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Being fired from your job is incredibly stressful, often promoting feelings of confusion and sadness. However, being terminated for the wrong reasons can inspire anger and motivate you to seek justice.
California employment law protects employees when their termination violates certain laws or legal principles. The experienced wrongful termination lawyers at California Civil Rights Law Group help wrongfully terminated employees pursue various remedies, including reinstatement and financial compensation.
Understanding Wrongful Termination in California
California recognizes two broad types of employment. Most workers are engaged in “at-will” employment, meaning they can quit or be fired at any time and for any reason. They can even be fired for no reason at all.
Alternatively, some employers hire workers using employment contracts. These workers can only quit or be fired for reasons outlined in their agreements or for breaches of those agreements.
Although the law is generally protective of a company’s right to determine who works for it, it balances that right by forbidding business leaders from firing employees for reasons that violate the law or its own policies.
When an employer fires a worker for these reasons, they have engaged in wrongful termination, and the worker can pursue a wrongful termination claim.
Identifying Grounds for a Wrongful Termination Claim
After being wrongfully terminated in Los Angeles, what to do next may depend on the alleged reason for the firing.
The grounds for your termination determine the evidence you’ll need to gather and the elements you must prove to win your case. They also dictate the procedures you must follow and the remedies available if your claim is successful.
California law provides the following grounds for wrongful termination claims:
Breach of an Employment Contract
The most straightforward basis for a wrongful termination arises when an employer fires someone in violation of a written or oral employment contract.
Suppose that you have a contract to work on a farm for a full season. The terms of the contract state that you can only be fired “for cause.” If the farm lays you off because it was sold to another owner, it may have breached the contract and wrongfully terminated you.
Workers can also have claims for non-written contracts. For example, workers on a construction crew might have wrongful termination claims if a contractor agreed to pay them $5,000 each to build a roof but fired them all right before they finished to avoid paying them. Even if the promise was only made orally, it can still furnish the grounds for wrongful termination cases by the workers.
Notably, breaches can also occur in collective bargaining agreements.
In other words, the contract doesn’t need to be between the individual worker and the employer to serve as a basis for wrongful termination. A worker might have a viable wrongful termination lawsuit if the employer violated an employment agreement with the worker’s union by terminating them.
Discrimination Under Civil Rights Law
Discrimination is one of the most common grounds for wrongful termination claims. Both California and federal fair employment laws prohibit workplace discrimination on the following bases:
- Race
- National origin
- Color
- Religion
- Sex, including sexual orientation
- Age
- Disability
The same laws also prohibit constructive discharge, which happens when an employer makes a worker so miserable that they quit.
For instance, wrongful termination in Los Angeles can occur when an employer creates a hostile work environment. Thus, wrongful termination occurs in many cases when a supervisor engages in sexual harassment that’s so pervasive that the targeted worker stops showing up.
Violation of State and Federal Laws
In addition to civil rights laws, workers have many other legal protections in specific circumstances. For example, several federal and California employment laws prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who exercise their legal rights to do any of the following:
- File a workers’ compensation claim
- Report workplace discrimination or testify in favor of a co-worker’s discrimination or harassment claims
- Take time off pursuant to the state’s Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a sick relative
- File a wage dispute
- Request reasonable accommodations for a disability
- Use sick leave provided by the employer’s policies
Additionally, California employment law includes a catchall provision that prohibits employers from terminating any employee for engaging in lawful conduct during non-working hours away from the employer’s location.
This statute can be invoked when a worker is unlawfully terminated for performing any number of legal activities, from smoking marijuana to peacefully protesting against the government, on their own time and off of the employer’s premises.
Violation of Public Policy
This ground for a wrongful termination case applies when an employer terminates a worker to frustrate an important legal policy.
For example, whistleblower statutes protect workers from being fired for reporting a company’s illegal or unethical practices. However, even if there’s no specific whistleblower statute for your situation, a court might still find that your former employer wrongfully terminated you if the firing was in response to you reporting wrongful actions, such as workplace safety or health code violations.
Violation of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
California is one of the few states that recognizes an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in employment contracts.
This term is “implied” because it’s part of every contract, regardless of whether it was written into the agreement or orally agreed to. An employer may violate these implied termination clauses when it frustrates the purpose of the agreement.
For instance, imagine that a contractor hires workers to paint a house but doesn’t supply the paint or paint rollers. The contractor then fires the workers for failing to perform their contracted services. In this case, the workers might be able to claim wrongful termination.
