Dismissal by an employer may feel unjust. However, not all reasons meet the legal threshold of wrongful termination. To be wrongfully terminated, your employer must have fired you without cause. Firing for illegal reasons or no cause gives you grounds to institute a wrongful termination suit against your employer to recover damages.

What Amounts to a Wrongful Termination

California is an at-will state. Employees engage employers freely, and consent to an employer’s work dictates as agreed upon in the contractual work terms. Should an employee violate the work terms, an employer has grounds to terminate an employee’s job, with or without notice.

However, should an employer terminate your contract for reasons other than a violation of your working contract, you have grounds to sue your employer for damages.

California law considers the following as illegal reasons to terminate an employee’s contract. They form the basis of a wrongful termination suit.

  • Termination in violation of the at-will employment

  • Whistleblower retaliation

  • Discrimination or workplace harassment

  • Resignation because of a hostile work environment

  • Dismissal because of your political views

  • Termination without notice as required under the WARN Act

Understanding the reasons for your wrongful discharge is the first step. Doing so will inform what lawsuit to file against your employer. Here is a look at the wrongful termination lawsuits in California

Contract Claims for Wrongful Termination

Employers and employees are free to enter employment contracts in California. The contracts can be written or oral. The courts acknowledge employment contracts and, by extension, allow the general rule of being fired at any time for any reason to prevail. This rule is foundational for at-will employment contracts.

However, California law creates exceptions to the above rule, namely,

  • Good cause is needed for any termination of an implied employment contract

  • Dismissal for failing to participate in fraud or misrepresentation

  • A breach by the employer of good faith and fair dealing in implied employment contracts

  • Violation of public policy — Public policy incorporates the laws or general beliefs accepted by the public. Therefore, it is illegal to be fired for not participating in illegality like falsifying a company’s tax returns, participating in a public activity to exercise your rights like voting, or reporting illegal conduct.

Implied contracts exist through conduct, actions, or circumstances in agreements. You do not have to sign a written document for an implied agreement to be enforceable. Instead, the steps taken following an oral or written employment agreement are enough to establish an implied contract.

For example, an employer creates an implied contract when he/she assures an employee of their job security as long as the employee does not conduct himself/herself in a particular manner or take part in certain activities. An implied contract is also brought into existence when an employer issues a handbook to an employee detailing a list of fireable reasons. In both cases, should you engage in any of the reasons above, your employer has reasonable cause to fire you.

You could sue for wrongful termination in the above cases if you were fired for any reason other than those detailed by your employer.

Wrongful Discharge Under Whistleblower Protection

Employees who report their employer’s wrongdoing or violation of public trust are protected against retaliation. It is illegal for employers to fire employees following their report to authorities of any wrongdoing on the employer’s part.

Labor Code 1102.5 protects whistleblowers. Under the law, it is wrongful for an employer to retaliate against an employee who reports suspected violation of the law by the employer. It should also be noted that whistleblowing is not only limited to reporting to law enforcement or government agencies. It also includes reports filed with supervisors, managers, or employees with authority to investigate or act on the violation.

While Labor Code 1102.5 offers general protection for whistleblowers, other laws are whistleblower-specific. It is crucial to understand which law is specific to your circumstances.

For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a federal law that allows employees wrongfully terminated as retaliation for whistleblowing to sue their employers in federal court. However, only the following can seek action against their employers under this law.

  • Employees working in publicly-traded entities and their subsidiaries. This law also includes contractors as possible plaintiffs. And,

  • Employees who report violations of federal securities fraud laws — The regulations are in place to protect shareholders of publicly-traded companies.

Another whistleblower-specific law is the California False Claim Act, also referred to as the CFCA. Under this law, employees can file ‘qui tam’ suits on behalf of the state government. The lawsuit is filed against their employers if the employer embezzled or committed fraud concerning government funds.

Additionally, an employee must have been terminated or retaliated against by the employer for instituting the qui tam lawsuit. In this case, the employee will file a wrongful termination suit under the CFCA.

Wrongful Termination Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibit employment discrimination and workplace harassment.

Under the Act, your employer is prohibited from using race, gender, religion, health condition, or country of origin as a basis to fire you or to take any action against you. Additionally, you are protected under the law from any engagement of behavior not described as official duties in your employment agreement.

Wrongful Constructive Termination

Constructive termination refers to actions by an employer that make a work environment so intolerable an employee has no choice but to quit. These actions violate constructive discharge and wrongful constructive termination laws. You can then sue your employer if you fell victim to intolerable working conditions.

You will have to show that your employer knowingly permitted or created an intolerable working environment in your lawsuit.

Further, it would have been reasonably expected that a reasonable employee could resign on account of the working conditions. Additionally, your employer would have violated an implied, oral contract should he/she have fired you.

