Employment arrangements can last for as long as years or as little as a single day. Both employees and employers have the option of ending the working relationship at any point that is no longer productive or mutually beneficial.
Under at-will employment laws, businesses do not necessarily need to explain the reasoning behind a termination as long as they follow appropriate procedures. However, there are scenarios in which employees may be able to take legal action against a business after losing their jobs. What specific circumstances may give employees legal grounds to initiate litigation against their employers after losing their positions?
1. Retaliation
Federal law grants workers the right to engage in certain protected activities without risking their jobs. Workers can report harassment or discrimination without risking penalties for speaking up about their experiences. They can discuss their wages in an attempt to unionize.
They can bring workplace safety issues to the attention of management or ask for disability accommodations after they get hurt. If employers terminate workers shortly after they engage in protected workplace activities, those employers might have reasonable grounds to assert that their former employer unfairly retaliated against them.
2. Discrimination
Workers should receive job opportunities, pay raises and promotions based on their capabilities, not their protected characteristics. Religion, sex or race likely has little or no bearing on their ability to perform key job functions.
As such, employers should not take those characteristics into consideration when deciding who they retain and who they terminate. When workers can credibly assert their termination was discriminatory, they may have grounds to take legal action against their employers.
3. Contract violations
In some cases, a worker may not have grounds to assert that a company violated their rights or the law by firing them. However, the company’s conduct during or after the termination could violate the terms included in their employment agreement.
Disputes related to severance packages are a common reason that workers may take legal action and insist that employers did not fulfill all of their obligations. Employers preparing for individual terminations or widespread staffing reductions often need to be careful about ensuring they follow the law and uphold the rights of individual employees.
Proper documentation of how the company navigated the matter can be an important part of responding to an employment lawsuit. Business leaders may need help ensuring legal compliance during major staffing adjustments or with responding to allegations of misconduct from a recently terminated employee.
