Wrongful or Retaliatory Termination

In an “at-will” employment environment, employers are permitted to fire employees for almost any reason or for no reason at all, as long as the firing does not violate the law or public policy.

The exception is when an employee can show his or her firing was wrongful because it violated state or federal prohibitions against firing an employee for a discriminatory reason or if the firing was in retaliation for the employee reporting the employer to state or federal officials in certain protected circumstances.

Businesses that are subject to anti-discrimination laws are prohibited from firing employees on the basis of race, age, sex or some other protected category.

Similarly, federal and state whistleblower laws protect employees from retaliatory firing if they report the employer’s allegedly illegal activities to the appropriate state or federal agency. In many cases, employers are not permitted to fire employees who have complained to the appropriate regulatory agencies about wage or working condition issues and employers are prohibited from firing employees because they filed workers’ compensation claims.

In rare cases, employees who resign can still bring a wrongful termination suit alleging constructive discharge if the employee can show no reasonable person would have remained in the job under the allegedly terrible conditions and that the employee tried and failed to get the employer to fix the situation.

Employees who can prove wrongful or retaliatory termination may be entitled to back wages, fines or even punitive damages.