Steps to Take After Wrongful Termination in Los Angeles
Many employees don’t know what to do after wrongful termination in Los Angeles. Although every case involves unique facts, the legal wrongful termination steps in California typically proceed as follows:
Gather Evidence
The employee bears the burden of proving that their employer broke federal or California wrongful termination laws. They can meet this burden by presenting evidence of the employer’s wrongful actions. Examples of evidence used in wrongful termination cases include:
- Communications with supervisors and the human resources department
- Internal memoranda and company policies
- Witness statements about events relevant to the firing and its causes
As you gather evidence, you must be careful not to violate the employer’s rights. Specifically, you may not be allowed to take, copy, or download confidential files. If they’re relevant to your case, you can note the date and contents of the file and have your lawyer request it from the employer through the formal process of discovery.
Speak to a Qualified Wrongful Termination Lawyer
Your choice of legal representation can make or break your case. You should consider talking to an employment attorney early in the process. They can advise you about all of the following legal issues that you may face at the outset of your case:
- Documents and files you can legally take with you when you’re terminated
- Issues you can discuss with former co-workers to secure their testimony
- Legal claims you can assert
- Damages and other remedies you can seek
A skilled lawyer will understand state and federal worker protections and know how to prove wrongful termination in Los Angeles.
Contact the Former Employer to Discuss a Settlement
Most legal disputes involving wrongful termination in Los Angeles never go to trial. Instead, they’re typically resolved through settlement agreements. Your lawyer will talk to your former employer about settling their employment law violations in a way that leaves both parties satisfied.
For example, your wrongful termination lawyer might propose that the employer pay your lost wages, along with a few additional weeks of wages to cover the time you spent looking for a new job. The employer might agree to such a settlement in order to avoid the lengthy and expensive process of defending a losing case.
File a Formal Complaint or Wrongful Termination Lawsuit
If your employer refuses to settle, the steps to take after illegal termination in California will culminate in a formal complaint or lawsuit. The exact process will depend on the nature of your case. For example, you must initiate a discrimination case citing federal law by filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
By contrast, retaliation cases under state law can include a complaint to the California Department of Industrial Relations, but this isn’t a requirement. Instead, you can proceed directly to a lawsuit upon the advice of your wrongful termination attorney.
Statutes of Limitations and Timely Filing
After being fired illegally in California, next steps may need to be performed relatively quickly. Most legal avenues come with deadlines known as statutes of limitations. If you miss these deadlines, a court or commission can dismiss your case.
Here are a few important statutes of limitations worth knowing:
- Retaliation claims in violation of California statutes must typically be filed within one year
- Discrimination claims in violation of California civil rights laws must usually be filed within three years
- Discrimination claims in violation of federal civil rights laws must typically be filed within 180 days, although you can get an extension to 300 days in California
It’s crucial to consult a reputable Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer promptly after your firing. An experienced employment attorney will know what to do if you are wrongfully terminated in Los Angeles and explain the applicable deadlines for taking action.
Preparing for Settlement or Trial
Laying the groundwork for your wrongful termination claim in California may involve several meetings and discussions with your legal counsel. You’ll likely discuss the following issues with your wrongful termination lawyer in Los Angeles:
Documenting Losses
You may be entitled to recover compensation for some or all of the following losses resulting from your wrongful termination:
- Lost wages, including back pay and front pay you would have earned in the future
- Lost benefits
- Out-of-pocket costs, such as job search expenses
- Mental suffering
- Attorney’s fees
You must be able to present evidence of these losses. In many cases, the court or commission can easily calculate these losses based on your pay records. However, you may need an expert witness to explain how your career and pay would have advanced if not for the wrongful termination.
Identifying and Gathering Key Evidence
Wrongful termination cases aren’t all the same. Importantly, the term “wrongful termination” refers to the outcome of a particular situation at work, not the legal principles involved. To win your case, you must have evidence for each element of your legal claim.
For example, in many wrongful termination cases, claimants need evidence to overcome their employer’s defense that they were fired for a legitimate reason, such as poor job performance. As such, you may need to submit copies of your performance reviews to rebut claims that you were fired for cause.
Formulating a Legal Strategy
Your legal strategy will depend on the specific outcome you’re seeking. If you want to be reinstated in your job, for instance, you’ll need to take a different approach than if you’ve already moved on or plan to get a different job.
An overly aggressive strategy could make it impossible for you to rejoin the company. Therefore, you would want to avoid taking any action that might permanently damage the company’s reputation or that of its management if you’re hoping for reinstatement.
On the other hand, exposing all of a company’s relevant wrongdoing might be highly persuasive to a jury. Thus, a more offensive strategy could help you win if you’re not interested in regaining your former employment.
Why Choose Our Los Angeles Wrongful Termination Attorneys?
The committed legal professionals at California Civil Rights Law Group have extensive experience handling wrongful termination claims.
Together, our attorneys have an impressive 99% success rate in negotiating settlements and winning cases in court and in administrative hearing rooms, having recovered more than $250 million in compensation for our clients.
Contact us today to discuss your situation with a knowledgeable and compassionate wrongful termination attorney in Los Angeles.
