6 Signs of Wrongful Termination
Posted: Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 at 10:19 pm
6 Signs of Wrongful Termination
If you’ve ever been fired and wondered whether or not it was wrongful termination, you probably had a hard time finding information that could help you. There’s a good reason for that. Wrongful termination is one of the most difficult charges to prosecute because it’s so hard to prove. Even if you were the subject of discrimination, your employer probably used the “at will” clause in your contract to terminate your employment so as not to make incriminating statements that would make it obvious you were wrongfully terminated. So what can you do? While it’s difficult to prove that you were wrongfully terminated, these cases do have several things in common. Here are six situations that often indicate a wrongful termination suit is in order.
You Confronted Your Employer or Blew the Whistle
There are whistleblowing laws in place for a reason. Your boss can’t fire you for blowing the whistle on their inappropriate or illegal behavior. If you confronted or outed a higher up in your company and were fired shortly thereafter, you could have a wrongful termination case on your hands. Additionally, you’re never required to do something illegal or unethical just because your boss asks you to. Within the realm of whistleblower laws are laws that protect employees who refused to do something wrong. Even if you didn’t blow the whistle but you refused to follow an instruction because doing so would have been illegal or unethical, you could still have a workers compensation claim.
You Were the Subject of Defamation
If you were fired after being the victim of defamation, you could have a wrongful termination case. Defamation means that factually untrue information that was damaging to you or your reputation was being spread about you. In order for it to be defamation, at least in the legal sense, a third party had to have witnessed the defamation. This could be as simple as a coworker of yours who was standing in the break room when two people were spreading false rumors about you. Because of how difficult it is for employees who were fired because of defamation to get new work, laws are in place to protect employee from being fired due to untrue statements. Again, this is hard to prove, but if you have a third party and you can prove the allegations aren’t true, you could have a solid case on your hands.
You Had to Miss Work for a Legally Protected Reason
If you missed work on election day and were fired for your absence, that’s wrongful termination. Similarly, if you were fired because you missed work due to military service or jury duty, that’s also wrongful termination. While it’s perfectly reasonable for an employer to want their employees to show up on time and be there consistently, there are federally protected reasons for people to miss work. Military service, voting, serving jury duty, and other civic responsibilities are all protected reasons to miss work, and you can’t be fired based on absences for these reasons.
You Became Pregnant
If your boss fired you after you became pregnant and there wasn’t a decent explanation given, or “good cause”, to explain why, you might have been the victim of discrimination. If you were fired for another reason that was considered a good cause, you might not have been the subject of discrimination. But if you can’t find another reason as to why you were fired, or even if you were expressly told that your pregnancy prevented you from doing your job, you probably have a wrongful termination case. It is against the law to discriminate against someone for a variety of things, including pregnancy.
You Were Fired Because of Your Age, Race, or Sexual Orientation
Of course, being pregnant isn’t the only thing you can be discriminated against for. If you reached a certain age and were suddenly fired and there was no other reason you should have been terminated, you might have a wrongful termination case based on age discrimination. Furthermore, if you had your job for a while and you were in good standing and then you were fired after your sexual orientation was revealed, that could also be a wrongful termination case. Also, if you were discriminated against based on race, that’s a clear violation of the law, and you could have a wrongful termination case.
You Were Fired Before Your Contract Expired
Sometimes, when you’re hired for a job the contract specifies how long you can expect to be employed. If your employer decides to end your employment without good cause — in other words there wasn’t a good reason for doing so — that’s a breach of contract and could be grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit. That being said, if you were caught stealing or there are other verifiable facts that would point to your being fired for good cause, you likely won’t have a case.
Regardless of your situation, it never hurts to contact a workers compensation attorney to find out whether or not you’ve been wrongfully terminated. Even if you have a slight suspicion that you have been, it’s within your rights to consult an attorney about it and get some answer. If your workers compensation attorney thinks you’ve been wrongfully terminated, it’s your right to fight that termination in court and defend yourself. Contact a personal injury attorney today and see if you might have a wrongful termination case.
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