Straight answers about your rights at work.

Colorado requires overtime after 40 hours a week, 12 hours a day, or 12 consecutive hours, plus paid rest breaks. How the COMPS Order works.

California's ABC test for who is an employee, how misclassification as a 1099 contractor can cost you wage protections, and what may be recoverable.

A plain-English guide to wage-and-hour class actions: what they are, how a class gets certified, how to tell if you're covered, what it costs to.

What California meal and rest break law requires for most nonexempt workers, when a break is a violation, and the premium pay you may be owed for.

What no-poach and wage-fixing agreements between employers are, why they can be illegal, how they differ from unpaid-wage claims, and what workers can do.

If your California employer requires or allows you to work before you clock in, after you clock out, or through a break, that time is generally paid.

California requires your itemized pay stub to show nine specific items every pay period.

California overtime rules explained: 1.5x past 8 hours a day or 40 a week, double time past 12, and why a salary or a bonus does not by itself.

California Labor Code 2802 requires employers to reimburse necessary work expenses: mileage, tools, and a reasonable share of a required personal cell phone.

Retaliation protection does not stop when the job ends.

Demoted after an HR complaint? A downgrade tied to protected activity can be retaliation on its own. What counts, and the windows to act.

California law makes it illegal to fire, demote, or punish you for reporting harassment in good faith, even if the underlying claim is never proven.

Punished or fired after reporting harassment at a Colorado job? Retaliation is a separate CADA violation with a 300-day CCRD window. What counts and what to do.

Fired after reporting harassment in Nevada? Retaliation is a separate NRS 613 violation with a 300-day NERC window. What counts and what to do.

Texas Labor Code section 21.055 bars retaliation for reporting harassment.

RCW 49.60.210 makes retaliation an unfair practice in Washington.

Hours cut after you complained? Schedule retaliation counts even without a firing. What the EEOC treats as adverse, and what to save.

Retaliation claims have three elements, and most turn on the third.

Wrongful termination means a firing violated discrimination, retaliation, public-policy, contract, or layoff-notice law.

California wrongful-termination claims use separate FEHA, EEOC, public-policy tort, contract, and right-to-sue deadlines.

Texas wrongful-termination deadlines: 180 days for the TWC charge, 60 days after a right-to-sue notice, and the Sabine Pilot route's own clock.

California Labor Code section 2922 creates an at-will presumption, but unlawful reasons and enforceable agreements limit it.

Colorado is at-will, but firings tied to discrimination, protected complaints, or public policy can still be unlawful. What at-will actually means for workers.

Nevada presumes employment is at will, but NRS 613, contracts, protected rights, and narrow public-policy claims create exceptions.

Texas follows employment at will, subject to Chapter 21, the narrow Sabine Pilot exception, contracts, and other statutes.

Washington is at-will, but WLAD, public policy, and contracts limit it. What at-will actually permits and the firings it never allows.

Constructive discharge may treat a resignation as a termination when unlawful working conditions become objectively intolerable.

California Labor Code sections 201 through 203 control final-pay timing and waiting-time penalties after discharge or resignation.

When your final paycheck is due in Colorado, what it must include, and the written demand that triggers penalties when an employer refuses.

Texas Labor Code section 61.014 requires final pay within six days after discharge or by the next payday after resignation.

Age-discrimination deadlines in CA, TX, WA, NV, and CO: the agency windows, the federal ADEA's 20-employee catch, and the clocks that end claims.

When a requested accommodation is refused, the clock starts on that refusal.

Washington doubles its state agency window for pregnancy claims.

The 300-day figure people repeat is not the Texas race deadline.

No lawyer is required.

Worksharing agreements mean a charge filed with one agency is usually filed with both, with an important California exception.

How to report harassment to HR so the report protects you: put it in writing, what to include, and the law that covers you for sending it.

A right-to-sue notice ends the agency stage and starts a court clock: 90 days federal, 1 year California, 60 days Texas, 90 days Nevada, none in Washington.

No agreement can stop you filing a charge with the EEOC.

Your employer is notified within 10 days.

California harassment & discrimination data: 33,505 CRD intakes, $99.4M in settlements, FY2025 EEOC figures, every number primary-sourced.

How to document workplace harassment so it holds up: what to write down, where to keep it, and the records that decide these cases.

Gender pay and promotion discrimination is proven with a comparator, pay records, performance reviews, and promotion history.

Verified Texas workplace harassment and discrimination numbers: 9,360 EEOC charges, more than 1 in 10 nationwide, with retaliation alleged in.

Verified Washington workplace harassment and discrimination numbers: 1,724 EEOC charges with retaliation in 67.6%, the state agency's.

The evidence that proves workplace harassment: contemporaneous records, patterns, witnesses, and employer knowledge, ranked by weight.

Colorado noncompetes are void unless a statutory exception applies, and the rules changed in 2022 and 2025. What the agreement date decides.