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Wrongful Termination At Will

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Being discharged or fired due to reasons that may seem unfair may be considered as a violation of one of your rights. Even though employees in virtually all states work "at will," in which employees have a right to quit with or without any reason and employers have a right to discharge or fire any employee with or without any reason, there are still some exceptions, as there are some basis for terminating an employee that is illegal. This is called wrongful termination.

Under statutes of wrongful termination, it is illegal for any employer to fire or terminate an employee for certain unlawful reasons in the sight of the law.

Wrongful termination may also be called as wrongful discharge, illegal dismissal, wrongful firing, illegal discharge, wrongful dismissal, or illegal termination.

Illegal Reasons for Terminating an Employee

An employer may fire an employee for any or no reason at all. No matter how unfair it may seem, it is not wrongful termination as long as the reason is not unlawful or illegal.

Some of the reasons for firing an employee, which are against the law that may entitle an employee to file a wrongful termination lawsuit, are the following:

?Retaliation

It is illegal to fire an employee for defending his/her right under state and federal laws regarding anti-discrimination or other laws that prohibit retaliation. An employee may bring a successful retaliation claim even if the underlying discrimination claim does not become successful.

One example of this is when an employer terminates an employee for complaining that the former has denied the latter a promotion due to his/her national origin, then it is possible for the employer to lose a retaliation lawsuit even if his/her decision concerning the promotion was proven not discriminatory.

?Discrimination

Under certain federal laws, employers are prohibited to discharge any employee due to the following:

?Race

?National origin

?Gender

?Disability

?Age

?Religion

?Pregnancy

?Any medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth

If an employee is fired because of (reasons stated above, then it is regarded as a wrongful termination.

Laws in some states are broader than federal laws, meaning certain states have additional prohibitions and cover a much more number of employers than some federal laws.

?Alien Status

Under the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act or IRCA, it is unlawful to terminate an employee based on one's alien status.

?Complaining about Violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

It is unlawful for any employer to discharge an employee because of complaining that the work conditions do not meet the state and federal health and safety rules, under the Occupational Safety and Health Act or OSHA.

?Refusing to Take a Lie Detector Test

Refusing to take a lie detector test is a right of an employee and any employer who terminates employees for this reason is violating the law. Such federal law that prohibits these actions is the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. There are also other state laws concerning the use of lie detector tests.

?Violations of Public Policy

Depending on the state, it is illegal for an employer to fire an employee for violating public policies.

An employee who has been fired for unlawful reasons may be entitled to file a wrongful termination claim under the law. It is important to be aware of your rights and to know how it can be protected.

Wrongful Termination At Will

This being the case, the law of the state has implicit permission that their employment can be ended at any given time, whatever occurs to their employers.

Meanwhile other employees have an employment contract signed with their employers, with a clause of “at will" to the condition that their employment may end depending on the employers’ option.

Are you an “at will" employee? You may think that you have no say whatsoever on whatever your employer would “will" for you, like ending your employment without due process of the law. You may think that filing for wrongful termination charges against your employer is null because of the fact that you are an at will employee.

Fret not. You and other “at will" employees in the country are still entitled to some degree of legal protection from an employer’s wrongful termination. You cannot be terminated for reasons that would violate the labor law and other public employment policies.

Here are the following statutes or legislations that strive to protect “at will" employees against wrongful termination by employers.

1. Laws on Civil Rights concentrating on Pretextual Termination – This is an extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It contains protections for employees against anti-discrimination. Employers cannot terminate an employee’s work for reasons of their gender, race, religion, skin color or country or nationality of origin.

There are even legal protections added to prevent discrimination on employees for their age.

As such, employers of at will employees may terminate an employment for arbitrary reasons as long as they are not with unlawful and discriminatory purposes or motives. If you believe that you have been a victim of wrongful termination that is pretextual, you have the right to file a case against your employer with claims that their lawful firing is motivated with unlawful discrimination.

2. Exceptions on Public Policy – most states have public policy safeguards from employment discharge. There are various nature and availability of reasons for these public policy safeguards usually depending on the jurisdictions.

However, the underlying principle for these is the common law or laws that have been launched through a state legislature. These create implied public policy or even express a reason for it.

3. Protections for Whistle blowers – the laws protecting whistle blowers can be regarded as “public policy" statutory extension. If you find yourself fired for reporting your employer’s unlawful activities or misconducts, then the whistleblower laws will protect you from being terminated wrongfully.

4. Protections for contractual employees – even if you are an employee with no written employment contract could look through the employee manuals or handbooks. You can use some provisions from them as protection against an employer’s action ending your employment.

5. Other claims from the tort law – if you believe that an employer committed actions like “invasion of privacy" or defamation to justify terminating you of your employment, then you can file a “personal injury lawsuit" against him or her to prevent said termination.

As an at will employee, you have to be vigilant against unlawful actions that would unjustifiable and wrongfully end your employment.

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About Author

Both Kamille Pagibigan & Lala C. Ballatan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Kamille Pagibigan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Accident Lawyers, Anger Control and Legal Matters. If you have been wrongfully terminated by your employer, you may file a claim under the . Log on to o. Kamille Pagibigan's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.

Lala C. Ballatan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Legal Matters, Mortgage and Car Accidents. For more information visit. Lala C. Ballatan's top article generates over 301000 views. to your Favourites.

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