Wrongful Termination Legal Questions

If you were complaining about safety issues, you may have protection as a whistleblower under Labor Code 1102.5, and you were fired as a result of your complaints.  But, I would need to know more about what kind of safety issues you complained about, did you document your complaints, did anything else happen that could give the employer reason to fire you.  I would also like to know where this happened.... Read More

I have to give you a classic lawyer's answer: it depends. Not every terminaion is "wrongful," and in order for a "wrongful" termination to also be something you can pursue in court, it also has to be unlawful (that is, in violation of some law). And, each law has its own "statute of limitations," which is the time limit a person has to challenge the termination in court. For example, if your termination was "wrongful" because it was unlawful discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the deadline would be one year from the termination. If it was unlawful discrimination under Title VII of the the federal Civil Rights Act, it could be 180 or 300 days form the termination. If it was a breach of employment contract, it could be as long as two years. There are other legal claims where the time limit could be up to six years. In addition, each state has its own statutes of limitation, so the answer also depends in part on where you were employed.... Read More

Your union should treat you like any other union member. If they recommend you agree to the last chance agreement then they should assure you that every union member who is insubordinate is recommended the same option.   You can retain private counsel at your expense. More employees do this because if you go to arbitration and lose the chances of a successful appeal are not great.   Everyone today has a target on their backs. Duty of Loyalty, Faithless Servant, and Master Servant Doctrines are all good common law in New Yotk whether someone wants to admit that or not. And although your child is rightfully important for you there is no duty to accommodate your child, just you. You can request FMLA but once that is gone there is no possible extension of that like there might be if it was your own disability.   In your particular case you should pay a decent amount of money ( sometimes you get what you pay for) to an attorney who limits their practice to labor and employment law to spend a few hours with you and truly and honestly tell you the reality and choices you are facing. 25 years or 5 years on the job the union should treat everyone the same. Lots of employees would probably jump hoops to get a union job today and then never raise their voice no matter how much a supervisor yells. Your supervisor might have no union protection. Which means if you don't do exactly as instructed the supervisor loses their job with no warning and no questions asked.   It's brutal out there when you have absolutely no union and get absolutely no second chance as it looks like you might be getting. Another option is to pay a private labor and employment lawyer to review that last chance agreement and confirm what you might already know. Is there hidden discrimination not related to your child going on? Sometimes employees are sure of discrimination and after a few hours a skilled lawyer sees a completely different and unrelated discrimination which the employee never would have discovered. Not always, but paying for a consult does sometimes bring up hidden prejudices which are illegal and the claim the employee wanted to pursue is not the one which can potentially be proven. Almost never are discrimination claims easily proven no matter what they are.... Read More

If you belong to a union you have the right for a union representative to accompany you to an interrogation.   Otherwise most employment law matters are not criminal. Were you potentially facing criminal charges you could insist on a criminal defense lawyer.   In other and most employment situations it is at the discretion of the employer. The master servant doctrine lives. They have a duty to pay you. You have a duty to be faithful. And either side can end the relationship without cause unless you are government employed or you are covered by a contract which says the opposite. That's why it's called at will employment.... Read More

You should contact an employment attorney. There could be FMLA and/or ADA issues here. We represent employees throughout Ohio and offer free consultations.  Feel free to call us today. Ohio FMLA attorney https://mcoffmanlegal.com/practice-areas/columbus-family-and-medical-leave-act-lawyer/... Read More

Call employment lawyers before you sign. We review severance agreements for flat fees statewide. You speak with an employment lawyer first. If you feel comfortable the lawyer gives you a flat fee that you pay by credit card on line. Then an employment lawyer thoroughly reviews the agreement (usually within a day and calls you back). Then you have a conference again where you decide is this reasonable, should you ask for more, can you do anything else BEFORE you sign. Good luck and ask for an employment lawyer's help.... Read More

It looks like meeting quota was required for this job. No supervisor needs to like her or his subordinates. But all employees must perform the essential functions of their jobs with or without accommodations. There is no mention of needing accommodations or discrimination. What is the wrongful part if you were "at will" as most employees are?... Read More

Ask the company whether they will contest your unemployment. Some companies will not contest as part of the separation deal. You should also ask if they'll give you money in exchange for a non-disparagement and release of any claims you may have against them. If they will do such an agreement, you have the right to have an attorney review the agreement.... Read More

