Written by Ali Razavi

Most people come to us after something has already gone wrong at work — a wrongful termination, months of unpaid overtime, or a hostile environment their HR department ignored. By the time they call Razavi Law Group, they’re often frustrated and unsure what rights they actually have under California law. That’s exactly the gap this post is meant to close.

If you’re in Santa Ana and trying to figure out how employment law attorneys actually work — who they are, what they do, how many there are nationally, and what records employers must keep — here’s a practical breakdown based on what I see working at the intersection of California employment law and real client situations every week.

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Are Elder Law Attorneys Employable in Santa Ana?

This is a fair question, and the short answer is yes — but with some important context about how their skills translate.

Elder law attorneys specialize in issues like estate planning, guardianship, Medicare and Medicaid eligibility, nursing home abuse, and age-related disability protections. That expertise doesn’t evaporate when they cross into the employment space. In fact, there’s meaningful overlap. Age discrimination claims under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) are a growing part of employment litigation. Elder law attorneys who understand how age-based bias works, how elder financial abuse is documented, and how to work with older clients under stress carry directly transferable skills.

In Santa Ana specifically, the job market for elder law attorneys practicing in employment-adjacent areas is real. Orange County’s population skews older than the California average. That means more age discrimination claims, more disputes over disability accommodations for older workers, and more wrongful termination cases tied to retirement pressure or forced “restructurings” that disproportionately push out senior employees.

What typically happens in practice: an elder law attorney who wants to move into employment work will often start by handling ADEA or FEHA age discrimination cases, or take cases involving nursing home workers who’ve suffered wage theft or retaliation. The transition isn’t seamless — California employment law has its own procedural requirements, filing deadlines with the California Civil Rights Department (formerly DFEH), and litigation norms — but the subject-matter foundation is solid.

If you’re an elder law attorney looking to build an employment practice in Santa Ana, connecting with established employment law groups or taking on co-counsel arrangements on age discrimination cases is a smart entry point. The caseload is there.

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What Does an Employment Law Attorney Do?

I get this question from clients constantly, and the answer is broader than most people expect.

An employment law attorney represents either employees or employers (rarely both, given conflict-of-interest rules) in disputes and legal matters arising out of the employment relationship. On the employee side, this includes investigating and filing claims for wage theft, discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, failure to provide meal and rest breaks, and misclassification as an independent contractor.

On the employer side — which is a substantial portion of the practice for many firms — employment law attorneys help companies draft compliant handbooks, defend against agency investigations from the NLRB or California’s Labor Commissioner, and manage internal investigations before problems escalate to litigation.

In California, employment law attorneys also deal with the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which allows employees to sue on behalf of the state for Labor Code violations. PAGA cases have multiplied significantly since 2020, and they require specific expertise that a general litigator won’t necessarily have.

From my own practice: a large part of what I do on any given week involves pre-litigation work. That means reviewing a client’s situation, writing demand letters, negotiating settlements before a lawsuit is filed, and advising clients on whether they have a viable claim worth pursuing. Filing a lawsuit is often the last step, not the first. Many employment disputes in Santa Ana and across Orange County resolve through mediation or early settlement, particularly wage-and-hour cases where the employer’s exposure is calculable and documented.

The American Bar Association maintains resources on labor and employment law practice for attorneys at different career stages, and FindLaw has plain-language explanations of employment law claims that clients often find useful before their first consultation.

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How Many Attorneys Practice Labor and Employment Law in the US?

The numbers here are worth knowing because they give context to how specialized this field actually is.

According to the American Bar Association, there are approximately 1.3 million licensed attorneys in the United States as of 2026. Labor and employment law accounts for a relatively small slice of that total. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and various bar association surveys have consistently estimated that roughly 40,000 to 50,000 attorneys in the US identify labor and employment law as their primary practice area. That’s somewhere between 3% and 4% of all licensed attorneys.

Some estimates from Justia and other legal directories suggest the number could be slightly higher when you include attorneys who handle employment cases as part of a broader civil litigation or general practice — perhaps 60,000 to 70,000 attorneys touch employment law in some capacity in a given year. But practitioners who focus primarily or exclusively on labor and employment: the number stays closer to 40,000 to 50,000.

California holds one of the largest concentrations of employment law attorneys in the country, which makes sense. California law is substantially more protective of employees than federal law. Claims that wouldn’t survive in Texas or Florida often have strong footing here. The FEHA, for example, applies to employers with five or more employees — far more expansive than the federal Title VII threshold of 15. That broader scope generates more litigation, which sustains a larger bar.

