination and retaliation matters. King is known for her work on pregnancy discrimination and leave law cases.
The firm is selective about the cases it accepts and prepares cases with trial in mind. It also maintains a personal injury practice.
3. MM Law, APC
Firm Details
- Attorney: Maralle Messrelian, Founder and Managing Attorney
- Headquarters: 500 N Brand Blvd, Suite 2000, Glendale, CA 91203
- Phone: (747) 302-6922
- Website: MM Law, APC
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Wage & Hour, Wrongful Termination, Workplace Discrimination & Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Retaliation, Whistleblower Retaliation, Overtime, Meal & Rest Breaks, Family & Medical Leave, Pregnancy Discrimination, Hostile Work Environment, Racial Discrimination, Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Boutique firm led by its founder
- Google Rating: 5.0 ★★★★★ (66 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
MM Law, APC is a Glendale employment law firm founded and led by managing attorney Maralle Messrelian. The firm handles Labor Code violations, wage and hour disputes, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and unfair business practice claims, and it accepts cases from Los Angeles County and throughout Northern and Southern California.
Before founding MM Law, Messrelian practiced as an associate at a trial firm. Her firm also handles personal injury and property damage claims alongside its employment practice.
Messrelian speaks fluent Armenian and conversational Spanish. The firm offers free, confidential consultations.
4. Kramer Brown Hui LLP
Firm Details
- Attorneys: Jennifer Kramer, Sam Brown, and Shoshee Hui, Partners
- Headquarters: 3600 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1908, Los Angeles, CA 90010
- Phone: (213) 310-8301
- Website: Kramer Brown Hui LLP
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Workplace Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Wrongful Termination, Retaliation, Wage & Hour, Overtime, Minimum Wage, Employee Misclassification, Whistleblower Claims, Qui Tam, Claims by Public Entity Employees
- Firm Size: Boutique employee-side firm with three partners and a supporting attorney team
- Google Rating: 4.0 ★★★★ (33 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
Kramer Brown Hui LLP, formerly Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh LLP, is a Koreatown-based firm that represents employees only. It handles individual, multi-plaintiff, representative, and class action matters involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, wage and hour violations, and whistleblower claims.
Partner Jennifer Kramer focuses on complex employment litigation in state and federal court, sits on the Executive Board of the California Employment Lawyers Association, and was named to the Super Lawyers Top 50 Women Attorneys of Southern California list for 2024 through 2026. Partner Sam Brown, a former law clerk to Judge George Wu of the Central District of California, leads the firm's False Claims Act (qui tam) whistleblower practice. Partner Shoshee Hui focuses on discrimination, harassment, whistleblower retaliation, and wrongful termination.
The firm also represents public entity employees, including in Kamali v. State of California Department of Transportation, which resulted in a $1.8 million judgment. Services are available in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and cases are handled on a no recovery, no fee basis.
5. Nosrati Law, APLC
Firm Details
- Attorney: Omid Nosrati, Founder
- Founded: 2003
- Headquarters: 1801 Century Park East, Suite 840, Los Angeles, CA 90067
- Phone: (323) 784-0643
- Website: Nosrati Law
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Wrongful Termination, Workplace Discrimination, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment, Hostile Work Environment, Whistleblower Protection, FMLA, CFRA, Wage & Hour, Employment Class Actions
- Firm Size: Boutique employee-side firm; the firm cites more than 40 years of combined attorney experience
- Google Rating: 4.8 ★★★★★ (117 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
Nosrati Law, APLC is a Century City employment firm founded by Omid Nosrati, a 2001 Loyola Law School graduate who has represented only employees, never employers, throughout his career. He established his own practice in 2003.
Nosrati has been selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2018 through 2026 and was named one of the Top 100 Labor and Employment Lawyers in California by the American Society of Legal Advocates from 2016 through 2018. He is admitted before the Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California and the Ninth Circuit.
He has represented employees in widely reported cases against The Walt Disney Company (2021), Robinhood (2022), and Netflix (2025). The firm's published results include a $1.65 million whistleblower retaliation recovery and several wage and hour class action settlements. Nosrati speaks Farsi.
6. Park APC
Firm Details
- Attorneys: Sang (James) Park and Sook Won
- Headquarters: 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
- Phone: (310) 627-2964
- Website: Park APC
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Workplace Discrimination, Pregnancy Discrimination, Age Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, Family & Medical Leave Discrimination, Wrongful Termination, Wage & Hour, Sexual Harassment, Whistleblower Claims, Hostile Work Environment, Employee Misclassification
- Firm Size: Two-attorney boutique representing employees only
- Google Rating: View on Google
About the Firm
Park APC is a Beverly Hills employment firm that represents employees exclusively. Attorney Sang (James) Park, a UCLA School of Law graduate, practiced at both defense-side and plaintiff-side firms before focusing on employee representation.
Park has tried employment cases to verdict and argued before the Ninth Circuit and the California Court of Appeal. He is a graduate of the California Employment Lawyers Association Trial College, and his class action work includes a $10 million settlement for employees of a nationwide retailer.
