North Carolina Wrongful Termination Legal Questions

You may have a claim for sex discrimination if you were fired because of your sexual orientation.  You may also have a claim if you were bullied (harassed) due to your sexual orientation.  You should consult with an experienced attorney as soon as possible to discuss your options.... Read More

Wrongful or unlawful termination is a very limited claim in North Carolina.  I do not see anything, other than your opinion, that indicates the employer is acting unlawfully by terminating you. However, if you believe the termination is unlawful, then you should consult with an experienced employment attorney to discuss your options. You have a very short time period to move these forward.... Read More

I do not see a question, but the request that you provide return to work documentation is not, by itself a violation of the law.  It also is not a violation of the law that you were terminated due after you provided the documentation.  However, there could be a violation of the law depending on the reason for the termination.  You should consult with an experienced employment attorney to discuss further. Employers are not covered by HIPAA.  The entitites that are covered by HIPAA are: health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses.  Even if your employer might be one of these entities, it would not give you a legal claim related to your employment.  You can find more information on this on the website of the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services (hhs.gov)... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where you can be terminated at any time for any reason.  You can only file a wrongful termination lawsuit where you show that the employer was motivated by unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation.  I suggest you set a consultation with an experienced employment attorney as soon as possible.... Read More

Unfortunately these questions are too specific and complex for us to respond to in this forum.  We can give you general guidance, but answer to these specific questions would need to be address in a consultation with an attorney.  Having said that, North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where you can be fired for any reason whether it is fair or not.  So, if you were fired because you violated HIPPA as a result of not being trained correctly, then it is certainly unfair, but not unlawful.  As to unemployment, the employer would need to show that you engaged in misconduct to get the DES to deny your claim. ... Read More

By itself, no.  North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where you can be fired for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all and there is no legal claim you can bring.  You can bring a claim for wrongful firing if you can show there was an unlawful motive (not just unfair, or illogical, or unreasonable) behind the termination.  There are only two unlawful motives in North Carolina: unlawful discrimination (race, color, sex, age over 40 etc) or unlawful retaliation (fired because you engaged in an act the law says you have a legall protected right to engage in.)... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where an employer can fire an employee for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all.  Yes, you can be fired because another employee liked about you.  The only time you can bring a wrongful termination claim is when you can prove that you were really fired due to unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. ... Read More

You will be able to find an employment attorney if you have a good claim for wrongful termination. In order to have a claim for wrongful termination, you must be able to show that you were terminated due to unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation.  You can use the Find A Lawyer feature at the top of this page to search for an employment attorney.  Then contact the attorney's office to find out what procedure they use with potential employment clients.... Read More

Yes, you can be fired for zero tolerance.  North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where you can fired at any time for any reason. You can file a wrongful termination claim only if you can show that you were terminated due to unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. I do not understand all of what you have posted and I believe there are facts missing.  However, if you were mutually "fussing" at each other and you were fired but the other employee was not, you could have a claim if the other person were of a different race or gender.  Also, I do not understand what you mean about oral sex and a bottle, but if you were objecting to sexual harassment, you may have a claim.  I would recommend you consult with an experienced employment attorney if you need further information.... Read More

There is no one statute of limitations for wrongful termination.  It depends on what law you are claiming was violated.  In some situations, claims have to be filed within 30 days and other may have as many as two to four years.  However, the majority of these claims must be filed with a the appropriate state or federal agency within 180 days of the unlawful conduct.... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state which means you can be fired for any reason and there is no liability for the employer unless there is an unlawful motive for the action taken against you. There are generally only two forms of unlawful motives: unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. Discrimination in employment is unlawful if it is due to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age 40 or older. Retaliation in employment is unlawful if you engaged in one of a handful of "legally protected" activities and were fired for engaging in that activity. If either of these was the motive for the termination, then you may have a claim for unlawful termination.... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state which means you can be fired for any reason and there is no liability for the employer unless there is an unlawful motive for the action taken against you.   Terminating an employee who is absent from work is not unlawful regardless of whether you have a doctor's note or sick/vacation leave.  The only way this would be a violation of the law is if your sickness was part of a larger issue such as a serious health condition or disability.  If it was either, then you might - not certain, but might -- have rights under one of the two following laws:   The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides covered employees who work for covered employers with up to 12 weeks of leave for a serious health condition.  Not all employers and not all employees are covered by FMLA.  The serious health condition can be the employee's own or of an immediate family member. At a minimum, the employer must have at least 50 employees and the employee must have worked at least 12 months and more than 1250 hours. In general, things such as colds, the flu, upset stomach, dental problems and the like are not serious health problems. If an employee on FMLA is able to return to work in 12 weeks or less, then the employer must return the employee to the same or equivalent position.  Employees are also allow to take FMLA on a intermittent basis (here and there as needed).FMLA makes it unlawful for a covered employer to interfere with an employee's FMLA rights or leave or retaliate against an employee for exercising FMLA rights.   The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against employees or applicants for employment due to a disability.  The ADA also requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee or applicant with a disability that will allow the person to perform the essential functions of the job.  Time away from work can be a reasonable accommodation in certain situations.  ... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state which means an employee can be fired at any time for any reason.  You can be fired for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all and there is simply no legal claim that you can file.  The only time that an employee will have a claim for wrongful firing is when the employee can show that the termiantion was due to unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation.  There is nothing in this post that would suggest you were fired due to unlawful discrimination. It is possible that you could have a claim for wrongful discharge based on unlawful retaliation, but I cannot tell from this post.  Unlawful retaliation occurs when an employee is fired due to having engaged in a "protected activity."  There are not many protected acitivities in North Carolina, but do include things such as complaining about unlawful discrimination, certain types of wage complaints, exercising rights under FMLA and workers compensation laws and a few others. However, general complaints to upper management about unethical activity or illegal activity are not protected activities.  I suggest you consult with an experienced employment attorney to more fully discuss the termination to see if you have any options.... Read More

This is an employment-at-will state which means you can be fired for any reason and there is no liability for the employer unless there is an unlawful motive for the action taken against you. There are generally only two forms of unlawful motives: unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. Discrimination in employment is unlawful if it is due to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age 40 or older. Retaliation in employment is unlawful if you engaged in one of a handful of "legally protected" activities and were fired for engaging in that activity. If either of these was the motive for the termination, then you may have a claim for unlawful termination.By itself, there is nothing unlawful about firing you due to a background check whether the background check has changed or not.... Read More

No.  North Carolina is an employment-at-will state where an employee can be fired for any reason.  The only time you can file a legal claim is if you can show that the employer's reason for terminating you was unlawful.  The only unlawful motives in North Carolina are unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. Neither of those motives appear in these facts.... Read More