Wrongful Termination Lawyers: When should Employees seek their Help?
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Employers should practice fair dealing and good faith at all times, meaning they should treat similarly situated employees in the same manner. However, this often times is not the case due to widespread subjectivity in our business culture. Wrongful termination lawyers can help defend those who are treated unfairly in the following scenarios: Discrimination, Violations of public Policy, Fraud and Constructive Discharge.
Discrimination: in a discrimination suit, wrongful termination of an employee occurs due to his or her possession of certain characteristics rather than for legitimate reasons.
Violations of Public Policy: in a suit based on the allegation of violation of public policy, the employee must show that (1) the public policy involved is derived from an administrative regulation, state or federal statute, and (2) that the policy is fundamental and of benefit to the general public, rather than just to the employee or employer. It is the employer’s job, on the other hand, to show that it decided to terminate the employee based on legitimate business reasons.
Fraud (via Misrepresentation at the date of Hire): an employer may be liable for fraud if it makes promises at the date of hire that it fails to keep. For example, if at the date of hire the employer promises regular pay rate increases that that it never intended to deliver, it has committed fraud. It is thus very important for employees to accurately and adequately record such promises as soon as they are made in order to give wrongful termination lawyers strong foundations to defend a claim.
Contractual Breach: this occurs when written, oral, and implied contracts are not fulfilled by the employer. It is up to the employee to prove that the contract exists and that he or she suffered from wrongful termination in violation of that contract. Employers often try to avoid these lawsuits by asking employees to sign the Confirmation of Receipt, which can defeat their claim that there was an implied or oral contract. On the other hand, employers can create a clause in a written contract that allows for termination at-will in order to protect them from wrongful termination claims. The best thing for employees to do is to read and understand all contracts thoroughly before signing them.
Constructive Discharge: in this type of suit, the employee claims that the working conditions were made so intolerable that a reasonable person would be compelled to resign. However, the employee is instead terminated, producing a breach in the employer’s implied promise of good faith. This most often occurs when the employee claims that he or she was harassed at work and that the employer did nothing to prevent the harassment.
If you are an employee who has suffered from any of the above scenarios, contact the offices of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik today to file a claim with our Wrongful Termination lawyers.