Attorney Sook Won, also a UCLA Law graduate, brings nearly 20 years of complex litigation experience, including directing the recovery of more than $100 million for clients affected by the Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi scheme. The firm offers free case evaluations with no upfront costs.
7. Briana Kim, PC
Firm Details
- Attorney: Briana M. Kim, Principal
- Headquarters: 249 E Ocean Blvd, Suite 814, Long Beach, CA 90802
- Phone: (714) 482-6301
- Website: Briana Kim, PC
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Wage & Hour, Unpaid Wages, Overtime, Prevailing Wages, PAGA Claims, Wrongful Termination, Workplace Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Retaliation, Whistleblower Claims, FMLA, Leave of Absence, Employee Misclassification, Severance Agreements, Equal Pay
- Firm Size: Boutique led by its principal attorney
- Google Rating: 4.9 ★★★★★ (32 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
Briana Kim, PC is a Long Beach employment law practice led by Briana Kim, who represents employees in individual and class claims for discrimination, wrongful termination, and wage and hour violations.
Before opening her own practice, Kim worked at Jose Garay, APLC, a class action firm in Irvine, where she litigated wage and hour class actions and advised technology employees on layoffs, severance packages, and retaliation.
The firm handles Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims and reviews and negotiates severance agreements. It serves the Korean community, with a website available in both English and Korean.
8. Law Office of Esperanza Cervantes Anderson
Firm Details
- Attorney: Esperanza Cervantes Anderson
- Headquarters: 1037 Allen Ave, Pasadena, CA 91103
- Phone: (626) 219-6773
- Website: Esperanza Anderson
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Workplace Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Wrongful Termination, Wage & Hour, Unpaid Overtime, Retaliation, Whistleblower Retaliation, Hostile Work Environment, Employee Misclassification, Employment Contracts
- Firm Size: Solo practice
- Google Rating: 4.0 ★★★★ (4 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
The Law Office of Esperanza Cervantes Anderson is a Pasadena employment practice. Anderson is a Georgetown University Law Center graduate who developed her employment law experience at global law firms representing Fortune 500 companies before leaving large-firm practice in 2009 to represent employees.
The firm reports more than $15 million recovered for employees in Pasadena and the surrounding areas. Its practice includes dedicated work for commercial truck drivers and Kaiser Permanente employees.
Clients work directly with Anderson, and consultations are available in Spanish as well as English.
9. Kristy & Kananen
Firm Details
- Attorneys: James R. Kristy and Kurt Kananen
- Headquarters: 3780 Kilroy Airport Way, Suite 200, Long Beach, CA 90806
- Phone: (866) 981-1498
- Website: Kristy & Kananen
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Wrongful Termination, Workplace Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation, Wage & Hour, Unpaid Overtime, Construction Defect, Insurance Bad Faith
- Firm Size: Two-attorney boutique representing plaintiffs only
- Google Rating: 2.7 ★★⯪ (3 reviews) | View on Google
About the Firm
Kristy & Kananen is a Long Beach law firm that represents only plaintiffs, carrying cases through trial and appeal when needed. Employment law is a major emphasis of its practice, alongside construction defect and insurance bad faith claims.
James Kristy was admitted to the California bar in 2000 and has represented Southern California employees in wrongful termination cases since 2003. He has been selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2020 through 2026.
The firm's wage and hour work covers unpaid overtime under California's daily overtime rules and the misclassification of employees as managerial or administrative staff. Consultations are free, and Spanish language translation services are available.
10. Guzmán & Tokar LLP
Firm Details
- Attorneys: Marcia Guzmán and Victoria Tokar, Partners
- Founded: 2023
- Headquarters: 440 N Barranca Ave, Suite 1354, Covina, CA 91723
- Phone: (626) 427-7128
- Website: Guzmán & Tokar LLP
- Practice Areas: Employment Law, Wrongful Termination, Wage & Hour, Workplace Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Whistleblower Retaliation, Workplace Safety
- Firm Size: Two-partner boutique practicing employment law exclusively
About the Firm
Guzmán & Tokar LLP is a Covina employment firm representing employees on the plaintiff's side. Partners Marcia Guzmán and Victoria Tokar first built their practice as Attorneys for Workers' Rights before establishing Guzmán & Tokar LLP in 2023 and merging the two firms.
Guzmán, a Loyola Law School graduate, practices employment law exclusively and is a member of the California Employment Lawyers Association. Tokar served as chief research editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review.
The firm serves workers throughout the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles County across a wide range of industries. It offers a free 30-minute consultation, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language.
Understanding Los Angeles Employment Law
Employment claims in Los Angeles can arise under California law, federal law, or both. Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims under FEHA begin with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD): an employee generally has three years from the unlawful act to file with the CRD, and then one year from the CRD's right-to-sue notice to file a lawsuit. Federal EEOC charges filed in California carry a shorter 300-day deadline.
