Wrongful termination is also known as wrongful dismissal. It is the legal terminology describing a situation where an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer illegally by breaching one or more terms of the contract of employment. The absence of a formal written contract of employment does not mean that the employee does not have a case against the employer. Unfortunately, just because an employer unfairly fired or forced an employee to quit, does not necessarily mean that the employee suffered wrongful termination according to the law and has the legal grounds to sue his employer.
Although it may be unfair, termination of employment may not be illegal. Employment is usually considered to be "at will," which means that employment is voluntary and indefinite for the employees as-will-as the employer. That means that, as an "at will" employee, you may quit your job whenever you want, with or without any reason, and usually without any consequences. On the other side, an at-will employer may terminate your employment whenever he or she wishes, and for any reason or even for no reason at all, usually without any consequences.
However, even "at-will" employees do have some legal protection as there are cases where exemptions exist. One exception would be when there is some unlawful motivation or retaliatory reason for terminating the employment. Another would be that the employee has a contractual relationship with the employer.
The employer can fire any employee for any reason as long as that reason is not illegal. While it may be immoral, employers can be horribly unfair to their employees without it being illegal, and without the employee having the right to sue. Not all terminations of an employment relationship are wrongful and allow for legal remedies. For it to be an illegal act of wrongful termination, an employer must violate a specific state or Federal law, a regulation, or constitutional provision. Although there is no actual "wrongful termination law," State, local and Federal laws, statutes and regulations are in place to help protect you.
Below you will find some examples of "wrongful termination" or "wrongful dismissal":
- "Constructive wrongful termination" is a form of wrongful termination. This happens when the employee is not actually fired from the job, but quits voluntarily because the working conditions become unbearable, and effectively is forced to resign.
- If you report your employer to the police or a state or Federal agency for some violation, it is illegal for your employer to fire you in revenge. That is known as "whistleblower" protection.
- An employer may not fire an employee who refuses to perform an unlawful act when ordered to do so by the employer. Firing an employee in retribution for exposing dishonest acts of the employer is illegal.
- It is against the law to terminate an employee for refusing to succumb to unwanted sexual advances. This can be in the form of direct sexual harassment, such as unwanted advances, improper touching or speech, showing explicit sexual photographs, etc. Or it can be in the form of subtle, indirect harassment such as creating a hostile work environment by expressly or implicitly making the continuation of an employee's employment conditional upon having sexual relations or having to tolerate inappropriate conduct.
- A firing might be "wrongful" because the employee has a contract saying that he or she will be employed for a certain amount of time, and the employer disregarded the contract, firing the employee without any cause before the contract expired.
- Once wrongful termination has been established, an employee has the right to sue his or her former employer for damages. This includes lost wages and any "fringe" benefits as-well-as possible punitive damages. To successfully bring a wrongful termination suit, the terminated employee must have been discharged without "good cause." There must have been an "implied" contract with legitimate reasons to believe that the employment would have continued. The former employee may bring an action for damages as well as for breach of contract.
- The employee has the burden of proving that he or she was wrongfully terminated from their place of employment without any cause, or was retaliated against by said employer. Some types of evidence that an employee may use to prove his or her case include documents, computer-generated evidence, oral testimony of statements made by supervisors and co-workers; evidence of how other employees were treated differently than the employee.
- If you think that your employer terminated you because of discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or marital status, we urge you to seek legal counsel. These are illegal reasons for termination of employment. We urge you to know your rights.
There are many and varied cases of Wrongful Termination. We have only listed a small number of them above. Each case is individual and unique. For help determining if you have a case against your employer for wrongful termination, we strongly suggest that you consult with an attorney to find out of you can seek redress and sue your former employer to obtain justice. You should see a lawyer to have your circumstances evaluated before you say or do anything that might jeopardize your case. The Ottinger Firm handles cases of Wrongful Termination and invites you to call for a case evaluation.
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