What evidence should I save after being fired in California?

Keep your offer letter, handbook, performance reviews, pay records, and every email or text about the events, and write a dated timeline while memory is fresh. California law also lets you demand copies: Labor Code section 1198.5 requires employers to produce personnel records within 30 days of a written request.

California gives fired workers document rights that should be exercised early. A written request obligates the employer to provide the personnel file within 30 days (Labor Code section 1198.5), payroll records within 21 days (Labor Code section 226), and copies of any document the employee signed (Labor Code section 432). Beyond the file, preserve what the employer cannot rewrite: emails and texts about your performance and the termination, the names of witnesses and decision-makers, your offer letter and handbook, and a dated timeline recording who said what when you were let go — written while memory is fresh. Do not take confidential or trade-secret materials on the way out; improper copying can damage an otherwise strong case. Avoid signing a severance release on the spot, since the deadlines leave room to evaluate: three years for a Civil Rights Department complaint (Government Code section 12960) and two years for most common-law claims.

Authority: Cal. Lab. Code § 1198.5