With 80 million people employed in the private sector of the American economy, only 20 million of these people are part of a union that is protected by unfair dismissal by collective negotiation contracts, the remaining 60 million are employed "at will." These "at will" workers can be fired for any reason, even a bad one, or for no reason at all.
The magnitude of this problem is immense. Almost two million "at will" staff members are fired each year, and when impartial arbitrators review the decisions for these firings, over half of them are found to be unjustified. Experts think that over 150,000 individuals are wrongfully terminated in a given year.
While numerous individuals who are fired from their job feel as though their termination was "wrongful," particularly if they were fired without cause, the legal definition of wrongful termination is extremely specific. To be "wrongfully terminated," one ought to be fired for an illegal reason, which can include a violation of federal anti-discrimination laws or a breach of contract. Although most employment is "at will," there are some exceptions to the rule that might help keep you from getting fired or suing your former employer for wrongful termination.
When you start a job, you almost always sign a contract. This contract will consist of the following:
If you have this written contract or another document that guarantees your job security, you have a firm argument that you are not an at-will worker. For instance, if the contract you have states that you can only be fired with good cause or for reasons that are mentioned in the contract. You may also have an offer letter or other written paperwork that makes promises about your continued employment. If this holds true, you may have the ability to implement these promises in a court of law.
The existence of an implied employment contract, an agreement based on things that were said or done by your employer, is another exception to the at-will rule. Unfortunately, this can be tough to show because many employers are careful not to make any promises of ongoing employment. Nevertheless, implied contacts have been demonstrated where employers assured a "permanent employment," or employment for a specified amount of time. These implied contracts detailed specific forms of progressive discipline in an employee manual. When identifying whether an implied employment contract exists, the court will look at various details, consisting of:
If your employer acts unfairly, you probably have a claim for a breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing. The responsibility of good faith and fair dealing means that parties cannot evade the spirit of the bargain, lack diligence or slack off, perform incorrectly on purpose, abuse their power when defining the terms of an agreement, or disrupt or fail to cooperate in the other party's performance. In court, it has been established that employers breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing by:
Some states do not recognize the "good faith and fair dealing" exception to an at-will worker. Other states require that a legitimate employment contract exists prior to a terminated worker suing for a breach of good faith and fair dealing.
Public policy can be defined as a system of laws, regulatory measures, strategies, and funding priorities concerning a given topic advertised by a governmental entity or its representatives. It is illegal to violate public policy when terminating a staff member for reasons society recognizes as unlawful grounds for termination.
Prior to a wrongful termination case based on the violation of public policy will be allowed, numerous courts require that there be a specific law setting out the policy. Various state and federal laws have recognized employment-related actions that clearly violate public policy, like firing a staff member for:
Some states will protect staff members from being fired for particular reasons, such as serving as an election officer or volunteer firemen. Some courts have likewise determined that an employer cannot fire you because you took advantage of a legal solution or exercised a legal right, like filing a workers' compensation claim or reporting any violation of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act).
Employers are not allowed to fire at-will staff members for unlawful reasons, and discrimination is illegal. If you think that your termination was due to your color, race, national origin, gender, age, spiritual views, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, and more, you ought to speak with an experienced attorney right away. There are strict limits (statutes of limitations) that apply to discrimination claims, such as submitting a complaint of discrimination with a state or federal agency before you can take legal action against an employer in court.
In extreme cases, an employer's actions when firing a staff member become so deceitful that they lead to fraud. Fraud is commonly discovered during the recruiting process, where promises are made and broken or leading up to the final stages of employment (such as a staff member being persuaded to resign).
In order to show that your employment loss was because of fraud, you need to be able to demonstrate the following:
The toughest part of proving fraud is showing that the employer acted poorly on purpose in an effort to purposefully deceive you. Establishing this requires adequate documentation of how, when, to whom, and by what means the incorrect representations were made.
A defamation lawsuit is meant to protect an individual's reputation and good standing in the community. To prove that defamation was the reason you were fired, you need to be able to prove that in the process of termination, your previous employer made incorrect and spiteful statements about you that harmed your chances of finding a new job. To sue for defamation, you must prove that your previous employer:
To win a defamation case, you need to be able to prove that the cruel words were more than gossip. True defamation needs to be accurate information, and it also must be false.
