It’s important to know the steps you can take to gain recourse whenever you believe your employer has wrongfully terminated your employment. Alas, many American workers fail to recognize their rights as employees, and don’t seek justice after unfairly being fired.
Don’t let that happen to you. Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC can help you recover damages including lost wages if your employer has illegally terminated your employment.
What Does it Mean to be Wrongfully Fired?
Federal and state laws prevent employers from firing employees for any of the following reasons:
- On the basis of age, race, disability, national origin, religion, gender, or other protected characteristic.
- As a form of retaliation for previous complaints, mistreatments, or disagreements.
- Complaining about your employer engaging in illegal activity is often called “whistleblowing.”
- Any other reason protected by federal and/or state law.
You may have a legitimate cause of action if your employer has terminated your employment for any of the above reasons. You should contact an employment attorney if you believe your employer has terminated your employment illegally.
Legally Allowable Reasons for Firing Employees
In contrast to the above, many legally allowable reasons exist for employers to terminate someone’s employment. These reasons include:
- Damaging/stealing company property.
- Lying on a job application.
- Poor job performance (provided they define this properly and procedurally).
- Certain aspects of insubordination.
- Absenteeism (especially without notification).
- Using illicit drugs on the job.
- Committing sexual harassment, fighting at work, bullying/intimidating others.
- Excessive minor or major safety violations.
In addition, employers can fire employees who do not have a contract for any other reason as long as the reason is not illegal. It’s incredibly important to make yourself aware of the legal and illegal reasons behind employment termination. This knowledge provides you the basis to discuss your potentially illegal employment termination with an employment attorney.
If You’ve Been Wrongfully Fired: The Steps You Can Take to Address Wrongful Termination
Wrongful termination is one of the most common wage claims we handle. Chances are, if you’re at home without your job, you’ve already tried negotiating with your employer, but were unsuccessful. That’s when it’s time to contact a competent employment lawyer and find out if you have a legal case.
Be mindful that if it becomes a court matter, you will be up against an opponent that possesses its own professional counsel. Therefore, it’s so important to get an experienced employment attorney if you want your claim to succeed. An initial consultation with us won’t cost you anything. So, it’s worthwhile to at least get a professional opinion on whether you should pursue your wrongful employment claim.
Many Ways an Employment Lawyer Can Assist You
There are several ways an employment lawyer can help you get the justice you deserve. It’s not only illegal to fire someone of a protected status. It’s also illegal to deny employees a raise, promotion, and other employment opportunities for illegal reasons.
The other big concern we regularly handle involves employers failing to pay the legally mandated wage in accordance with various federal and state wage laws. This happens in many different ways, which you can find on other parts of our website. If your employer fails to pay overtime, for example, you should consider seeking restitution.
Contact Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC if You Think You’ve Been Wrongfully Fired
We hope you’ve gained some perspective abide on what to do if you believe your employer has wrongfully terminated your employment. You should contact us for further assistance if you believe your employer has violated the law in regards to your employment termination and/or the wages you earned but did not receive.