How to File a “Labor Board” Complaint in California

There is no California agency actually named the “labor board.” The phrase is shorthand for whichever government agency handles a particular kind of workplace complaint, and the right one depends on the problem. For most employees it means one of two state agencies: the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, for unpaid wages and related pay disputes, or the Civil Rights Department (CRD), for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.⁠1

Depending on the issue, “labor board” can also mean any of these agencies:

• The Labor Commissioner’s Office (DLSE) handles unpaid wages, overtime, meal and rest breaks, tips, expense reimbursement, and many retaliation and whistleblower claims.
• The Civil Rights Department (CRD), formerly the DFEH, handles discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on a protected characteristic.
• The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the federal agency literally named a “board.” It handles union organizing, collective action, and unfair labor practices for most private-sector employees.⁠2
• The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) handles those same union and collective-bargaining disputes for California’s public employees.⁠3
• Cal/OSHA (the Division of Occupational Safety and Health) handles workplace safety and health complaints.
• The Employment Development Department (EDD) handles unemployment insurance, State Disability Insurance, and Paid Family Leave.
• The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) handles on-the-job injury benefits, along with discrimination claims for filing a workers’ compensation claim.⁠4

Two more agencies come up less often: the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the national counterpart to the CRD for discrimination claims, and the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) handles union matters for California’s farmworkers.

The rest of this guide covers the two agencies most employees need, the Labor Commissioner and the CRD, because most workplace complaints are either a pay dispute or a discrimination dispute. Picking the right agency before filing matters, because each has its own process and an agency will close a case it has no power to decide.⁠5

Identify the Correct “Labor Board” with Which to File the Complaint

As explained above, for most California employees a workplace dispute comes down to one of two state agencies that might be considered a labor board:

• The Labor Commissioner’s Office, which handles disputes involving unpaid wages, meal breaks, rest breaks, overtime, and other demands for earned compensation.⁠6
• The Civil Rights Department (CRD),⁠7 which handles disputes involving discrimination, harassment, and related unfair treatment.

Each type of “labor board” has a unique complaint-filing process. And the types of issues they can help employees with are usually very specific.

It is important that employees correctly identify the type of claim they are making before they file a complaint. That way, they can select the best agency to hear their case and follow the correct complaint procedure.

The two main types of “labor board” disputes in California are described below.

Wage and Hour Complaints

The California Labor Commissioner is the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (the DLSE).⁠8 He or she is appointed by the Governor of the State of California,⁠9 and is tasked with vigorously enforcing minimum labor standards in workplaces across the state.⁠10

The Labor Commissioner, and his or her deputies, have a legal right to freely access all places of labor in California.⁠11 This helps the Labor Commissioner investigate and enforce California’s labor laws.⁠12

Perhaps most importantly, the Labor Commissioner has the power to adjudicate disputes that fall under its jurisdiction.⁠13 Those disputes can involve:

• Unpaid wages,⁠14
• Unpaid commissions,⁠15
• Unpaid vacation wages,⁠16
• Failure to pay minimum wage,⁠17
• Failure to pay overtime,⁠18
• Failure to make payments for agreed benefits,⁠19
• Meal and rest period violations,⁠20
• Unpaid split-shift premium (required when two distinct work periods are separated by more than a one-hour meal period),⁠21
• Unpaid reporting-time pay (required when an hourly employee is required to report to work but is given less than half of a usual day’s work),⁠22
• Unlawful deductions from a paycheck,⁠23
• Unreimbursed business expenses,⁠24
• Late payment or nonpayment of final wages,⁠25 and
• Dishonored payroll checks.⁠26

In short, the Labor Commissioner handles complaints in which an employee wishes to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation from their employer.⁠27

The Labor Commissioner also handles certain types of retaliation and discrimination claims. These types of claims, however, must involve an allegation that the employer took an adverse employment action against their employee (or against a job applicant) because they engaged in certain protected conduct.⁠28 These types of claims are known as whistleblower claims.

