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Can I Sue if I get Fired?



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Everyday hundreds of persons are fired from their place of employment. Being fired by an employer is generally where the employee is at fault because of failure to follow the company’s rules and regulations or failure to perform your responsibilities effectively and efficiently. An employer is perfectly within his/her rights to terminate your contract but the employer should ensure that it is done legally. There may be a multiplicity of reasons why an employee gets terminated from their employment but the employer should always ensure that the reason or reasons for termination known by the employee. Being fired affects potential job prospects as the employee is seen as a person who is not highly favored and as such an employee should always ensure that the proper procedures were carried out when he/she was terminated by his/her employer.

Can I sue if I get Fired?

A person can only sue after being fired if the manner in which the dismissal occurred was not legally accepted. An employee has a right to dismiss any employee who has acted in a manner that violates the company policies, incompetent or inefficient or the company may dismiss a person based on their prior behaviour. Firstly, an employee should determine if the agreement between the employee and employer was employment-at-will. This is where an both the employee and employer sign an agreement at the time of hire which states that the employee can quit at time without giving a reason or notice and the employer can terminate the contract of the employee at any time for reason not prohibited by the federal or state law. Therefore if there is an at-will agreement then employee has no basis for a claim once there was an agreement even though no reason was given.

Where an employer failed to give a reason for termination a person can sue because it shows that there is no just cause for the termination if there was no at-will agreement between the parties. An employee should know why he/she is dismissed to ascertain whether the employer had a justified reason for the employee’s dismissal. Where an employer provides no reason could be interpreted badly because the employer may have terminated you based on discrimination, retaliation as a result of bringing a claim or for reasons that may be trivial which is illegal. It is important to consult with an attorney if you believe that you might have been wrongfully terminated.

Can I Sue my Employer for Firing me?

Where I person has been wrongfully terminated then he/she can sue for compensation. However, just because you were fired does not give you the right to sue for compensation especially if employment was at-will. Wrongful termination refers to termination without cause and there was an express or implied contract of employment or the reasons for termination was illegal because of race, age, sex or sexual orientation or contrary to public policy. The claim for wrongful dismissal is easy proven where the employer had a code of conduct which informs an employee of the reasons of termination and the process of termination. If the employer did not follow the procedure and there was a contractual relationship with the employee and employer whether implied or express then it would be a breach of contract. The employee can sue for wrongful termination and breach of contract. An employee can receive substantial compensation as there can be a claim made for loss of wages and benefits.

No one likes to be fired but there are always avenues an employee can take to seek compensation. However, if there was at-will agreement or there was misconduct, incompetence or any other actions that made the employee blameworthy then it is not possible for a claim to be brought against an employer. However, where there was no reason for termination then an employee can bring an action against the employer. Additionally, if the employee was dismissed because of discrimination or retaliation for initiating a claim against the employer then these are good reasons why a person should sue an employer for dismissal.

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