Wrongful Termination

Have you been wrongfully terminated from your job?

Being let go from a job is always difficult, impacting every part of a person’s life from the financial to the professional to the emotional. But employees discharged for unlawful reasons can take action in their defense. If you believe you were wrongfully terminated from your job, you need an aggressive and experienced legal team to fight for the justice you deserve. Some common situations leading to wrongful termination cases include:

• Retaliation for complaining about illegal conduct (whistleblower).
• Termination due to a protected category, such as age, disability, gender, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, or other unlawful criteria.
• Retaliation for suffering a workplace injury or filing a workers’ compensation claim.
• Retaliation for needing to take a medical leave or asking for a reasonable accommodation.

California is an “at-will employment” state, meaning an employer or employee may terminate the relationship at any time for almost any reason. At first glance, this seems to exempt employers from any liability for wrongful discharge, but there are a wide number of statutory and common law circumstances where an employer may be liable for terminating an employee. For example, a California employer is prohibited from terminating an employee for taking actions that follow public policy, such as “whistleblowing” to alert the public or regulatory agencies of misconduct within the company. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act, [California Government Code Sections 12940 et seq. LINK] bars employers from terminating employees based on race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, religion, veteran status and many other factors, or from retaliating against that worker for filing a complaint about one of those prohibited practices.

Since California is an at-will employment state, wrongful termination claims are hard to prove and typically require experienced legal representation. In many cases, employers fabricate a pretext for discharging a worker to justify their real (unlawful) reason. In these cases, a successful lawsuit hinges on thorough legal analysis and a sophisticated strategy. Our extensive knowledge of California wrongful termination law, and our vast experience representing both employees and employers in employment law gives us a unique advantage in quickly analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your claim and developing the right approach.

If you have been terminated and feel your termination may have been wrongful, give us a call at 888-872-8065. We are very experienced at representing employees in wrongful termination matters, have obtained superior results and are happy to talk to you with no obligation. All calls are confidential.