If an employee believes he or she was fired ‘illegally,’ a wrongful termination action might be made. An alleged breach of federal or state anti-discrimination legislation, employment contracts, or labor regulations gives rise to such claims. When a termination occurred as a result of sexual harassment or in retribution for a complaint, a claim might be filed.
There are numerous myths and misunderstandings about “wrongful termination.” Only when a termination is unjust in the legal sense is it considered wrongful. It might be aggravating for an employee to be laid off for no apparent reason. However, it could just be a difference of opinion about how an employer judges job success.
Wrongful Termination: Was Your Firing Illegal?
You may find yourself in a very difficult situation when you lose your job and when this termination is wrongful. There are many reasons for wrongful termination and you should know more about this subject. In order to get to the point, you should know the main reasons for the unlawful termination, and these reasons are presented below.
Workplace discrimination happens in many work environments and it represents one of the biggest issues in the business world.
Racial discrimination
According to the laws by several states, racial discrimination is not allowed at the workplace. Many employees had this kind of experience in the past, and racial discrimination could be a huge problem. It can lead to denied opportunities, lower pay, harassment, and final termination. It is important to know that employers cannot terminate workers based on their race because this action is illegal. If this happens, the employee has the right to fight in court with the selected discrimination lawyer.
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a huge problem nowadays. It is one of the most common reasons for wrongful termination. Many employees experience this kind of harassment at work, and they are usually afraid to report it to upper management. When this happens, some of the employees can be fired and this could be a wrongful termination. All forms of sexual harassment are illegal and these should be addressed and reported to the management and law officials.
Workers’ compensation claims
If we look at the employment law, we can see that each employee has the right to get compensation if they were hurt on the job. This compensation should cover the recovery expenses and this amount of money should be enough to make the employee capable of working again. In some cases, the employer decides to terminate the contract with the employee and this should be treated as wrongful termination.
Whistleblowing
The term “whistleblowing” represents the situations when an employee reports wrong actions in the workplace. These bad actions can affect the well-being of the workers and managers, and these could also mean that some of the employees do not do their job properly. In many cases, whistleblowing is not a desired option for many managers, especially when they are involved in suspicious actions. As a way to protect themselves and their positions, they usually decide to terminate the contract and fire the employee who reported the wrong actions.
Taking an entitled leave
According to the official law, each worker has the right to take a valid family or medical leave. There is a Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 which describes the types of medical and family leave that a person can get. If an employer has more than 50 employees that work in 20 or more workweeks in the preceding or current calendar year, he or she must apply the FMLA rules at the workplace.
Workplace discrimination happens in many work environments and it represents one of the biggest issues in the business world. When an employee is wrongfully terminated, he or she must consult a lawyer about the further steps.
If you experienced this kind of termination, there are a few steps that you should take. First of all, call your lawyer and explain the entire situation. A lawyer will know how to sue the company or a specific manager or employer. During the process, you can collect all the information that might be relevant to the legal process.
You should have clear evidence that a wrongful termination happened. All the written, audible, and other kinds of data should be collected. At the same time, you can invite the witnesses to share their side of the story.
Once you are sure that you can win on the court, you can start a legal process after you have been wrongfully terminated.