Wrongful Termination

You have a right to be free of discrimination in the workplace. Unfortunately, both private and public employees are often victimized based on their race, gender, pregnancy, age, disability, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity or genetic background. Some employees who complain about discrimination suffer unlawful retaliation by their employers.

Although important laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, have reduced the prevalence of employment discrimination, private and public employees still experience discrimination, and some employees who complain about discrimination suffer unlawful retaliation by their employers.

The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

“Constructive discharge” is a form of wrongful termination that refers to your quitting your job because of intolerable working conditions. Depending on the circumstances, notice to your employer that you are resigning because of such conditions can be considered a termination – perhaps wrongful.

As an example, an employer wishes to terminate an employee but, for any number of reasons, cannot do so without incurring negative consequences (e.g., a wrongful termination claim, unemployment insurance claim, etc.). So, instead of terminating the worker, the employer makes life miserable for him or her by harassment, creating a hostile work environment, creating a physical environment in which the worker cannot perform his or her job, imposing a demotion or pay cut, or otherwise pressuring the worker to quit.

In many work situations, an “implied contract” may exist between the employer and employee, perhaps stemming from provisions in the employer’s employee manual, handbook or other printed policies and procedures; from verbal statements made by the employer; or from practices that, though not in writing, have been consistently followed by the employer.

If your employer violated a term of an implied contract when firing you, you may have grounds for a wrongful termination claim. In some cases, the existence of an implied contract can allow for a successful claim of wrongful termination even in an “at will” employment state (such as Arizona).

To get around their own rules, some employers will ask employees to sign a “waiver” that states that the employee manual or unwritten policies do not constitute a contract. If you willingly signed such a document, that might weaken your claim of a breach of implied contract. On the other hand, if your employer made your signing of such a document a condition of your employment (i.e., they threatened to fire you or not hire you if you didn’t sign), your signing of the waiver may not be held against you.

Wrongful discharge can involve unlawful or improper retaliation by your employers in response to your exercising a broad range of rights, such as:

• Whistleblower activity

• Refusal to commit an illegal act ordered by the employer

• Refusal to commit an act that violates public policy

• Refusal to comply with a wrongful company policy

• Free speech

• Union organizing

• Complaints about working conditions (including workplace safety, harassment and hostile work environment)

• Alleging failure to pay minimum wage or overtime

• Taking legal or administrative action against your employer

• Taking paid vacation, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or paid sick leave, or disability.