North Carolina Wrongful Termination Legal Questions

So employment in most states is at Will meaning you can be terminated for any reason or no reason as well as your privilege to separate for any reason or no reason from your employer. However, when it becomes illegal is when you are terminated based upon a civil rights violation. This would be for example like racial discrimination, gender discrimination, disability discrimination, color of skin discrimination, ethnic discrimination, religious discrimination, etc. If you feel that the motivating factor in your termination was due to a violation of your civil rights, then you should discuss your case with an employment lawyer for specific advice.     ... Read More

You can use the "Find A Lawyer" feature on this website to find and reseach an attorney who is experienced with employment law. Keep in mind that most "retaliation" that takes place is NOT unlawful due to the employment-at-will doctrince.  Retaliation is only unlawful if it is taken on the basis of a "legally protected activity."  I do not see any specifically protected activity in these facts, but there may be other facts that could change my opinion.... Read More

It is impossible to answer this question on a forum such as this due to the complexity of the ADA.  It is made more difficult by the fact that the US Supreme Court has held that each ADA claim must be assessed on a "case by case" basis which means that the outcomes for similiar situations may be very different.... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where you can be fired at any time for any reason.  You can sue for wrongful firing only if you prove the firing was due to unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation.  The key word being "unlawful" as most forms of discrimination or retaliation are lawful.  I do not see any basis for a wrongful firing claim in these facts. Perhaps unfair, but not unlawful.... Read More

Your race and the race of the person who terminated you are not legally imporant. What is important is the motive.  In otherwords, why were you fired? If you were fired due to your age or race, you may have a legal claim. If you strong evidence that age or race was the reason, then you may have a strong legal claim. There is a very short period for filing a legal claim on race or age so consult with an experienced employment attorney as soon as possible.... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where an employee can be fired at any time for any reason.  You can be fired for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all. You can only file a wrongful firing claim when you can show the termination was motivated by an unlawful reason.  There are only two unlawful reasons in this state: unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. Discrimination is unlawful only if it is based on things such as race, sex, disability etc. Retaliation is unlawful only if it is based on the employee engaging a protected activity such as filing for workers comp, using FMLA, complaining about unlawful discrimination etc.  I see neither of these in your post, but if you believe either motivated your termination, you should set a consultation with an experienced employment attorney.... Read More

This certainly sounds unfair.  However, there appears to be no legal claim here.  Employees of cities and towns in North Carolina are employed at-will which means they can be terminated (or disciplined) at any time for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all.  You could only sue the City if you can show there is some unlawful motive behind the termination.  You may want to discuss this with an experienced employment attorney if there are more facts that you believe are relevant.... Read More

There are no easy wrongful termination claims including claims based on disability.  At base, you must show that you were terminated (or not hired) due to your disability.  That is a difficult task in the best of circumstances.  The best thing for you to do is to get a consultation with an experienced employment attorney to fully discuss.... Read More

Not based on these facts although more information could change the analysis.  In general, employers in North Carolina are not required to allow employees time off for any purpose. However, if the absence from work is due to a serious healt condition, the employee may be protected from termination if the employer is covered by FMLA and the employee is a covered employer.... Read More

I cannot answer the union question as that is labor law. You need to find out from your union or, if you are not happy with the union answer or do not trust the union, see if you can find a labor lawyer.  Those lawyers are hard to find these days.  However, the employment law answer is clear.  This is not a violation of any employment law and nothing would legally prohibit the employer from demanding that you stay over or prohibit her from making you stand up to give a speech.... Read More

Not sure what the question is.  If you were awarded unemployment benefits, how is this a loss?  Do you mean the employer appealed, and the award was reversed? The employment security law (the law covering unemployment) in North Carolina provides employees with compensation when the employee has been terminated, but not for misconduct.  However, being awarded unemployment benefits has nothing to do with whether you have any employment claim against the employer because the employment law is completely separate from the employment security law.... Read More

No, this is not wrongful termination.  The law only allows you to file a legal claim for wrongful termination if you can show that the termination was motivated by unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation.  Discrimination is unlawful if it is based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability, age 40 or older or genetic information (such as a DNA test).  Retaliation is unlawful if it is based on the employee engaging in a protected activity (workers compensation claim, FMLA usage, etc.).  There is no wrongful termination claim based on the manager lying about the reason you were fired.... Read More

Yes, you can be fired for sleeping on the job because North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where an employee can be fired for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all.  Even so, it is possible that you could have a claim pursuant to the Americans With Disabilities Act.  The ADA requires employers with at least 15 employees to provide reasonable accomodations to employees with disabilites.  If your employer was aware of your sleep apnea, if it is a disability under the ADA, and there was some reasonable accomodation that could have been made, then you may have a claim.  I recommend you consult with an experienced employment attorney as soon as possible to discuss.  These type of claims must be file with the EEOC initially and the filing must be within 180 days of the alleged unlawful conduct.... Read More

I do not see any reason that you need an attorney in Raliegh specifically.  What you need is an experienced employment attorney who handles wrongful termination claims who is willing to help you regardless of where s/he is located.  You can use the Find A Lawyer feature at the top of the Lawyers.com website to locate such an attorney.  Keep in mind that you must find the lawyer yourself as lawyers are not allowed to directly solicit you offering representation.... Read More

You will need to locate the attorney yourself and then reach out to him/her.  Attorneys on this site who respond to these questions are not allowed to "solict" your business.  You can use the "Find A Lawyer" feature at the top of the page to find an experienced employment attorney.  I do not know why you would want an out of state attorney, but you might be able to find one.  The attorney would need to be licensed in North Carolina or able to associate a North Caroilna based attorney to help.  ... Read More

You should consult with an experienced employment attorney to fully discuss and have them review the severance agreement.  Now, having said that, employers in North Carolina are allowed to fire employees who are not at work due to medical or health reasons unless the absence is covered under the FMLA.  If the absence is not covered, for example you have run out of the 12 weeks of FMLA leave, then absent a rare situation where a law called the ADA or one of the discrimination laws apply, the employer is legally free to terminate you "at will."... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state which means an employee can be fired at any time for any reason.  The only tiime that you can file a "wrongful termination" claim is when you can show that the employer fired you due to either (1) unlawful discrimination or (2) unlawful retaliation. I do not see either in these facts. However, if there are other facts that could show either, then you may want to set a consultation with an experienced emploment attorney.... Read More