“I was already let go when I filed.”

The post-termination defense

The law bars a claim filed after notice of termination or layoff, for an injury that occurred before that notice, unless the employee shows by a preponderance of the evidence one of the following:

1. The employer had notice of the injury before the notice of termination or layoff. Any notice — a supervisor who saw it, an incident report, a first aid log, a text message. Knowledge obtained “from any source” by a supervisor, foreman, or other person in authority is notice.

2. Your medical records, existing before the notice of termination or layoff, contain evidence of the injury. This is the exception people miss. You do not have to have made a claim. You do not even have to have connected it to work at the time. A record from before the termination that documents the condition can satisfy this — including a visit paid through your own health insurance.

3. The date of injuryDate of injury For a cumulative or occupational disease claim, the law sets it as when you first suffered disability and knew or should have known it was work-related — not when the wear began. Almost every deadline runs off this. falls after the notice of termination but before its effective date. The window between being told and actually leaving.

4. The date of injury falls after the notice of termination or layoff. The cumulative traumaCT — Cumulative trauma Injury from repeated exposure over time. The largest injury category in California and the least claimed. version — and note that subparagraph (D) does not carry the “before the effective date” limit that (C) does. It is a wider window, and it gets missed.

Psychiatric injuries are governed separately.

Why cumulative trauma changes the analysis

In a gradual-onset claim, the “date of injury” is not when the wear started. It is when you first suffered disability and knew or should have known it was work-related.

That date can fall inside the protected window — or the technical onset of the cumulative trauma can reach back before the termination notice, which is a different route to the same result.

Either way, it is an analysis, not an assumption. How cumulative trauma works.

What to gather

Every medical record from before the termination notice touching the affected body part — including primary care visits, urgent care, chiropractic, and anything paid through your own insurance. This is the highest-yield thing on the list.

Anything showing the employer knew — texts, emails, incident reports, first aid logs, a coworker who was there, a supervisor you told.

The termination documents, with dates — notice date and effective date are different, and the gap between them matters.

Your work history, if the claim is cumulative.

And the other question

Why were you let go? If the termination followed the injury, there may be a § 132a claim and — usually larger — a FEHA disability discrimination claim. Those are separate proceedings with their own deadlines. Both routes.