After a firing, it is common to feel hurt, angry, ashamed and sad. If you feel that your employer fired you unfairly, it can compound these emotions. You may even feel that your employer wrongfully terminated you.
However, there is a big difference between an unfair termination and a wrongful termination. Wrongful termination is a legal term that means an employer has violated employment regulations. In this post, we will elaborate on this term to help you determine whether you experienced a wrongful termination.
Firing vs. wrongful termination
Most American employers are at-will employers, which means that they can hire and fire employees for nearly any reason, as long as it does not violate employment law. If a company does break the law in firing an employee, this counts as a wrongful termination.
Some examples of wrongful termination include:
- Discrimination based on age, race, gender, disability, nation of origin, religion, and, in Ohio, veterans’ status, military status, ancestry and sexual orientation.
- Retaliation for reporting unlawful practice at work
- Violation of your employment contract
If an employer fires you for another reason, then they probably have not violated your rights. Still, you have the right to consult an employment attorney about your firing.
What to do after wrongful termination
If, after reading this post, you believe that your employer wrongfully terminated you, then you should act swiftly. Gather as much documentation from your job as you can. These could include emails between you and your supervisor or coworkers, written warnings, evaluations and other pieces of evidence. Then, you should consider contacting a lawyer. Employment attorneys can help you recover your job, hold your employer accountable for their actions and seek compensation for your damages.