Filing a California Wrongful Termination Claim

Answer:

I spend a lot of time talking to potential clients about the fact that they felt like they were wrongfully terminated from their employer. We talk about what happened at work – when did they start working there? How long did they work there? How did their employment end, and why did their employment end? It’s important to note that in California law, it is unlawful to wrongfully terminate somebody for an unlawful reason. Sometimes terminations are just unfair. Sometimes, you work for a supervisor that is unkind, arbitrary, irrational, and they terminate you. Not every time that you get terminated, despite how wrongful it felt or how wrongful it truly was, is it necessarily unlawful. We spend a lot of the time identifying those claims in which the termination actually violated California law or federal law. If we can identify a statute or statutes that were violated, then we’re able to articulate that the termination was actually wrongful and we’ll bring a claim called wrongful termination and violation of public policy. That claim is usually brought with the various other claims under California Labor Code. Those include the Fair Employment Housing Act, if you got terminated as a result of a protected class or conduct, or were subject to harassment based on gender, race, or disability. Not all terminations in California allow you to bring a lawsuit. Not even all wrongful terminations allow you to bring a lawsuit. It’s really important for you to have an attorney that can sit you down and identify whether or not your termination was unlawful. If you have questions about a recent termination and you would just like to know your rights, always feel free to give us a call here at the office. I’m more than willing to talk to you about those issues.