When To Report Wrongful Termination

Report wrongful termination or illegal treatment at work, such as retaliation or discrimination, as soon as you suspect it. Terminated employees can bring a successful wrongful termination lawsuit if they were fired, laid off, or forced to resign for unlawful reasons. Your former employer does not get to make the final call on whether or not a termination was legal.

“If you believe you are experiencing illegal treatment at work, it’s critical to document your concerns in writing, respectfully, and include the protected basis for your complaint — such as medical leave or discrimination — to ensure it is legally protected against retaliation,” says George Azadian, an employment law attorney at Azadian Law Group in Los Angeles.

Talk to a wrongful termination lawyer for personalized legal advice.

What Is Wrongful Termination?

Wrongful termination is the illegal firing or removal of an employee. To win a wrongful termination claim, an employee must prove their employer violated their legal rights. This involves more than establishing unfair treatment. Instead, an employer must have violated federal or state employment laws, such as those enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

“If you complain about being micromanaged or in a bad environment, that’s not legally protected,” says Azadian. “To be protected under the law, you have to state the underlying protected basis, such as race, age, or medical leave requests.”

Work is assumed to be ‘at-will employment’ in 49 out of the 50 U.S. states. Under an at-will system, employers have broad discretion regarding hiring and firing decisions. A company does not need a “good” or “fair” reason to remove an at-will employee. Still, they cannot fire a worker for an illegal reason.

Were You Illegally Fired?

If your employer wrongfully terminated you, you may be entitled to compensation. Find an experienced lawyer in our directory who can help you today.

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When Can You Sue for Wrongful Termination?

You can bring a successful wrongful termination lawsuit if you were fired, laid off, or forced to resign for unlawful reasons, including:

• Employment discrimination claims
• Violation of public policy
• Retaliation for whistleblower activity
• Retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim
• Retaliation for taking extended medical leave as protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Breach of contract if there is one (written or implied employment contract)

If you believe you are experiencing illegal treatment at work, it’s critical to document your concerns in writing, respectfully, and include the protected basis for your complaint .

Federal and State Anti-Discrimination Laws

Under federal and state laws, employers cannot discriminate against employees on the basis of a protected class. Under civil rights laws, protected categories include race, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, or religious affiliation.

Anti-discrimination laws apply to all employment actions, including hiring, performance reviews, promotion or demotion, and firing.

Sexual Harassment Claims

In the context of sexual harassment claims, many wrongful termination lawsuits involve allegations of retaliation.

Federal law prohibits employers from taking adverse action against employees who report sexual harassment or hostile working conditions to human resources, file a discrimination complaint, or testify as a witness in another employee’s lawsuit.

If you reported sexual harassment and your employer fired you soon after, you may have been the victim of a wrongful termination.

How Do You Prove Wrongful Termination?

Wrongful termination cases are often highly complex. Most companies and organizations are well aware of the fact that they cannot remove workers on discriminatory grounds or in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment.

As a result, they may conceal their true motivations with pretextual reasoning. The company could claim that an employee was simply removed for “performance” reasons.

This raises an important question: How do you prove wrongful termination? Similar to other employment lawsuits, a successful wrongful termination claim must always be built on a foundation of reliable supporting evidence.

Gather Evidence Supporting Your Claims

The types of evidence will vary based on the underlying facts of the case. It could include everything from witness statements to text messages or emails to admissions of culpability by the harasser.

Many retaliation cases are also backed by a legal concept known as temporary proximity. If an employee was fired (or treated worse) soon after reporting sexual harassment, it gives rise to the rebuttable presumption that those two things are causally related. Learn more about what qualifies as wrongful termination.

Find an Experienced Wrongful Termination Lawyer

If you are a victim of wrongful termination, consider using the Super Lawyers directory to locate an experienced wrongful termination lawyer in your area for legal advice.