When you lose your job due to being terminated from the position, you may feel that your termination of employment was wrong. We have advice and tips about wrongful termination.
What Is Wrongful Termination?
Wrongful termination is when employers violate an employment contract or law when firing employees. Wrongful termination is also known as wrongful dismissal or wrongful discharge. illegal terminations can involve breach of contract, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Violation of public policy, committing illegal acts, and firing whistleblowers are other examples of wrongful termination. Bottom of Form
Breach of Contract
Breaches of contract in wrongful termination violate agreed-upon terms and conditions in binding contracts. Breach of employment contract occurs when employees or employers fail to fulfill agreed-upon terms and conditions of the employment agreement and contract. For example, wrongful termination of employment with a breach of contract is when an employer terminates an employee for working remotely even though this was the agreed-upon work arrangement.
Harassment
Harassment is never allowable or legal in a workplace. Nor is firing an employee for reporting harassment. Being fired for reporting harassment to your human resources department is wrongful termination. Harassment is usually thought of as based on sexual harassment, racism, gender, and sexual orientation. Being harassed about religion, age, and disability can be grounds for challenging wrongful termination. However, wrongful termination due to harassment does not only involve the most understood reasons. An employment termination for reporting comments and actions that create toxic working environments is another ground for a wrongful termination lawsuit. For example, wrongful termination occurs if an employer fires an employee after verbally abusing them for making a human resources complaint,
Discrimination
Discriminatory wrongful termination is termination based on a protected category. Protected categories include race, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, national origin, religion, class origin, and increasingly genetic information. Employers must base their hiring and retention employment decisions on job-related qualifications and worker performance. Employees who can prove their firing was related to their protected category and not because of their qualifications and performance have cause for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Constructive Dismissal
Constructive dismissal is a situation where an employer’s policies or behavior make it hard or intolerable for employees to continue working at a company or organization. Deliberate and difficult changes in the work environment that force workers to quit are constructive dismissal. Changes to working environments or conditions not agreed upon in contracts or consultation with employees can be constructive dismissal. For example, when an employer suddenly and deliberately changes work hours to harass an employee or employees to get them to quit, this is constructive dismissal.
Retaliation
Retaliation in wrongful termination is when an employer fires an employee because they reported illegal behavior or discrimination during their employment, cooperated with investigations of wrongdoing and illegal actions, or demonstrated their legal rights such as free speech. An example of retaliation in a wrongful termination is if an employee loses their job after making a discrimination complaint.
Violation of Public Policy
A public policy violation is termination when an employer ignores publicly mandated laws such as the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or federal and state laws intended. An example of wrongful termination because of public policy violation is firing someone because they were called to jury duty.
Committing Illegal Acts
Employers can’t ask or expect employees to participate in illegal activities, including discriminatory behavior. If an employer fires employees because they refuse to engage in illegal action, this is grounds for claiming wrongful termination. An example of wrongful termination is if a CEO wanted to pay hush money to cover up illegal or morally questionable actions and fired an employee who refused to participate.
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowers are employees who report illegal workplace practices and policies. Federal and state laws protect whistleblowers from wrongful retaliatory harassment and termination. An example of wrongful termination of a whistleblower is when an employee gives evidence of illegal actions to police or other legal authorities and is fired.
Wrongful termination violates your employment rights. At Varlack Legal Services, our lawyers are knowledgeable in fighting wrongful termination. Contact us today.
