Filing a Discrimination Complaint with the California Civil Rights Department
Before you can file a lawsuit for discrimination, harassment, or retaliation under FEHA, you must first go through the state’s Civil Rights Department. The process is straightforward, but the deadlines are real, and the choices you make at this stage affect what comes after.
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act is one of the broadest employment anti-discrimination statutes in the country. But before an employee can file a lawsuit in court under FEHA, the law requires a preliminary step: the employee must first file an administrative complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, or CRD — the state agency formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, or DFEH.
This requirement is called administrative exhaustion, and it exists for a reason: the Legislature intended the CRD to serve as a gatekeeper and, in some cases, as an investigator and mediator before claims reach the courts. In practice, the process can be handled relatively quickly and is often a gateway to the courthouse rather than a substitute for it.
Understanding how it works — and the deadlines that govern it — is an important first step for any employee considering a FEHA claim.
What the CRD is
The Civil Rights Department is the state agency responsible for enforcing California’s civil rights laws, including FEHA. It accepts and investigates complaints of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. It can mediate disputes, issue accusations, and in some cases litigate on behalf of complainants. It also has authority over housing discrimination, but in the employment context, its primary role is to receive complaints, evaluate them, and either investigate or issue a right-to-sue notice allowing the complainant to proceed directly to court.
The CRD is not a court. Filing a complaint with the CRD does not initiate a lawsuit. It initiates an administrative process that may lead to one.
The filing deadline
An employee who wishes to file a FEHA complaint with the CRD must do so within three years of the date of the alleged unlawful practice. This deadline was extended from one year to three years by Assembly Bill 9, effective January 1, 2020.
Three years is a meaningful amount of time, but it is not unlimited, and the clock starts running from the date of the adverse action — the termination, the denial of promotion, the retaliatory act, or the last incident of a continuing course of harassment. For employees who do not consult with an attorney promptly after a termination, the deadline can approach more quickly than expected.
It is worth noting that other employment claims — such as common-law wrongful termination in violation of public policy — have shorter deadlines. The three-year FEHA deadline is specific to the administrative filing requirement, not a universal grace period for all employment claims.
How to file
The CRD accepts complaints through several channels. The most efficient is the online intake form available on the CRD’s website. The form asks for basic information about the complainant, the employer, the nature of the complaint, and the protected characteristic at issue. Complaints can also be filed by mail or by telephone.
The complaint should identify: the employer’s name and address; the nature of the adverse action (termination, demotion, harassment, denial of accommodation, etc.); the protected characteristic the employee believes motivated the action (race, sex, age, disability, retaliation for protected activity, etc.); the approximate date of the adverse action; and a brief description of the facts.
The complaint does not need to be a polished legal document. It does not require citations to statutes or case law. What it must do is put the employer on notice of the nature of the claim and the factual basis for it. Specificity helps — a complaint that identifies the decision-maker, the key events, and the timeline is more useful than a vague assertion of unfair treatment — but perfection is not required at this stage.
One important consideration: the scope of the CRD complaint defines the scope of the subsequent lawsuit. A claim that is not raised in the CRD complaint — a theory of discrimination based on a protected characteristic not mentioned, or an adverse action not described — may be barred from the later court action if it does not fall within the scope of the administrative filing or a reasonable investigation triggered by it. It is better to err on the side of inclusion when identifying the bases for the complaint.
The right-to-sue notice
After filing a complaint, the employee has a choice: request that the CRD investigate the complaint, or request an immediate right-to-sue notice.
Requesting an immediate right-to-sue notice is the more common path, particularly for employees who are represented by counsel and intend to file a lawsuit. The CRD will issue the notice — typically within days or weeks — without conducting its own investigation. The notice confirms that the employee has satisfied the administrative exhaustion requirement and may now file a civil action in court.
Requesting a CRD investigation is an alternative. The CRD will investigate the complaint, which may include requesting a response from the employer, interviewing witnesses, and reviewing documents. If the CRD finds sufficient evidence of a violation, it may attempt to mediate a resolution, or it may file an accusation and litigate the case itself on behalf of the complainant. If the CRD does not find sufficient evidence, it will close the case and issue a right-to-sue notice.
The investigation path can take months or longer, and the CRD’s resources are limited relative to the volume of complaints it receives. Many employees prefer the immediate right-to-sue route, which preserves their ability to pursue the claim in court on their own timeline with their own counsel.
The one-year deadline after the right-to-sue notice
Once the CRD issues a right-to-sue notice, the employee has one year to file a civil action in court. This deadline is firm. An employee who receives a right-to-sue notice and does not file a lawsuit within one year from the date of the notice has lost the ability to pursue the FEHA claim in court.
This means the total timeline for a FEHA claim, from adverse action to lawsuit, can extend as long as four years in some cases — three years to file the CRD complaint, plus one year after the right-to-sue notice to file in court. But that is the outer boundary, not a target. Filing the CRD complaint and obtaining the right-to-sue notice promptly preserves the maximum flexibility for the litigation that follows.
Dual filing with the EEOC
An employee who has both state and federal claims — which is common, since many FEHA claims have federal counterparts under Title VII, the ADA, or the ADEA — may wish to file a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well. The CRD and the EEOC have a work-sharing agreement under which a complaint filed with one agency can be cross-filed with the other. An employee can request that the CRD cross-file with the EEOC at the time of the initial complaint, preserving the federal claim without requiring a separate filing.
The EEOC has its own deadlines. In California, a charge of discrimination must be filed with the EEOC within 300 days of the alleged unlawful practice — substantially shorter than the three-year FEHA deadline. An employee who intends to preserve both state and federal claims should be attentive to the shorter federal timeline.
What the complaint sets in motion
Filing a CRD complaint is not a commitment to litigation. It is a procedural step that opens the door to one. Many complaints are filed as a prerequisite to settlement negotiations rather than as a prelude to trial. Others are filed to preserve the deadline while the employee evaluates the strength of the claim.
What the complaint does is start the process. It puts the employer on formal notice. It preserves the right to file a lawsuit. And it establishes a record — the date of filing, the claims raised, the facts alleged — that becomes part of the case’s foundation.
For an employee who believes they have been discriminated against, harassed, or retaliated against in violation of FEHA, the CRD complaint is the first concrete step. It should be taken deliberately, with attention to the scope of the claims, the accuracy of the facts, and the applicable deadlines.
If you believe you have a discrimination, harassment, or retaliation claim under California law, the first step is filing a complaint with the Civil Rights Department. The process is not complicated, but it is mandatory — and the deadlines that govern it are not flexible. Filing promptly preserves your options.
This article is general information about California law and is not legal advice. Every situation turns on its particular facts.