California’s employment damages landscape stands apart. The Fair Employment and Housing Act predates and exceeds Title VII in scope, and its uncapped compensatory recovery changes the calculus of every damages analysis. Wrongful termination in violation of public policy, recognized as a tort under Tameny, opens the door to punitive damages that would be unavailable under federal statute alone.
The earnings picture
For executives and technology-sector plaintiffs, the earnings build rarely resolves to a base salary plus bonus. Equity compensation (RSUs, ISOs, NQSOs, refresh grants) drives the number. Each vesting tranche is modeled separately, grant-date value adjusted against post-termination market moves where the jurisdiction requires. Deferred cash plans, supplemental retirement, and LTIP cliffs receive the same line-item treatment.
Worklife and discount rates
Worklife expectancy in California trends slightly below the federal average for male plaintiffs and slightly above for female plaintiffs, driven by sectoral composition and participation patterns. For plaintiffs in the technology, life sciences, and entertainment sectors, occupation-specific worklife adjustments are material, not rounding.
California courts have historically accepted discount rates drawn from risk-free Treasury yields matched to the loss horizon. A single blended rate across a thirty-year horizon invites cross.
Mitigation
The duty to mitigate is well-developed in California. Actual post-termination earnings are reduced from the award; imputed earnings enter where mitigation is found wanting. Imputation relies on occupation-specific labor market data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the California Employment Development Department, applied to the plaintiff’s pre-termination skill profile.
PAGA and class exposure
Representative-action exposure under the Private Attorneys General Act is frequently the largest component of damages in California employment matters. Where PAGA is in play, the economic model pairs aggrieved-employee counts with pay-period-level penalty calculations, sanity-checked against payroll data produced in discovery.
Worklife & discount-rate notes
California's Hispanic and female labor-force participation rates run above national averages, materially affecting worklife projections for plaintiffs in those demographics. Tech-sector equity vesting schedules and refresh grants require year-by-year modeling, not a blended annual figure.
