Wrongful Termination Attorneys Santa Clara

Getting fired is disorienting even when it's legal. What makes it worse is when the reason your employer gave doesn't actually match what happened. If you were let go from a Santa Clara job and something about the timing, the explanation, or the circumstances doesn't sit right, Miracle Mile Law Group can help you find out whether your termination crossed a legal line. We have recovered over $75 million for California employees. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.

"At-Will" Is Not a Blank Check

Almost every terminated employee in Santa Clara hears the same phrase from their employer or their employer's HR department: California is an at-will state, meaning you can be let go for any reason or no reason at all. That's half true, and employers rely heavily on people not knowing the other half.

At-will employment means your employer doesn't need good cause to fire you. It does not mean they can fire you for an illegal reason. The moment a termination is motivated by your age, your disability, your pregnancy, a complaint you made, or leave you took, the at-will defense stops protecting the employer. That distinction, illegal versus merely unfair, is where nearly every wrongful termination case actually lives.

How Wrongful Terminations Actually Happen

Very few employers announce the real reason for a termination. Instead, wrongful terminations tend to follow recognizable patterns. Here's what we see most often in Santa Clara:

• The sudden performance narrative. An employee with years of strong reviews is suddenly placed on a performance improvement plan or written up for the first time, often within weeks of a complaint, a disability disclosure, or a leave request.
• Convenient timing. A termination that lands right after protected activity, reporting harassment, requesting an accommodation, disclosing a pregnancy, taking medical leave, is rarely a coincidence. Timing is frequently the strongest piece of evidence in these cases.
• Layoffs that aren't really layoffs. A reduction in force can be a legitimate business decision, or it can be a convenient way to remove specific people without having to justify it individually. When a "layoff" disproportionately affects older employees, employees with disabilities, or people who recently complained, that pattern deserves scrutiny.
• Retaliation dressed up as restructuring. A role that gets "eliminated" immediately after an employee raises a safety concern, reports fraud, or files a wage complaint.
• Termination during or right after protected leave. Employees returning from medical or family leave generally have the right to be reinstated to the same or a comparable position, not replaced while they were out.
• Constructive termination. Sometimes an employer doesn't fire someone outright. They make conditions so difficult that resigning feels like the only option. California law can treat that as a termination.
• Refusing to do something illegal. Employees fired for declining to falsify records, ignore safety violations, or participate in fraud have a claim based on public policy, independent of any discrimination statute.

Protected Reasons: When a Firing Crosses the Line

Under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), it is illegal to terminate an employee because of a protected characteristic or because they engaged in protected activity. FEHA applies to employers with five or more employees, reaching far more Santa Clara businesses than most people assume.

Unlike federal law, FEHA places no cap on damages. That distinction matters a great deal when it comes to what a wrongful termination case is actually worth.

Our Track Record in Wrongful Termination Cases

We have represented employees across nearly every category of wrongful termination, and the pattern in our results is consistent: employers frequently assume a termination will hold up simply because they wrote down a reason. It often doesn't.

• Terminated after medical leave, reassigned instead of reinstated. A client with nearly 20 years at the same company took protected medical leave after raising concerns about how older workers were treated. He returned to find his role gone, and was fired months later over "performance issues" that were common among other employees. After nearly three years of litigation, we secured a $6,500,000 settlement.
• Fired while seven months pregnant. Our firm first-chaired a two-and-a-half-week trial for a legal assistant terminated under the pretense of the pandemic. The jury awarded $100,000, and the court subsequently awarded over $900,000 in fees and $95,000 in costs, a total judgment exceeding $1.1 million.
• Terminated for requesting accommodations after 20 years of service. A long-term employee was fired after asking for reasonable accommodations for a significant disability. We filed suit and recovered $2,000,000.
• Fired under the guise of "business needs." An employee who raised concerns about fraudulent practices was terminated shortly after voicing her complaints. After years of litigation, we secured a $1,900,000 settlement.
• Terminated for taking time to care for family. A client responsible for caring for several family members with medical conditions was fired under the pretext of "performance" after requesting accommodations for his caregiving responsibilities. We secured a $1,000,000 settlement.
• Fired shortly after disclosing a pregnancy. A part-time sales assistant was terminated after giving notice of her pregnancy. We secured her a $1,100,000 settlement.
• Race discrimination and wrongful termination combined. We represented a customer service agent whose termination involved both race discrimination and wrongful discharge, resulting in a $375,000 settlement.
• Fired during a medical leave of absence. One client was terminated while actively on protected leave. We secured a $650,000 settlement.