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How Long Must Employers Keep Employment Records?

Employment law attorneys get asked this frequently — usually by nonprofit administrators who aren’t sure what their obligations are, and by employees who suspect their employer has conveniently “lost” records relevant to a wage claim.

Here’s what the law actually requires in 2026.

Under federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to retain payroll records for at least three years. Records used to compute wages — time cards, work schedules, wage rate tables — must be kept for two years. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires employers to retain personnel records for one year from the date of creation, and if a charge of discrimination has been filed, records must be preserved until the case is fully resolved, regardless of how long that takes.

California law is stricter. Under California Labor Code Section 1174, employers must maintain payroll records for three years at the place of employment or a central records office. The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) can and does request these records during wage claim investigations.

For nonprofits specifically — which was one of the questions driving this post — employment law attorneys typically advise keeping the following retention periods:

– Payroll and wage records: three years minimum under California law, though many employment attorneys I know (myself included) recommend five to seven years as a practical matter.
– I-9 forms: three years from the date of hire or one year after termination, whichever is later, per federal immigration rules.
– Employee personnel files: three to four years after termination.
– Records related to any legal claim, investigation, or administrative charge: retain indefinitely until the matter is fully closed and all appeal periods have expired.

Nonprofits often operate with lean administrative staff and informal record-keeping practices. That creates real exposure. If a former employee files a wage claim two years after leaving and the nonprofit can’t produce time records, the Labor Commissioner may simply accept the employee’s account of hours worked. I’ve seen that play out badly for well-intentioned organizations that just didn’t have a records policy in place.

Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute has solid plain-language coverage of FLSA record-keeping requirements that nonprofit administrators can review directly.

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Finding the Right Employment Law Lawyer in Santa Ana

Not every employment law attorney practices the same way, and the distinction matters.

Some firms focus almost entirely on plaintiff-side work — representing employees in discrimination, harassment, and wage claims. Others focus on management-side defense, helping businesses avoid and respond to claims. A smaller number handle both, though that requires careful conflict-of-interest screening.

In Santa Ana, the workforce is heavily concentrated in healthcare, construction, retail, and service industries. Those sectors generate specific types of claims: misclassification of workers as independent contractors in construction, missed meal breaks in healthcare and hospitality, and PAGA exposure for retail employers with large hourly workforces. An employment law attorney who has actually handled cases in those industries brings something a generalist doesn’t.

Before you hire anyone, ask directly: How many employment cases have you handled in Orange County in the last two years? Do you handle matters before the California Labor Commissioner or only in civil court? What’s your approach to pre-litigation negotiation? The answers tell you a lot.

FindLaw’s attorney directory and Justia both allow you to search by practice area and location, which is a reasonable starting point for comparing options. But directory listings don’t tell you much about how an attorney actually handles cases. Reviews, referrals, and a direct consultation matter more.

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California Employment Law: Why the State Matters

Federal employment law sets a floor. California consistently raises it.

Beyond the FEHA thresholds already mentioned, California requires employers to provide paid sick leave, prohibits non-compete agreements in almost all circumstances (unlike most other states), and has specific rules around arbitration agreements that the state legislature has repeatedly tried to limit — with ongoing litigation over federal preemption. The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) provides protections that go further than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act in several respects, including covering employers with five or more employees.

All of that means that if you’re working in Santa Ana and something has gone wrong at your job, your rights under California law may be substantially broader than what you’d have under federal law alone. An employment law attorney who knows California-specific statutes and California-specific litigation venues — including the California Civil Rights Department administrative process — is essential.

We serve clients throughout California, not just Orange County. But our physical presence in Santa Ana means we understand the local employer base, the local courts, and the specific industries where violations tend to cluster.

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Ready to Talk to an Employment Law Attorney?

If you’re in Santa Ana or anywhere in Orange County and you’re dealing with a workplace issue — wage theft, discrimination, wrongful termination, or anything in between — don’t wait until your deadlines have passed. California employment claims have strict filing windows. Missing them can eliminate rights that would otherwise be strong.

Razavi Law Group handles employment law matters for clients across California. You can schedule a consultation online, call us directly at (949)-694-3760, or visit our Santa Ana office at 2090 N Tustin Ave #250, Santa Ana, CA 92705, United States.

We also handle California personal injury cases, including wrongful death claims and slip and fall cases, so if your workplace situation involves a physical injury as well as an employment law violation, we can address both.

Your situation may be more actionable than you think. The first conversation costs nothing.