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Retaliation – Termination Attorneys http://terminationattorneys.com Wrongful Termination Attorneys Lawyers Fri, 25 Jan 2019 10:52:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.24 Is it retaliation (wrongful termination)? (Joanna is a Whistleblower) http://terminationattorneys.com/?p=151 Sun, 03 Jun 2012 16:05:07 +0000 http://terminationattorneys.com/?p=151 Joanna worked for a construction company. She noticed that the company was ignoring certain safety regulations on a job site. She brought it to her superiors’ attention. She was fired one week later for not being a “team player.” Is this a wrongful termination? should Joanna be seeking a wrongful termination lawyer?

First, remember that every situation we address on this website is intended to be in a non-union context with no “contract” in place. This is the situation for the vast majority of employees in California who work for private companies. They are “at will” employees.

Here, if Joanna can prove that the reason she was terminated was her complaints about safety, which it looks like she can, then she has a case. California has a law that states that an employee may complain about workplace safety issues without retaliation. This law is considered to have established a fundamental public policy against retaliating against employees who make these complaints. Therefore, Joanna could not be fired for making these complaints even though she is an “at will” employee.

]]> Is it retaliation (wrongful termination)? (Adam is a Tattletale) http://terminationattorneys.com/?p=153 Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:05:36 +0000 http://terminationattorneys.com/?p=153 Adam went to his supervisor’s boss and told her in confidence that his supervisor was not doing his job properly. Adam explained that his supervisor would spend all day surfing the internet instead of helping out the employees under him like he was “supposed to.” Three days later, Adam was terminated. All he was told was that his supervisor was upset with him for going above his head instead of addressing things with him personally. Is this a wrongful termination? should Adam be seeking a wrongful termination lawyer?

First, remember that every situation we address on this website is intended to be in a non-union context with no “contract” in place. This is the situation for the vast majority of employees in California who work for private companies. They are “at will” employees.

Here, Adam made the common mistake of thinking that he would not be subjected to retaliation for simply trying to help the company by pointing out his supervisor’s weaknesses. The law does not provide any protection for those who take this risky approach to “fixing” things at work. If Adam had complained that his supervisor was calling him racist names or sexually harassing him or a number of other “protected” complaints, he could not have been fired. However, here, there was no protection for his complaint and it was well within the rights of his employer to terminate him. This might fall into the “unfair” category, but not the “unlawful” category.

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