No one wants to lose a job, but people sometimes have to go through employment transitions against their own wishes. Companies may downsize because they aren’t profitable enough or may let go of certain workers for a wide range of different reasons.
Technically, despite having robust protections for employees when compared with most other states, California is an at-will state. The company that you work for could terminate your employment arrangement with little or no notice and very few, if any, legal repercussions.
Occasionally, however, workers terminated from their jobs will be able to fight back against that decision by pursuing a wrongful termination claim. What are some of the more common signs that your termination was wrongful?
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The company seemed to target a specific group of people
Whether you got let go in a layoff that involved dozens of other people or you were just the most recent in a string of occasional firings, there may be a pattern to your company’s employment decisions.
When it is always the women or people of a certain racial background that lose their jobs at the company, that may be a reason for you to suspect that the decision had its basis in discrimination and is therefore an act of wrongful termination.
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The timing seems suspicious
If your employer found a reason to push you out of your job two weeks after you reported misconduct by a supervisor, you have every reason to think of that timing as highly suspicious. Companies should not retaliate against workers who speak up about discrimination or harassment, nor should they punish those who make use of certain employment rights, like taking unpaid leave after the birth of a child.
When a company terminates someone immediately after they engaged in a protected employment activity, that may be a warning sign of a wrongful termination.
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When someone tells you the reason for your firing
When there has been a tense relationship between you and your boss because you accused them of sexual harassment, they might call you into their office to gloat and let you know that the company was getting rid of you because they saw you as a troublemaker.
There are many situations in which someone from management or human resources will make a statement that clarify why the company fired you. If it has to do with a protected characteristic or job activity, then you may have grounds to bring a wrongful termination claim against the company.
Holding your employer accountable for a recent wrongful termination could help you regain your job or at least provide you with compensation for the losses you experienced.