Great question!   Most employees are "at will". You can quit. The employer can fire you. No reason necessary unless your union contract, the civil service laws, or a private employment contract you negotiated with your employer states otherwise. Assuming these don't apply, no reason is a good reason.   If you are still doubting this go on YouTube and type in "employment law reality check". I think I have posted a dozen or more very short video clips which will help you. All of the common law doctrines such as Master Servant, Faithless Servant or Duty of Loyalty apply in New York. What that means is that you have to please your employer and co-workers. If the employer gets more than one complaint about you from a couple different co-workers you are probably not going to last much longer. Remember that you have to be civil to your manager and fellow employees. Your manager does not to any employee: unless they are discriminating. And you need a plausible theory to prove that.   Make sure you honestly get your unemployment benefits. It's tough not to receive them in New York. If you are denied unemployment it means you need to reflect on whether working for others is your best fit. You might decide to open your own business? Which many many people are doing every day because many manual labor jobs are disappearing quickly.... Read More

We always ask in such situations, are there other factors or motivations that may have lead to the termination which are unstated.  Usually there's more to the termination than the employer discloses, and clearly they would say to you that we are terminating you for unlawful reasons.  First question is if you have an employment contract, have that reviewed with counsel.  Second if the facts do not fit the explanation, then again, consult a lawyer and go over the history and a lawyer can help determine if there is any possible unlawful conduct.  In your position, I suggest that you do and obtain legal advice, whether you pay for a consultation or not, as you may need legal advice and that's probably worth scheduling an appointment.  You may have grounds to seek legal action, but these facts alone do not provide a basis to conclude anything unlawful has occurred.  Mitchell... 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

What are your damages? Assuming you still work there how much money have you actually lost? If you were fired for gross misconduct you would not recover unemployment benefits. If you do not recover unemployment benefits how would you prove and potentially recover damages for potential discrimination because of sex, for example? Isolated incidents of name calling will not rise to the level of a hostile workplace. You need to show that the hostility was severe or pervasive and that it was either because of sex or some other protected class of employee which was being targeted. And finally, you have to mitigate your damages. That means look for another job. So if you were fired and then got a higher paying job, again, what would your damages be? You might want to watch just a few short clips of "Employment Law Reality Check" on my website at www.UrbaNYlaw.com. Each one is less than a minute long and listening to them might help you understand how difficult proving an employment discrimination claim is. Good luck. Every employee owes their employer a duty of loyalty so if you challenge a supervisor that could be insubordination. Insubordination could rise to the level of gross misconduct. Gross misconduct would probably disqualify you from receiving unemployment. Being denied unemployment would probably wipe out discrimination claims such as "because of sex" (calling someone a pussy repeatedly over a period of time, if proven, might do it). And you would have to prove the because of sex was severe or pervasive and that you suffered economic loss due to being fired for complaining about such conduct. Sounds like you have lots of work ahead of you and make sure to lawyer up if you pursue such a claim. ... Read More

Probably none.  Unless there is a contract between the employer and employee or between the employer and a union of which the employee is a member, a Texas employer (and an employer in most other states) can fire an employee for any reason or no reason, including a mistaken, made up, or incorrect reason, as long as the reason is not illegal or a cover for an illegal reason, such as race, sex, age, religion, disability etc.... Read More

Probably. Being late may be one of the easiest ways to get fired for cause. It also might rise to the level of gross misconduct which could result in being denied unemployment by the DOL. The easiest way to be denied or penalized for unemployment is to make any false verbal or written statement to the DOL. At will employees can be fired for absolutely no reason ar all. That's correct. Read again. No reason necessary. As for off the clock conduct, an example might help. Employee X is drinking off the clock at a bar with coworkers Y and Z. X employee says to Y  "if you ever go to HR to complain again I will hurt you" and all 3 employees including Z know that X was just joking. X gets fired AND is denied unemployment benefits in New York State which is pretty hard not to be approved. Threats of bodily harm are taken very seriously in our state. Maybe the insult was not as bad as a threat or joke of bodily harm but only your extremely honest testimony at an unemployment hearing will determine that. Good luck.  ... Read More