Getting fired is always bad if you are the one losing your job, but it is usually legal for employers to fire employees, even if the circumstances fit most people’s definition of unfair. Most people who are bummed out about getting fired do not file wrongful termination of employment lawsuits. A more common scenario is that they contact an employment lawyer and discuss all the details of the termination of employment. If the lawyer cannot identify a law that the employer broke by firing the employee, the employee does not have a strong case for filing a wrongful termination lawsuit, and doing so would be an expenditure of money and mental energy for little or no reward.
The better course of action, in those cases, is to sign a separation agreement, if your employer offered you one, and collect the severance pay. If you did not even get a severance offer, the best choice is simply to put your efforts into finding a new job. There are enough laws that prohibit termination of employment on specific grounds, though, that your situation might be considered wrongful termination in violation of public policy.
The Boulder wrongful termination violation of public policy lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you if your employer fired you, and you think it was against the law for your employer to do this.
The Four Categories of Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy
At first glance, at-will employment looks like it means that your employer can fire you for any reason. Meanwhile, most employees are hired at will, including those who prevail in wrongful termination of employment lawsuits. What at-will employment means, on closer inspection, is that your employer can fire you for any reason that does not violate a pre-existing law. When your employer breaks the law by firing you, it is called wrongful termination of employment in violation of public policy.
These are the four situations in which employees can claim that the termination of their employment was a violation of public policy:
- Protected activities – It is considered a protected activity when am employee exercises a statutory right, such as filing a workers’ compensation claim, requesting accommodations for a disability, taking a FAMLI leave, or joining a labor union.
- Refusal to break the law at the employer’s request – It is wrongful termination in violation of public policy if your employer fires you because you refused to falsify records, file a fraudulent insurance claim, or otherwise defraud customers, the public, or some other entity, or because you refused to tamper with or destroy potentially incriminating evidence.
- Public obligations – This claim of wrongful termination in violation of public policy applies if your employer fires you because you missed work to vote in an election.
- Whistleblower actions – It is against the law for your employer to fire you if you report misconduct to the relevant authorities. This could include notifying the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), complaining to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or contacting law enforcement about crimes that the employee has witnessed involving the workplace or people associated with it.
Most cases of wrongful termination of employment involve employer retaliation, which is when an employer takes an adverse action against an employee for doing something that the employee has the right to do. If your employer took an adverse action against you because of your participation in a whistleblower claim, public obligation, or protected activity, but did not fir you, you still have grounds for an employer retaliation claim, even if it does not involve wrongful termination of employment.
Do Not Sign a Separation Agreement if it Means Letting Your Employer Get Away With Unlawful Retaliation
When employers know that they are in the wrong for firing you, they sometimes try to cover their tracks by offering you a severance package. No matter how much money you get from the severance package, it is a Trojan horse if your lawyer fired you illegally. A prerequisite for collecting severance pay is a separation agreement. When you sign a separation agreement, you are acknowledging that you accept the termination of your employment and that you waive the right to sue your employer for wrongful termination.
Whether to sign a separation agreement is usually not an easy decision. It is worthwhile to discuss with a lawyer whether you have a chance of prevailing in a wrongful termination claim. If your employer’s decision to fire you amounted to discrimination based on a protected characteristic such as your race or age, then you should not sign the separation agreement. Instead, you should contact the EEOC and launch an investigation into your discrimination complaint; this is a prerequisite to filing an employment discrimination lawsuit. You should also not sign the separation agreement if the decision to terminate your employment was a violation of public policy.
Boulder Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy Lawyer
Filing a lawsuit can be time-consuming and stressful, but most lawsuits over employment disputes, including lawsuits involving claims of wrongful termination of employment in violation of public policy, resolve without going to trial. Almost anyone who gets sued would prefer to settle rather than have a judge award them a huge amount of money, an amount that the defendant did not choose. Your wrongful termination lawsuit might lead to your lawyer negotiating with your employer’s lawyer until they agree on an appropriate compensation amount. A fair compensation amount should be enough to make up for the money you lost because of your employer’s unjust termination of your employment. For example, at minimum, it should include your salary for the time between when you got fired and when you started your new job.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, About Wrongful Termination of Employment
The Boulder employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP can counsel you about wrongful termination of employment in violation of public policy. Contact the employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Boulder, Colorado, to set up a consultation.