The Labor Commissioner can adjudicate some, but not all, types of whistleblower claims. The types of claims that the Labor Commissioner can hear include situations where the employee has been punished, fired, or otherwise discriminated against for one of the following reasons:

• The employee engaged in protected, lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer’s premises.⁠29
• The employee engaged or participated in political activity during nonworking hours away from the employer’s premises.⁠30
• The employee disclosed information to a government or law enforcement agency and the employee had reasonable cause to believe that the information involved a violation of a local, state, or federal law.⁠31
• The employee has complained about, discussed, or reported working conditions, usually because they believe those conditions are unsafe.⁠32
• The employee reported a violation of a local, state, or federal law to their supervisor or someone with authority over them in the workplace.⁠33

For these retaliation claims, timing can matter: since January 1, 2024, if the employer takes an adverse action within 90 days of the protected activity, a rebuttable presumption of retaliation applies, and the employer must offer a legitimate, nonretaliatory reason.⁠34

The Labor Commissioner usually has no power to oversee issues that exceed those listed above, unless a specific statute places that matter within the Labor Commissioner’s jurisdiction.⁠35

If the employee’s complaint falls under the jurisdiction of the Labor Commissioner, the employee should consider filing their complaint with the DLSE. To learn more about the process of filing a complaint with the DLSE, please review our article: How to File a Wage & Hour Claim in California.

Discrimination and Harassment Complaints

In the section above, it was mentioned that employers are prohibited from discriminating, harassing, and retaliating against employees for participating in certain protected activities.⁠36 Those types of claims are sometimes heard by the DLSE.

There is another type of law in California that prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation: the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (called “FEHA”). FEHA prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace against certain groups of people.⁠37 Its purpose is to provide remedies to employees and job applicants, and to eliminate certain discriminatory employment practices.⁠38

Under FEHA, employers with five or more employees may not discriminate against employees or job applicants on the basis of a protected characteristic.⁠39 FEHA’s separate ban on harassment is broader: it applies to employers of any size, including those with a single employee.⁠40 The protected characteristics are:

• Race;
• Religious creed;
• Color;
• National origin;
• Ancestry;
• Physical disability;
• Mental disability;
• Reproductive health decisionmaking;
• Medical condition;
• Genetic information;
• Marital status;
• Sex;
• Gender, gender identity, or gender expression;
• Age (40 or older);
• Sexual orientation; or
• Veteran or military status.⁠41

Discrimination and harassment can take many forms. Discrimination is usually defined as treating individuals differently, due to their protected characteristic or membership in a protected class, with respect to:

• Their compensation,
• The terms or privileges of their employment,
• Work conditions, and
• Job assignments.⁠42

Discrimination and harassment are commonly followed by retaliation. This normally occurs when an employer takes adverse actions against an employee for complaining of harassment or discrimination, or for assisting others in these complaints.

Retaliation may also exist whenever an employer takes actions against an employee for reporting illegal conduct by their employer. This is also known as whistleblowing and is often illegal.⁠43

FEHA also prohibits employers from harassing or retaliating against employees on these grounds.⁠44

When FEHA is violated, California employees have a right to file a complaint with California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD).⁠45

The CRD is similar to the DLSE in that it has the power to investigate employee claims and work with employers to fix unlawful activities. The primary difference is in the types of claims the two agencies handle and the procedures employees have to follow.

Importantly, the CRD will end the complaint process in a case, and not take any further action, if it determines that it does not have jurisdiction over the employee’s claim.⁠46 So employees should be careful to ensure that they are pursuing relief with the correct agency.

Follow the Labor Board Complaint Process

Once the employee has correctly identified their type of claim and the best agency with which to file, they can proceed with preparing their complaint.

As mentioned above, the complaint process is different for each type of labor board. We have written free guides on the process of filing complaints with each type of labor board, which can be found below: