Wrongful Termination

If you were fired and something about it felt wrong, you are probably asking one question: was that actually illegal, or was it just unfair?

​

It is a fair question, and the honest answer is that most firings in California are legal. But the exceptions are broader than most people assume, and they cover a lot of what actually happens to people at work.

​

AT-WILL DOES NOT MEAN YOUR EMPLOYER CAN DO ANYTHING

​

Almost every California employee is told they are "at-will." That is usually true. Employment with no specified term is presumed to be terminable at the will of either party.

​

Employers lean on this word. Many employees hear it and stop asking questions.

​

They should keep asking. At-will is a presumption, not a permission slip, and it can be overcome by evidence. More importantly, at-will status has never allowed an employer to fire someone for an illegal reason. An employer may end an at-will relationship for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason. It may not end it for a prohibited reason.

​

The whole question in a wrongful termination case is which one happened.

​

WHEN A FIRING IS ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA

​

1. You were fired because of who you are.

​

California law makes it unlawful for an employer to bar or discharge a person from employment because of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or military or veteran status.

​

This rarely looks like someone saying the quiet part out loud. It looks like the performance reviews getting worse after you disclosed a medical condition. It looks like the reorganization that eliminated exactly one position.

​

2. You were fired because you complained, reported, or refused.

​

If you raised a concern and were fired for it, that is retaliation, and it is a separate claim from whatever you complained about. You do not have to have been right. An employee has to reasonably believe he or she is protesting unlawful conduct.

​

Reporting misconduct is separately protected. An employer may not retaliate against an employee for disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency when the employee has reasonable cause to believe the information discloses a violation of a state or federal statute, or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal rule or regulation. That protection applies regardless of whether disclosing the information is part of your job duties.

​

Two points people get wrong. First, reporting to your own employer counts if you work for a government agency. A report by a government agency employee to that employee's own employer is a disclosure to a government or law enforcement agency. Second, you do not have to cite the statute. Where the employee's report states facts from which supervisors should reasonably infer a violation, failing to name the specific law is not a defense.

​

You are also protected for refusing to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of a statute, rule, or regulation.

​

3. You were fired for a reason that violates public policy.

​

This is a common law claim, separate from any statute. Its elements are an employer-employee relationship, a termination or other adverse employment action, a nexus between the termination and the employee's protected activity, causation, and damages.

​

The policy has to be a real one, tethered to a constitutional or statutory provision affecting the public at large, not a personal grievance.

​

Two things are worth knowing about this claim. You do not have to file with an agency first: this claim is not supplanted by the administrative process, so you need not exhaust those procedures before bringing it. And you do not have to have been fired outright. The claim covers constructive termination, and can be maintained where an employee is wrongfully disciplined, demoted, or suspended without pay.

​

One limit, stated plainly: this claim is available to employees, not independent contractors.

​

WHAT YOU CAN RECOVER

​

Compensatory damages, and in appropriate cases punitive damages.

​

In practice that means lost wages and benefits, past and future; compensation for emotional harm; and, where an employer's conduct warrants it, punitive damages meant to punish rather than to compensate.

​

What a case is worth depends on facts specific to that case. Nobody can tell you a number on a website, and you should be skeptical of any firm that tries.

​

DO NOT SIT ON THIS

​

Employment claims are governed by filing deadlines. Different claims run on different clocks, and they are shorter than most people expect.

​

That last part is what catches people. Someone waits to see whether they feel better about it in a few months, and by the time they call, one of the claims they had is gone even though another one is still alive.

​

We are not going to print a deadline on a webpage and let you calculate it yourself, because which deadlines apply to you depends on facts we have not heard yet. What we will do is tell you on the first call, for free, where you actually stand.

​

If you were recently fired, call now rather than later. There is no cost to finding out.

​

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CALL

​

1. A conversation, free, confidential, and no obligation. You tell us what happened. We ask questions.

​

2. We tell you honestly whether you have a case, including when you don't. We would rather say so on the first call than take a case that isn't there.

​

3. If we take it, we handle the filings and the deadlines. You go back to your life.

​

We don't get paid unless we recover for you. We advance all case costs and are reimbursed from the recovery. If there's no recovery, you owe nothing.

​

Call (818) 578-4969 for a free, confidential consultation.