WRONGFUL TERMINATION LAWYER

The phrase wrongful termination is a buzz word. In California, an employment termination is only wrongful if it is in retaliation because the employee took issue with an illegal practice of the employer. The tort of wrongful termination has also been expanded to include job terminations when an employee is on a protected medical leave (FMLA, disability, or cancer), due to pregnancy, because of race, religion, a leave right for military leave, duty or training, jury service, domestic violence victims, or a protected characertistic such as sexual orientation or identification. False reasons, mistakes of fact, and unfair job terminations by themselves are not wrongful termination in California.

Employees eager to find out if they can sue for wrongful termination are advised to focus on the employer's reason for terminate first. Is the reason in writing? What was said orally? Who said it? What was their position? Is the reason untrue? For instance, did the employee both steal money and complain the employer had underage minors working past midnight in violation of various labor laws? Only after telling an experienced employee attorney the employer's stated reason for termination should the employee talk about their theory on why they were really fired. 

(619) 320-3000 TO SPEAK TO A SAN DIEGO EMPLOYEE LAWYER

EXAMPLES OF WRONGFUL TERMINATION

Firing employees to avoid paying wages, or because the employee complained about wages is illegal. Gould v. Maryland, 31 Cal.App.4th 1137, 1148, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 718, 724 (1995) held an employer’s termination of an employee to avoid paying accrued commissions and vacation pay violated California Labor Code Section 201 and created a wrongful termination case.

Firing an employee because they refused to work in an unsafe workplace

An employee quits after telling the employer repeatedly they are tired of hearing somebody use offensive racial slurs in the workplace

A nurse refuses to work when the staffing ratio is not met

An employee is a witness in a sexual harassment investigation, their hours are immediately cut, they are soon suspended, and then fired

FORCED TO QUIT

Employees can quit and sue if their employer has refused to remediate an intolerable, illegal working condition within a reasonable amount of time. In general, employers should be aware of the intolerable working condition and have an opportunity to correct it. Whether a forced to quit case is viable is an extremely delicate legal issue. Employees are strongly advised to speak to an experienced employee lawyer before quitting. In addition, employees should speak to an experienced job termination lawyer before writing the reasons why they are quitting, or telling their employers. 

While the Employment Lawyers Group has succeeded when employees provide reasons for quitting that are other than the intolerable, illegal conditions, it is difficult. Many employees have the urge to thank their employers for the opportunities they provided, or provide reasons that have nothing to do with illegality such as going back to school, childcare, or needing to move on. Employees must understand that legal cases are subject to proof in a court of law. People who do not know the employee will cast serious doubt the employee quit due to the alleged illegal activity, and maybe even wonder if the illegal activity happened in the first place, if the written reasons for quitting completely fail to mention the intolerable, illegal working conditions.

When an employee quits also matters. If an employee decides to quit 6 months after the alleged intolerable conditions occurred this is most likely a negative fact for the case. Likewise, employees who stay on for years after the intolerable working conditions and do not quit cast doubt that the working environment was really that bad. This is often true in sexual harassment cases. Victims of terrible sexual harassment usually want nothing to with the employer. They cannot go back and face the physical workplace, or any of the people around. They might even find it embarassing to see coworkers who saw the sexual harassment. Just deciding to stay at the employer, see the sexual harasser, and the site of trauma is a hard fact for a jury to understand.

Please call (619) 320-3000 if you think you have grounds to quit and sue