At-Will Employment in California: What Does It Mean? (2026)

How At-Will Employment Works in California

All employment is considered at-will employment in California unless the worker and the employer agree to a term greater than one month. This means that a contract to work for less than one month creates an at-will relationship rather than a contractual relationship.

For example, you are an at-will employee if someone hires you as a temp for a week to replace a secretary who is ill.

What is at-will employment? In an at-will employment relationship, either party can terminate the employment relationship for any reason by giving notice to the other party.

Exceptions to the At-Will Employment Rule

The primary exception to at-will employment is contract employment. An employee can contract to work for a specific time or to accomplish a specific goal. For example, an employer may enter into a temporary employment contract to employ a worker for six months or to complete a specific project.

Most employment contracts can be written or oral. Thus, you could be a contract worker if you were working pursuant to oral promises made by your employer.

A different rule applies to freelancers who provide professional services and receive at least $250 over the 120 days after being retained. Freelance contracts must be written. Thus, if you are a freelancer and have a written contract, you fall into one of the most significant employment at-will doctrine exceptions in California.

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Wrongful Termination and At-Will Employees

Employees cannot be terminated due to discrimination against the worker based on any of the following:

• Race
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Religion
• National origin

Employers are also prohibited from retaliating against employees for lawful activities. These activities include:

• Political activities outside the workplace
• Reporting violations of safety or health codes
• Filing a claim under California workers’ compensation law
• Testifying in a co-worker’s discrimination or sexual harassment case

If an employer fires a worker for discriminatory or retaliatory reasons, the worker may pursue a wrongful termination case.

How to File a Wrongful Termination Claim

If you allege that you were fired due to unlawful discrimination, you must file an intake form with the California Civil Rights Division and obtain a right-to-sue notice before filing a lawsuit. If your claim includes federal discrimination claims, you must file with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and obtain a federal right-to-sue notice.

You can obtain a right-to-sue notice from the California Civil Rights Division without an investigation. Your litigation lawyer can obtain this notice simply by filing the complaint and requesting the notice.

By contrast, you can only request a right-to-sue notice from the EEOC when one of the following occurs:

• The EEOC completed its investigation
• You waited 180 days, but the EEOC investigation is still pending
• The EEOC notified you that the investigation cannot be finished within 180 days

Claims that are based on anything other than discrimination can be filed without first obtaining a notice. Consider speaking to a lawyer to determine the prerequisites for filing your claim.

Can You Be Fired Without Warning or Reason in California?

Employers can fire at-will workers without warning. Moreover, an employer does not need to provide a reason for an at-will worker’s termination.

If the employer was motivated by an illegal reason, such as discrimination or retaliation against the worker, the employee might have a wrongful termination case. However, being fired without warning or reason is not, by itself, illegal in California.

California requires written notice of your firing so you can seek unemployment benefits if you are eligible. However, this notice can be provided without any advance notice and does not need to explain the reason for your termination.

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