We hear from people daily who believe they were wrongfully terminated and endured retaliation for speaking out about poor, unethical or illegal business practices.
Every situation is unique, but they always have something in common: our concern. We’re always eager to hear about your case. We’ll take the time to understand if we’re able to help.
If we decide to work together, we will have another, longer consultation to come up with a detailed plan of action.
We will thoroughly explain what to expect – how long each stage might take,the strengths and weaknesses of the case, and the range of possible outcomes. Our best clients are our most informed clients.
Wrongful termination can involve:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Gender identity
- National Origin
- Race
- Religion
- Retaliation
- Sexual orientation
If your employment has been unlawfully terminated, you may be entitled to recover damages in a variety of forms, including front pay. Front pay is pay to a former employee for monies that he/she would have earned, but for the unlawful termination of employment. However, an employee who was unlawfully terminated cannot just sit at home and wait idly to collect front pay.
The law imposes what is called a “duty to mitigate,” which means that the employee has the duty to mitigate his or her losses. If an employee fails to look for work, he/she will not be eligible for an award of front pay during any period in which he/she is not actively seeking work.
The phrase used by the courts is that the employee must be “ready, willing, and able” to obtain employment. If, instead, the employee elects to stay home, he/she is considered to have withdrawn from the job market and, as a result, is ineligible to receive an award of front pay. However, if the employee makes constant and good-faith efforts to seek similar employment, he/she is eligible to receive front pay if victorious at trial.
What Is Wrongful Termination?
We get this question frequently. Fortunately, there is a simple answer: there is no such thing as wrongful termination. However, under some circumstances, the decision to terminate an employee may be unlawful.
Below are the two most common examples of what most people refer to as “Wrongful Termination.”
Discrimination.
When someone’s employment is terminated because they belong to a protected class (like age, race, gender, disability, etc.), the decision may be unlawful.
Retaliation.
Generally speaking, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for engaging in a protected activity. Protected activity includes making an internal complaint of discrimination (it doesn’t have to be about you), or some other illegal activity going on in the workplace. Even if the complaint is incorrect, it is illegal to retaliate for making the complaint.
We also hear this question a lot – “Is it illegal to fire me?”
Short answer: probably not. Unless you have an employment contract, you are an employee at will. This means that your employer can fire you at any time for any reason. It is perfectly legal for your employer to fire you even though you are doing a great job and even if it would be silly to fire you. Similarly, you are free to quit your job at any time for any reason. Thus, most of the time, the firing is perfectly legal. Sometimes, though, it is illegal to terminate an employee. People often call this “unlawful” or “wrongful” termination. The most common examples of unlawful termination are discrimination and retaliation. It is illegal for your employer to terminate your employment because of your “protected status” (this includes things like, race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age, etc.). Similarly, it is illegal for your employer to retaliate against you for engaging in protected activity like complaining about discrimination or improper payment of wages.
It is illegal for an employer to take an adverse employment action against an employee because that employee engaged in a protected activity. Let’s break it down a little. The above sentence has three parts: (1) “adverse employment action,” (2) “protected activity,” and (3) “because of.” Let’s look further at what each of these mean to the courts and how they might impact your case.
ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTION
This means that something bad happens to you at work. The most obvious adverse employment action is being fired or laid off. But adverse employment action is not limited to termination. Other actions may be adverse employment. For example, harassment, suspensions, demotions, reductions in compensation and marginalization may be adverse employment actions. Bottom line is that an “adverse employment action” is something bad that happens to you at work.
PROTECTED ACTIVITY
Protected activity is activity aimed at battling discrimination in the workplace. This includes internal complaints, filing charges, testifying, or otherwise expressing your opposition to what you believe is discrimination in the workplace. If you do something to address discrimination in the workplace, it is probably protected activity. (If you bring attention to issues other than discrimination, you may be a whistleblower.)
BECAUSE OF
This is the tricky one. The adverse employment action must be “because of” the protected activity. If your employer fires you and it has nothing to do with your protected activity, that is perfectly legal. Because there is almost never “smoking gun” evidence, courts tend to look at circumstantial evidence like timing and different treatment before/after the protected activity. The “because of” element is the lynch-pin of all retaliation cases.
Transparency about fees. One of our bedrock principles is transparency when it comes to fees. We will explain in detail how fees work while explaining all billing terms both during our consultation and in writing.
Do you have questions, concerns about your Ohio wrongful termination or retaliation case? Or, do you simply want to reach out to one of our Cleveland, Ohio lawyers? Just contact our Cleveland office or call: 216.600.7994.