Wrongful Termination in Santa Clara's Workplace Culture

Santa Clara's economy runs on stock options, quarterly targets, and constant reorganization, and those factors change how wrongful termination shows up here compared to other parts of California.

A termination timed just before an equity vesting cliff deserves scrutiny. So does a layoff announced as a broad reduction in force that, on closer look, selectively removed people who had recently complained, requested accommodations, or disclosed a pregnancy. Employees on work visas often stay silent even when something feels wrong, worried that pushing back could jeopardize their immigration status, and some employers count on exactly that silence.

There is also a newer protection worth knowing about. Under AB 692, effective January 1, 2026, employers generally cannot require employees to repay training costs, sign-on bonuses, or relocation expenses if employment ends before an agreed-upon date. If you were let go and then told you owe your employer money back, that demand itself may be unlawful, separate from the question of whether the termination itself was legal.

Mass Layoffs Come With Legal Requirements Too

When Santa Clara employers conduct mass layoffs, California's WARN Act generally requires 60 days' written notice to affected employees. Starting January 1, 2026, under SB 617, that notice must also include information about coordinating services through the local workforce development board and details about CalFresh food assistance.

Being included in a mass layoff does not automatically mean your individual termination was lawful. If the selection criteria conveniently excluded people who had never complained about anything, or if the notice you received skipped legally required information, that is worth reviewing.

Building a Wrongful Termination Case

These cases are won or lost on documentation and timing. If you were recently terminated, or you sense it coming, a few steps make a meaningful difference:

• Save performance reviews, especially ones from before the treatment toward you changed.
• Preserve emails, texts, and Slack messages relevant to your own work and treatment, particularly anything praising your performance shortly before you were let go.
• Keep any written complaint you made and whatever response, or lack of response, you received.
• Hold onto your termination letter, any separation agreement offered, and the stated reason for your firing.
• Write a dated timeline of events while your memory is still fresh.
• Do not sign a severance agreement before an attorney reviews it. Signing often means giving up the exact rights you would need to bring a claim.
• Do not take confidential company data, client information, or trade secrets when you leave. That creates a separate legal problem and can undermine an otherwise strong case.

Important Deadlines

What You May Be Able to Recover

Because FEHA imposes no cap on damages, recovery in a wrongful termination case can be substantial. Depending on the facts, it may include:

• Lost wages and benefits, both past (back pay) and future (front pay)
• Emotional distress damages
• Punitive damages where the employer's conduct was particularly egregious
• Attorney's fees and costs
• Civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation under Labor Code 1102.5, payable to the employee

Speak With a Santa Clara Wrongful Termination Attorney

You don't need to be certain you have a case before reaching out. Most people aren't, because employers rarely make the real reason obvious. What matters is that something about your termination didn't add up, and you deserve a straight answer from an attorney who handles these cases every day.

Miracle Mile Law Group represents employees exclusively. We have recovered over $75 million for mistreated workers across California, including a $6.5 million settlement for an employee reassigned after medical leave and later fired over pretextual "performance issues," and a $1.1 million verdict and fee award for a legal assistant terminated at seven months pregnant. Consultations are free and confidential, and we work on contingency, meaning there is no fee unless we recover for you.

If you were wrongfully terminated from a Santa Clara job, contact Miracle Mile Law Group for a free, confidential case evaluation.