Wage and hour disputes follow a separate path. The California Labor Commissioner's Office handles claims for unpaid wages, overtime, and retaliation, and most Labor Code wage claims must be brought within three years. California requires overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over eight in a workday or 40 in a workweek, and double time for hours over 12 in a workday. Since the 2024 reforms to the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), an employee represented by private counsel can seek PAGA penalties only for violations they personally experienced, and employees now receive 35% of recovered penalties instead of 25%.
When a dispute goes to litigation, state claims are typically filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, while federal claims are heard in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which covers Los Angeles County.
Helpful Los Angeles Employment Law Resources
For readers researching an employment dispute, these government resources provide additional information:
- Los Angeles County: Los Angeles County official website, general county government information and public services.
- City of Los Angeles: City of Los Angeles official website, city departments, services, and resources.
- Los Angeles Superior Court, Civil Division: Los Angeles Superior Court Civil, civil filing, case information, and courthouse resources.
- California Civil Rights Department: CRD Employment, information on employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and protected leave.
- California Labor Commissioner's Office: Labor Commissioner's Office, wage claims, retaliation complaints, and wage and hour laws.
- S. District Court, Central District of California: Central District of California, federal court covering Los Angeles County and other Southern California counties.
Frequently Asked Questions About Los Angeles Employment Law Firms
1. What does a Los Angeles employment lawyer do?
A Los Angeles employment lawyer advises and represents workers in disputes with their employers, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, unpaid wages and overtime, denied leave, and whistleblower claims. That can include filing a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, negotiating a severance or settlement, pursuing a wage claim, or litigating in state or federal court.
2. How long do I have to file an employment discrimination claim in California?
Under FEHA, you generally have three years from the discriminatory, harassing, or retaliatory act to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. Once the CRD issues a right-to-sue notice, you have one year to file a lawsuit. Requesting an immediate right-to-sue notice starts that one-year clock right away, so the two deadlines should be tracked separately.
3. Do I have to go through the Civil Rights Department before suing my employer?
For FEHA claims, yes. You must file with the CRD and obtain a right-to-sue notice before filing a discrimination, harassment, or retaliation lawsuit. You do not have to wait for a CRD investigation; many employees request an immediate right-to-sue notice so their attorney can file in Los Angeles Superior Court.
4. How much does an employment lawyer in Los Angeles cost?
Most employee-side employment lawyers in Los Angeles work on contingency, meaning they are paid a percentage of any settlement or judgment and charge no attorney fee if there is no recovery. The percentage and the handling of case costs vary by firm, so review the written fee agreement carefully before signing.
5. What is the deadline for unpaid wage and overtime claims?
Most claims for unpaid wages and overtime under the California Labor Code must be brought within three years, and pairing them with a claim under the Unfair Competition Law can extend recovery to four years. Workers can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner's Office or pursue the claim in court.
6. Can I be fired for no reason in California?
California is an at-will employment state, so an employer can generally end employment for any lawful reason or for no stated reason. A termination becomes unlawful when it is based on a protected characteristic such as disability, pregnancy, race, or age, when it is retaliation for protected activity like taking CFRA leave or reporting illegal conduct, or when it violates an employment contract or public policy.
7. Can my employer retaliate against me for reporting discrimination or taking leave?
No. FEHA and the California Labor Code prohibit retaliation against employees who report discrimination or harassment, take protected leave under CFRA or FMLA, complain about unpaid wages, or report illegal conduct. Retaliation can include termination, demotion, reduced hours, or other adverse treatment, and it can be a separate claim even if the underlying complaint is not proven.
8. How did the 2024 PAGA reforms change things for employees?
For PAGA notices filed on or after June 19, 2024, an employee represented by private counsel can seek penalties only for Labor Code violations they personally experienced, and must have experienced a violation within the year before filing the notice. Employees now receive 35% of recovered penalties, with 65% going to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
9. What should I bring to an employment lawyer consultation?
Bring anything that documents your job and what happened: offer letters or contracts, the employee handbook, pay stubs and time records, performance reviews, emails and text messages, HR complaints, disciplinary or termination notices, leave-related paperwork, and your own dated notes of key incidents. Do not delete messages or documents that may be relevant.
10. How do I choose a Los Angeles employment lawyer?
Look at whether the firm represents employees rather than employers, how much experience it has with your specific type of claim, how fees and costs are structured, and who will handle your case day to day. Experience with the CRD process, Los Angeles Superior Court, and the Central District of California is also relevant, and consulting more than one attorney before deciding is common.
Disclaimer: This guide to Los Angeles employment law attorneys is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or an attorney referral. This is not a ranked or sponsored list, and inclusion does not imply an endorsement by, or affiliation with, any named employment law firm beyond what is stated. Attorney credentials, case results, and contact details change over time; please confirm current information directly with each firm before making a hiring decision. Past results described here do not guarantee similar outcomes in any other workplace or employment case.
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