If you have been harassed or treated differently because of your sex, gender identity or gender expression at work, the legal landscape you are stepping into today is not the same one that existed even two years ago. Two things are happening at once. Federal enforcement is pulling back. California is doing the opposite — expanding deadlines, closing off forced arbitration and strengthening pay equity claims.
For employees, that divergence matters enormously. Rights that may feel weaker in the headlines are, in California, often stronger than they have ever been. Here are the trends we are watching most closely at The Rutten Law Firm, APC, and what they mean if you are considering a claim.
A Two-Year Window To Revive Old Claims
The single biggest development for survivors of workplace sexual misconduct is Assembly Bill 250, the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act, signed in October 2025 and effective January 1, 2026.
AB 250 opens a two-year revival window — January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027 — during which adult survivors may file civil claims for sexual assault that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. Critically for employees, the law also revives related claims arising out of the assault, including workplace sexual harassment and wrongful termination for reporting it.
The practical effect is enormous. Workers who were assaulted by a supervisor years ago, who were pushed out after complaining, and who were told by another lawyer that their time had run out may now have a viable case. The law is aimed squarely at institutions that concealed misconduct — the employer that quietly moved a “star performer” to another department, buried an HR investigation, or bought silence with a confidentiality agreement.
Two limits deserve attention. The revival window applies to private employers, businesses and institutions, not to public entities such as public schools, cities or state agencies, which remain governed by the Government Claims Act and its very short deadlines. And ordinary hostile work environment conduct that did not involve an assault is still governed by the standard FEHA timelines. If you think AB 250 may apply to you, the deadline is December 31, 2027 — and building one of these cases takes months, not weeks.
Forced Arbitration Keeps Losing Ground
For years, employers relied on a simple strategy: bury an arbitration clause in the onboarding paperwork, and if a harassment claim ever surfaced, push it into a private forum with no jury, no public record and limited discovery.
The federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA) changed that in 2022, and California courts have been interpreting it broadly ever since. The key insight is a single word in the statute: Congress said arbitration agreements are unenforceable as to a “case,” not a “cause of action.” California Courts of Appeal have read that to mean that once a covered sexual harassment claim is properly pled, the entire lawsuit stays in court — including gender discrimination, retaliation and even unrelated wage and hour claims filed alongside it.
California courts have also refused to let employers write around the EFAA through choice-of-law clauses, and have continued to strike down arbitration agreements riddled with one-sided terms: shortened deadlines, lopsided fee-shifting and clauses that carve out the claims employers care about while forcing employees to arbitrate theirs. In early 2026, a federal appeals court outside California reached the same conclusion about the EFAA’s reach, suggesting the broad reading is gaining ground nationally.
The takeaway for employees is simple. If you signed an arbitration agreement, do not assume your case is confined to arbitration. Whether it is depends on the claims, the timing of the conduct, and how the case is pled — which is a legal judgment worth getting right at the outset.
Pay Equity Claims Got Sharper Teeth
Gender discrimination does not always look like a slur or an unwanted advance. Often it looks like a number on a pay stub.
Senate Bill 642, the Pay Equity Enforcement Act, took effect January 1, 2026 and meaningfully strengthens California’s Equal Pay Act. It extends the statute of limitations for pay equity claims to three years, and allows recovery for the entire period a violation persisted, up to six years — a significant expansion of potential damages in long-tenure cases.
Just as importantly, SB 642 broadens what counts. “Wages” now expressly include essentially all forms of compensation: bonuses, stock and stock options, profit sharing, benefits, allowances and reimbursements. An employer that pays men and women the same base salary while steering equity grants and bonuses toward the men is squarely within reach of the statute. The law also clarifies that a violation occurs not only when a discriminatory pay decision is adopted, but each time an employee is paid under it, and it updates the statute to prohibit paying employees of “another” sex less for substantially similar work — language that better reflects the full range of employees FEHA protects.
Federal Retreat, State Resolve
In January 2026, the EEOC voted to rescind its 2024 workplace harassment guidance, which had provided detailed direction on issues including gender identity and sexual orientation. Federal enforcement priorities have shifted, and some workers have understandably concluded that their protections evaporated.
They did not. Title VII sets a floor, not a ceiling — and in California the ceiling is much higher. FEHA continues to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sex, gender, gender identity and gender expression. California regulations expressly protect a transgender employee’s right to use facilities consistent with their gender identity and to be addressed by the name and pronouns they use. FEHA’s harassment provisions apply to employers of every size, including those with fewer than five employees, and cover not just employees but applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers and contractors. Employees generally have three years to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, and recent amendments toll that period in certain circumstances while a CRD matter is on appeal.
What To Do Now
Longer deadlines are not an invitation to wait. Evidence goes stale, witnesses leave, and phones get wiped. If something is happening at work, preserve what you have — texts, emails, complaint records, performance reviews from before and after you reported, and any termination paperwork — and keep copies somewhere other than your work device.
The Rutten Law Firm, APC represents employees, never employers. If you are weighing a harassment, gender discrimination or retaliation claim, or you believe a claim you thought was too old may have been revived, call our Woodland Hills office at 818-308-6915 for a confidential consultation.