Wrongful Discharge for Divergent Political Views

Free speech and political views are protected in the constitution. That means you can sue your employer should they terminate your employment because of your political views. Additionally, you can pursue the lawsuit if you were discharged from duty for joining or participating in labor union activities.

Wrongful Discharge Under the WARN Act

Under California’s WARN (Worker Retraining and Notification) Act, employers have to provide their employees with a 60-day notice before conducting a lay-off of more than 50 employees. This provision affects employers with at least 75 employees.

Lawsuits under the WARN Act pursue wages and benefits denied to an employee within the time the termination fell short of the 60-day notice.

Filing a Wrongful Termination Claim

To successfully file a wrongful discharge claim, you need the services of an experienced wrongful termination attorney. The attorney helps you gather and present the evidence supporting your claim.

Details on your termination letter, employment contract, and recorded email exchanges or voicemails contain crucial evidence pivotal in proving your case. Employment data is also relied upon in establishing wrongful discharge, especially if there is systemic prejudice in the company.

Additionally, accounts from your colleagues are also consequential to your case.

Your employer could be reluctant to provide the required documentation or prevent your colleagues from sharing information pertinent to your case. However, your attorney is in a better position to overcome this challenge.

Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Discharge Lawsuit

California law provides strict timelines for Wrongful termination lawsuits. You can only file a claim within that period. As set under the Statute of Limitations, the timeline is based on the claim.

Breach of contract claims, specifically implied oral contract, can only be filed against an employer within two years. You also have two years to present a wrongful termination lawsuit if the suit’s basis is a violation of public policy.

If your employment was wrongfully terminated in violation of the whistleblower protection law, you have three years to sue your employer. You must file a complaint with the Department of labor within 180 days if your lawsuit falls under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If your employer violates the Fair Employment and Housing Act, you must file a complaint within three years with California’s Fair Employment and Housing department.

Lawsuits pursued under the WARN Act should be filed within three years.

Damages Recoverable in Wrongful Termination Lawsuits

Successful wrongful termination lawsuits award economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.

Economic Damages

Primarily, wrongful discharge lawsuits seek compensation for lost wages and benefits. The value of damages is the back pay of the amount an employee reasonably expected to earn during the period following the wrongful termination up to the date of the court’s verdict on the case. The compensatory damages are inclusive of the value of wages and benefits you would receive from the date of the court’s verdict and extended to the time you would be expected to remain in the employ of your employer. Further, the employment contract damages will be factored in.

Additionally, the courts also award damages to compensate attorney fees and litigation costs under economic damages. Generally, your attorney will offset their fees and litigation costs from the damages awarded. However, the courts can award attorney fees and litigation fees as part of the damages payable by the employer in specific cases, namely lawsuits:

  • Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)

  • In violation of whistleblower protections provided in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

  • Under the California False Claim Act

All sums awarded will be adjusted for inflation.

It is also important to note that the courts also factor in your actions to mitigate your losses, for example seeking alternative employment. Therefore the compensatory damages awarded to you will be net of the mitigating damages (the value of income earned in alternative work to mitigate your wrongful termination losses).

Your employer, the defendant, in this case, bears the burden of proving the need for mitigation of damages. In his/her submission, they must demonstrate that your new employment is similar to the one he/she offered and that you failed to make reasonable efforts to retain your job. In establishing similarity, your employee will have to show that you are engaged in the same nature of work, earning equal pay and enjoying similar employment benefits. Further, he/she will have to show that the responsibilities in your new role match those you had to take care of when you were under his/he employ.

Non-Economic Damages

Plaintiffs, under non-economic damages, receive compensation for non-economic hardships the termination caused. You (the plaintiff) will receive compensation for any mental or emotional distress suffered. The compensatory damages will also include any harm your dismissal caused to your professional reputation.

You can also be compensated for the grief, anxiety, loss of enjoyment, humiliation, and physical pain arising from the distressing experience the termination caused.

Non-economic damages are awarded in:

  • Whistleblower retaliation cases,

  • Public policy wrongful termination suits

  • Retaliation cases under the Fair Employment and Housing Act

  • Termination in violation of the WARN Act

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages aim at punishing the employer for their action and as a deterrent to other employers contemplating taking similar undertakings. These damages are independent of the economic and non-economic losses you suffered. That means punitive damages punish the employer and do not compensate you for any economic or non-economic loss you suffered.

Since punitive damages are designed to punish employers, they are thus awarded in cases where fraud, malice, or oppression was directed on an employee.

Contact a Wrongful Termination Attorney Near Me

Have you been unfairly dismissed from your employment?

You need to call an experienced attorney. Wrongful terminations result in loss of income that destabilizes your life. An experienced employment attorney will help establish and present the evidence supporting your claim and fight to secure just compensation in your case. At Stop Unpaid Wages, we work tirelessly to ensure our California client’s rights are respected and that they receive the best outcome in a wrongful termination lawsuit. So give us a call today at 424-781-8411, and let us bring our experience to your wrongful termination matter.