Employment in California is on an “at-will” basis. So, when you work in California, the law gives you the right to leave your job any time you want, with or without any reason. Similarly, your employer can fire you at any time with or without cause and without needing to give you an excuse. Even so, there are exceptions to the “at-will” employment rule. If your employer violates any of these when they terminate your employment, it becomes a matter of wrongful termination. Then you can search online for “employee wrongful termination lawyers” to get legal representation to sue them.
How do you prove wrongful termination?
If you feel you lost your job due to wrongful termination and want to sue your employer, you will need to prove wrongful termination played a role in your job loss. For that, you can do the following:
Get informed about your legal rights
Your employer cannot claim the “at-will” basis for firing you if they terminate you from your job for these reasons:
Discrimination: Your employer fires because they have a problem with your age, gender, skin color, race, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, and so on.
Retaliation: Your employer terminates you from your position in retaliation against you for filing a complaint about workplace safety violations, illegal activities, unethical practices, discrimination, and harassment.
Work agreement violation: If you have signed a work agreement with your employer and the agreement states explicitly that the employer can fire you only for specific reasons, it is wrongful termination if the employer terminates you for any other reasons.
Understand the circumstances of your job termination
Take the time to go over the specific circumstances that led to the termination of your job. Here are some things you might want to consider:
• Did your employer discriminate against you in the workplace and subject you to discriminatory remarks?
• Did your employer taunt or discomfit you due to your pregnancy, health condition, or disability?
• Did you conflict with your employer on issues related to your age, gender, religion, nationality, or race?
• Did you protest or file a complaint about unsafe workplace conditions, illegal workplace practices, or workplace harassment?
• Did you argue with your employer and insist on exercising your legal right to take eligible leave, reasonable work breaks, and cast your vote?
• Were you close to retirement and about to receive retirement compensation from the company?
• Were you supposed to receive any company stock options?
Gather verifiable evidence to prove wrongful termination
If you decide to sue your employer for wrongful termination, it will be necessary to submit relevant and verifiable evidence in court. The evidence can include discriminatory emails, text messages, video calls, voice messages, chat messages, and photographs your employer sent you. In addition, you can provide include witness testimonials that support your claim of workplace discrimination. You also require your work records to show that your work attendance and performance met the employer’s requirements and could not influence their decision to fire you.
Review your work agreement
Reread the clauses in your work agreement and highlight the exact reasons for which your employer can legally terminate your employment. For example, the work agreement might state that the employer can fire you if you are professionally incompetent, engage in gross misconduct, or carry out financial fraud. If you have given them no cause to fire you for this reason and they still dismiss you, it is a case of wrongful termination.
What are your options in case of wrongful termination?
The first thing you should do after your employer wrongfully fires you from your job is to consult a competent employment lawyer. You can search online for “employee wrongful termination lawyers” and find an experienced lawyer to represent you. The lawyer will review your case and evidence and approach your employer to negotiate a settlement. If that does not work, they will file a claim on your behalf with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and offer any required support to the state agency is investigating the matter.
If the EEOC mediation fails to bring about an agreeable resolution with your employer, the employment lawyer can sue your employer to uphold your employment rights.
