Although most people work in a peaceful and harmonious workplace, there are some who go to work every day and face discrimination. They can face things being bullied, being passed over for promotions, or have their schedules changed on a whim. The most egregious form of discrimination is to be fired without reason.
In some states, this is totally legal since they are what’s called “at will” states. This doesn’t mean that if you are fired for no reason that you don’t have any rights. You can talk to an employment lawyer about your case and they may find that there are some grounds for an unfair dismissal claim. In this article, we will go over some common signs that you were unfairly dismissed and may have a claim.
- You are in a protected class
There are certain workers who fall into a category that gives them extra employment protections. These people are minorities, disabled, women, and LGBT among others. They are people who have historically been discriminated against and get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to getting terminated. You don’t automatically get a claim by being in this class, but you do deserve to be able to present a case.
You’ll need some evidence that it is because you are in this class that you were fired. It is doubtful that you’ll have any direct evidence such as an admission. However, there are circumstances that will show that there was a concerted effort to get rid of you that leaves no other reason than you were targeted for being in the protected class.
The type of evidence to look for would be good performance reviews consistently before you were fired. This would show that you were an asset to the company and there was no real reason for your termination.
- You are being retaliated against
Even if you aren’t in a protected class, it is illegal to be fired as a form of retaliation. There are some bosses and managers that will want to punish somebody for doing something that they don’t like but doesn’t affect the job in any way. In fact, there are times when an employee is asked to do something unethical or illegal and when they refuse they are fired.
There are a number of little things that they could retaliate against you for such as discussing your salary even though it’s perfectly legal and even a protected right to talk to your co-workers about your salary.
- Breach of contract
The most obvious sign of wrongful termination and a slam dunk in any court is when your contract was breach. If you had specific terms in an employment contract and you never got to complete them before termination then you have a case.
It could be that there was an end date that wasn’t reached with regards to your contract, or there were factors that were not met and you were fired before they could be.
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