Personal Injury Lawsuits: What Is Wrongful Termination?
Posted on: 26 December 2014
If you were recently fired from your job and you believe they did not have a legal reason to do so, you might be able to sue your employer for wrongful termination. Wrongful termination is when you are terminated from your job for a reason that is not justified. It is often due to a breach of contract or discrimination, which is against the law. Here is more information about wrongful termination and when you might have a lawsuit.
Breach of Contract
The first area of a wrongful termination has to do with your employee-employer contract, even if the contract is an implied one. Whether or not you negotiated the contract, there are certain implications that occur when you are hired on for a job. Take a look at your contract if you have one, because it likely has a section about termination clauses and when the employer can legally terminate an employee. You may also have an employee handbook statement that you signed, of which both you and the employer must agree to.
Discrimination
Discriminating against an employee is illegal and your employer cannot use this as a justification for letting you go. For example, they cannot fire you due to your gender, sexual orientation, race, physical attributes, or certain medical conditions. If you told your employer that you were pregnant, and shortly after that, you were terminated, you might have a discrimination case on your hand. The same goes for cases where you believe you were terminated due to your ethnicity or your gender.
Breach of Good Faith and Fair Dealings
While this type of wrongful termination does occur, it is a lot more difficult to prove. If you believe you were wrongly fired due to lack of fair dealings on your employer's part, you may sue them for wrongful termination. You will need to collect evidence that you were fired unfairly, however. For example, if they fired you supposedly because you were not fulfilling the job as requested, but you have documents that show you were indeed doing the job as was requested of you, you may have a case. However, some of these cases are hearsay. It is very important that you get a lawyer in this instance.
It is sometimes difficult to prove a wrongful termination case, especially since employers have good legal help on their side. Make sure you hire a competent and experienced attorney such as Leen and Emery for help with your case.
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