There are a lot of invalid reasons for firing somebody from their job. For instance, you may be retaliate against if you report sexual harassment at work. Or you may feel that you were being discriminated against for your religious beliefs. There are many more examples, but the fact is that none of these reasons are valid for firing somebody.
What’s tricky is knowing when you have been fired illegally. It isn’t often that a boss will tell you that you’re being fired for any of the reasons stated above as they know they can’t do that. You’ll have to find some evidence before you call any of the discrimination lawyers Baltimore has working.
In this article, we will go over what several of the signs are that your termination was not legal so you can take action.
1 – Broken contract
The most obvious case of a wrongful termination is that a contract you both had together was broken by your employer. When things are in writing then it is binding. If your contract stipulated that you won’t be fired without good cause then you are not an at-will employee and can’t be fired unless they have a valid reason.
A valid reason would have to be upheld in court since a contract was broken and they would need to present evidence that there was some wrongdoing on your part. Without this evidence, it would point to you being fired for some sort of discrimination.
If your performance doesn’t negatively impact the business then there is no real reason for you to be fired. There would need to be some documentation collected over time that would illustrate that you are a detriment to the company and the contract would have to be voided. Barring that, you have a very good case for a claim against them.
2 – You’re a protected class
You may not have a contract, but if you are in a protected class then an employer will need to prove a valid reason for your firing even though you are an at-will employee.
Every state defines who should be considered a protected class but a few examples are:
- You’re pregnant
- In the military
- Have a medical condition or disability
- Made a claim for disability benefits or worker’s compensation
- Are a whistleblower
Although no employer would ever admit that you are being fired for belonging to one of these classes and others, it could be the reason for your termination. It will be up to you to collect evidence but, the employer will also have to have evidence that you were fired for a valid reason if you were to take this to a state regulatory agency.
3 – You’ve been treated unfairly
If you have been feeling mistreated and made a formal complaint about it to human resources and then been fired after, it could be correlated to that. Even as an at-will employee you can’t be fired as retaliation for something at work. You can only be fired for a valid reason.
