Wrongful Termination & Discrimination
We protect you from unfair employer practices
Any firing or layoff that involves violations of the law is known as wrongful termination, and it implies an employee termination that violates public policies (such as firing someone for taking any form of authorized time off). Being fired can be a traumatic and stressful experience. But there are resources to protect yourself from a termination that happened outside of legal terms, which we are here to provide.
Often motivated by bad faith actions, wrongful termination can happen in a variety of ways, including:
- Deliberately presenting employees with misleading information about promotions or salary increases
- Laying off older workers to replace them with a younger person who accepted the job for a lower salary
- Transferring employees to undesirable or inconvenient locations with the intent of making them quit, legally renouncing to severance payment or other termination benefits
- Tricking employees into accepting assignments they were not hired for in order to press them into quitting
- Taking adverse action against an employee to prevent them from collecting commissions or other due payments
Are you facing discrimination or a wrongful termination case? Know that you have options.
Much like it happens with wrongful terminations, discrimination encompases a series of actions and behaviors that sistematically target an individual in the workplace (often becuase of their identity as a protected minority). The lead cause in the creating hostile work environments, California laws have created laws designed to protect those targeted by discrimination, which our firm has extensive knowledge on.
If you live in the state of California and have been either the target of discrimination or wrongfully terminated from your job, you may qualify to obtain compensation for your losses. When facing this kind of situation, it is essential to have an experienced attorney on your side to help you obtain the financial compensation you deserve. Contact us, and we will make sure to fight for your case.
Wrongful Termination
Under California law, most workers are considered “at-will” employees, which means employers typically have the freedom to terminate employees for any reason, with or without notice, and do not need a cause or justification to do so. Likewise, an “at-will” employee has the right to quit his or her job at any time with or without notice. However, if an employee is terminated, laid off, or forced to quit for any reason that is considered illegal under the law, that employee may be able to bring a wrongful termination case. Examples of illegal reasons for termination include:
- Termination motivated by discrimination (for example: race, disability, national origin, sex or gender, age, religion, gender, marital status);
- Termination as an act of retaliation for exercising your rights as an employee (for example: whistleblowing, or reporting a violation of the law)
- Termination in violation of public policy.
Discrimination
Under state and federal laws, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against employees or applicants based on multiple protected categories, including but not limited to race, sex/gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and marital status.
This type of discrimination involves treating an employee or job applicant unfavorably because of their race or characteristics associated with their race, such as the color of their skin, the texture of their hair, or their facial features. Examples of race discrimination can include the use of discriminatory policies such as “English Only” rules when on the worksite, or treating an employee differently because of his or her foreign accent or the color of their skin.
Sex or gender discrimination involves treating an employee or job applicant differently or unfavorably based purely on that employee’s sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity. This can include anything from hiring, firing, promoting, determining salary, assigning job responsibilities, establishing benefits, or any other term or condition relating to a job.
Under California law, employers have a legal responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with physical or mental disabilities. For example, an employer may be required to offer a disabled employee a flexible work schedule, ensure that a disabled employee’s workspace is accessible, or modify the employee’s work duties pursuant to identified work restrictions. Employers are also required to engage in an interactive process with the employee to determine what, if any, accommodation, can be provided. Refusal to provide a reasonable accommodation to a disabled employee could be grounds for a disability discrimination lawsuit.
The law protects employees who are over 40 years of age from discrimination. For example, an employer cannot fire or lay off an older employee and immediately hire a younger one for the same position.