Do you feel you’ve been illegally fired from your job? Are you not sure when to call an employment lawyer, or if an employment lawyer is even necessary?
There are many labor laws surrounding what constitutes a “wrongful termination.” Many employment situations are “at will,” but there are instances when your employer can be in the wrong for firing you. To clear up some of the confusion, here are some…
- If your employer provided you with a written contract promising job security, you or your employment lawyer can make the case that you’re not actually an at-will employee. Examples of written promises include contracts, offer letters and any other written documents that can be enforced in court.
- Implied promises may also hold up in court. If your employer said or did something that guaranteed employment over a certain term, this may imply that you were no longer an at-will employee. These are much harder to prove without specific documentation.
- You may have a case if your employer acted unfairly. This includes actions like firing or transferring employees to avoid paying them sales commissions or replacing them with lower paid workers, misleading employees about work conditions, promotion opportunities or raises, and putting an employee in a position so dangerous or undesirable that they’re forced to quit without severance.
- Public policy violations encompass firings that occur for reasons that are socially considered illegitimate. These include firing an employee for taking off work for jury duty, voting, and serving in the military or National Guard. It’s also a violation of public policy to fire a whistle blower.
- Employees can also make a case for wrongful termination if they feel like they’ve been discriminated against based on factors like race, national origin, color, age, disability, pregnancy and religion, but these claims have to be filed quickly. Contact an employment lawyer as soon as you can if you feel your termination had something to do with discrimination.
- Other examples of instances that count as wrongful termination include employer retaliation for an employee complaint, fraud, defamation, and whistleblowing.
In all of these instances, contacting an employment attorney as soon as possible after the incident is critical to winning your case.
For more about this, go here.