Whistle-blowing occurs when an employee reports any illegal behavior at work that is not connected to workplace rights. For example, you would be a whistleblower if you report your company is manipulating financial data to make their monetary results look better than they are, participating in shareholder fraud, producing malfunctioning, harmful, or mislabeled products, or lying on their tax returns.
Laws regarding whistle-blowing safeguard staff members who report suspicious activity that is illegal or will harm the public. Some states protect whistle-blowers who state that their company broke the law, policy, or mandate at all. Other states give employers whistle-blower protection only when they report that their company broke specific laws, such as labor laws or environmental guidelines.
If you have experienced wrongful termination in your place of work, then you should submit an employment law claim. This type of lawsuit takes place when an employee experiences unlawful behavior from their employer. The company's behavior could include discrimination or unreasonable labor practices. If you have ever experienced wrongful termination, sexual harassment, employer retaliation, wage violations, etc., then you may be entitled to compensation with an employment law claim. Numerous individuals experience these wrongdoings and are scared to speak out against their employers. There are other types of employment law claims besides wrongful termination. These include family and medical leave act violations, workplace sexual harassment, employer retaliation, wage and hour disputes, and workplace harassment.
The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible staff members of covered employers to take unpaid leave or job-protected leave for particular family and medical reasons. These reasons may include being sick, looking after a loved one who is sick, or taking care of or bonding with a newborn baby. Employees have the legal right to go back to work and be free from retaliation for taking leave.
Employees are eligible for FMLA leave if they have been employed at their workplace for at least one year and a minimum of 1,250 hours. These eligible staff members can get as much as 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month duration for the following reasons:
Eligible employees can get up to twenty-six workweeks of leave during a 12-month duration to care for a covered military member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible staff member is the cover military member's spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
If you have been terminated due to taking family or medical leave to which you were entitled under the law, you probably have an employment law claim.
Sexual harassment occurs when a staff member experiences unwelcomed sexual advances, verbal or physical harassment of sexual nature, or requests for sexual favors. In some companies, unwanted sexual advances have become so prominent and ingrained into the culture that it frequently results in a hostile work environment where staff members struggle to be productive and successfully do their job. Unfortunately, sometimes, staff members are forced to quit because they cannot deal with the harassment any longer.
Victims of workplace sexual harassment can be male or female, and the harasser can be an employer, supervisor, colleague, and even someone external like a customer or client. Workplace sexual harassment should never be allowed. If you have been sexually harassed while at work and believe that you were fired because of it, as retaliation for complaining about it, or quit your job because of it, you should file an employment law claim.
Employers are not permitted to retaliate against workers who have actually participated in specific lawfully secured activities. Retaliation can include any unfavorable job action, such as demotion, discipline, firing, decrease in salary, or job/shift reassignment. However, retaliation can also be more subtle. To show that the reason you were terminated was because of your employer's retaliation, you must be able to show the following:
As long as the employer's negative action would deter a reasonable person in the situation from making a problem, it constitutes prohibited retaliation.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is responsible for managing and implementing some of the country's most essential worker protection laws. WHD is committed to ensuring that this nation's workers are adequately paid and for all the hours they work, no matter their immigration status. Wage and hour violations happen when an employer fails to follow state laws that are in regards to limiting the amount of time an employee can work or their compensation for going beyond that limitation. Although laws differ from state to state, they can cover minimum wage, overtime payment, lunch and rest breaks, and any damages due to a staff member when these guidelines were neglected. Some common examples of wage and hour violations include:
If you are filing an employment law claim because of a wage and hour dispute, it is essential to put together documents, including payment stubs, employment agreement, business policies, and other documentation to help support your claim.
Workplace harassment occurs when a company interacts with an employee that breaches Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. An employer’s, supervisor's, or colleague's negative conduct can be based on race, color, religious views, sex, national origin, older age, disability, or genetic information. This type of harassment becomes illegal when the adverse behavior becomes a condition of continued employment or is bad enough to create a workplace that is so unsettling it is considered hostile or violent. The negative behavior can consist of crude jokes, slurs, intimidation, ridicule, offending insults, physical threats, and even assaults. Workplace harassment can take place in a variety of circumstances, consisting of:
If you have been harassed while at work and believe that you were terminated because of it, as retaliation for complaining about it, or quit your job because of it, you ought to file an employment law claim.