Were you wrongfully terminated and have questions about life after filing for wrongful termination? Contact our California attorneys today.
Filing a Wrongful Termination Claim
Sometimes terminations are just unfair. Sometimes, you work for a supervisor that is unkind, arbitrary, irrational, and they terminate you. Not every time that you get terminated, despite how wrongful it felt or how wrongful it truly was, is it necessarily unlawful.
We spend a lot of the time identifying those claims in which the termination actually violated California law or federal law. If we can identify a statute or statutes that were violated, then we’re able to articulate that the termination was actually wrongful and we’ll bring a claim called wrongful termination and violation of public policy. That claim is usually brought with the various other claims under California Labor Code. Those include the Fair Employment Housing Act, if you got terminated as a result of a protected class or conduct, or were subject to harassment based on gender, race, or disability.
Not all terminations in California allow you to bring a lawsuit. Not even all wrongful terminations allow you to bring a lawsuit. It’s really important for you to have an attorney that can sit you down and identify whether or not your termination was unlawful.
Suing an Employer
We hear the term wrongful termination a lot, just in our daily lives, whether you’re an attorney or not. For the attorney, it’s important for us to slow down and try to figure out if it was not only wrongful, but also unlawful. Was it an unlawful termination? There’s a lot of statues in California that protect employees. Those statutes prohibit an employer from retaliating against employees and discriminating against employees, so it’s important to realize that you do have a lot of protections.
Sometimes you need to figure out whether or not something is just wrong or unfair , or whether it was unlawful. Even if, as you sit there right now, you think, well, I don’t know if it was unlawful, it’s important for you to get those questions answered, because you very well could have rights that you never contemplated. They could have violated that law.
Can I Collect Unemployment Benefits if I Was Fired?
One of the issues that comes up when an employee was terminated is whether or not they can collect unemployment benefits. In California, the standard as to whether or not you can file for unemployment benefits is actually a pretty employee-friendly standard that relates to whether or not you engaged in misconduct while at work. That standard is going to be read rather narrowly. Just because you got terminated from your employment, doesn’t mean that you’re not entitled to unemployment benefits.
If you’ve been terminated, especially if you’ve been terminated for what you believe is an unlawful conduct, it’s important for you to still apply for unemployment. I would encourage you, if you file for unemployment, to talk to an attorney before you do that. If you already had and there’s an interview coming up, and they want to interview as to the reasons for your termination, you at least have the advice of counsel as to what you may focus in on or not focus in on. The fact that they tell you this is the reason that you’re being terminated isn’t necessarily the reason that you believe that you were terminated.
Were you or a loved one wrongfully terminated in California and have questions about life after filing for wrongful termination? Contact the experienced California employment law attorneys at the Myers Law Group today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
We can help get your life back on track.
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