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Losing your job can be devastating, especially when you believe your employer terminated you for an unlawful reason. While California generally permits employers to terminate employees for many reasons, an employer cannot fire an employee for a reason that violates California or federal law or fundamental public policy.
At Yamin Law Group, we represent employees throughout California who have been wrongfully terminated, retaliated against, discriminated against, or fired after exercising their workplace rights.
If you believe there was more behind your termination than the reason your employer gave you, our firm can help you understand your rights and determine whether you may have a claim.
Not every unfair termination is necessarily illegal.
California is generally an “at-will” employment state, which means an employer may ordinarily terminate an employee without cause. However, at-will employment does not give employers the right to fire employees for unlawful reasons.
A termination may be wrongful when an employee is fired because of discrimination, retaliation, whistleblowing, taking protected leave, requesting a reasonable accommodation, reporting unlawful conduct, or exercising another legally protected right.
Employers may also attempt to disguise an unlawful termination by providing a different explanation for their decision. Sudden performance criticisms, shifting explanations, selective enforcement of workplace policies, or suspicious timing following protected activity may become important evidence when evaluating the employer’s true motivation.
Discrimination is not always explicit. Employers rarely admit that an employee is being terminated because of their age, disability, pregnancy, race, or another protected characteristic.
Instead, discriminatory intent may be demonstrated through the circumstances surrounding the termination, including how similarly situated employees were treated, comments made by supervisors or decisionmakers, changes in treatment following disclosure of a protected characteristic, inconsistencies in the employer’s explanation, or the timing of the termination.
California law prohibits covered employers from terminating employees because of protected characteristics, including:
For example, an employer may violate the law if it terminates an employee because the employee complained about discrimination, reported harassment, requested an accommodation, took protected leave, complained about unpaid wages, or reported conduct the employee reasonably believed violated the law.
Retaliation does not always happen immediately. An employee may first experience increased scrutiny, negative performance reviews, reduced responsibilities, disciplinary action, exclusion from meetings, schedule changes, or other adverse treatment before ultimately being terminated.
Those explanations do not necessarily end the inquiry.
In a wrongful termination case, one important question is whether the employer’s stated reason is genuine or whether it is a pretext for an unlawful reason.
Evidence that may raise questions about an employer’s explanation can include a strong history of positive performance evaluations, sudden discipline after protected activity, inconsistent explanations for the termination, deviations from normal company procedures, or different treatment of other employees.
The damages available in a California wrongful termination case depend on the particular claims and circumstances involved. Depending on the case, an employee may potentially seek compensation for:
Every case is different. The potential value of a wrongful termination claim depends on factors such as the employee’s compensation, length of unemployment, mitigation efforts, strength of the evidence, nature of the employer’s conduct, emotional harm, and the legal claims available.
Keep copies of documents that you lawfully possess, including termination notices, performance evaluations, disciplinary records, relevant emails and text messages, complaints you made to management or Human Resources, and communications concerning the events leading to your termination.
Yamin Law Group represents employees who have been wrongfully terminated and subjected to unlawful workplace conduct.
We understand that taking action against an employer can feel overwhelming, particularly after suddenly losing your income and career. When employers violate the rights of California workers, we work to hold them accountable.
Tell us what happened. Contact Yamin Law Group today for a free and confidential case evaluation.
