Orange County Wrongful Termination Attorney

Wrongful Termination Lawyer in Orange County, California

Our jobs are critically important to us. A job can provide financial security, a feeling of accomplishment, but most importantly of course, our jobs allow us to support ourselves and our families. Losing your job can be a devastating blow, both financially and emotionally – suddenly, the financial security and sense of well-being you have worked for is gone. A sense of outrage is more than appropriate if you have been terminated for an unlawful reason.

Perhaps you have been terminated despite a strong good work history and positive performance evaluations. Regardless of the excuses that your employer may offer, if you suspect that your termination might be wrongful, you need experienced legal counsel to determine whether your employer has violated California employment laws. The Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams can help.

Even if your termination itself was not unlawful, it may still be worthwhile to contact an employment lawyer. An experienced attorney can frequently identify claims you may not be aware of, including for unpaid overtime, unreimbursed expenses (i.e., auto, cellphone and home internet), incorrect wage statements and missed meal and rest periods, among many others. Frequently employees who are paid a salary are misclassified and intitled to overtime.

Our firm has successfully represented many wrongfully terminated employees in the Orange County, California, area and throughout Southern California. We understand the methods many employers use when they attempt to disguise wrongful terminations and the legal loopholes they often use to justify wrongful terminations. If you believe you have valid grounds to suspect wrongful termination, our team will help you determine your best available options for legal recourse and guide you through the legal proceedings you face.

Discrimination Claims in Orange County, CA

California law protects employees from termination on the basis of a number of personal characteristics including disability, pregnancy, gender, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion and national origin. The following is a more complete list of characteristics that are protected under California employment law:

• Age (40 and over)
• Ancestry
• Color
• Religious Creed (including religious dress and grooming practices)
• Taking of Family or Medical Care Leave
• Disability (mental or physical)
• HIV status
• Marital Status
• Medical Condition (including cancer and other diseases)
• Genetic Information
• Military and Veteran Status
• National Origin (including language use restrictions)
• Race
• Sex
• Pregnancy (including childbirth and breastfeeding)
• Gender
• Gender Identity
• Gender Expression
• Sexual Orientation

Employers who fire employees based on the employee’s protected personal qualities commit wrongful termination. However, employers will often look for excuses to justify these firing decisions. It’s common for wrongfully terminated employees to feel hopeless and alienated after experiencing these situations. However, there is almost always some evidence a wrongfully terminated employee can recover that will help them substantiate their wrongful termination claims.

If you believe that your recent termination was predicated on your protected status, it’s vital to secure as much documentation and evidence as possible to support your claim. This may include statements from coworkers who witnessed your employer’s adverse treatment of you based on your protected qualities, documentation such as internal communications like emails, or even direct correspondence with your employer, such as negative performance reviews. The Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams can help you determine what evidence you will need to prove your wrongful termination claim.

Retaliation Claims

California employment law also prohibits your employer from firing you in retaliation for exercising certain legal rights, including but not limited to:

• Reporting unlawful conduct in the workplace to a government agency or to a supervisor (i.e., “blowing the whistle”).
• Protesting or reporting violations of California employment law such as discrimination, harassment, wage and hour violations and unsafe work conditions.
• Filing a workers’ compensation claim. California state law requires all employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance, and employers may not take adverse action against an employee who files a workers’ compensation claim in good faith. Employers also may not interfere with an employee’s workers’ compensation claim in any way.
• Requesting or taking leave for family or medical reasons, maternity, pregnancy, voting, or jury duty. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides job security to employees who need to take time off work to address medical issues. Employers may not fire employees who file FMLA requests.
• Filing a claim with the California Labor Commissioner (the DLSE).
• Joining a labor union or participating in union activities.
• Engaging in political activities or uttering unpopular speech (obviously, there are exceptions to this one). Employers may not fire employees for their political beliefs.

Implied Contracts

Most California employment relationships are considered at-will employment relationships meaning that theoretically, your employer has the right to fire you at any time for any reason not prohibited by law. Other employees are protected by the terms of employment contracts that limit the grounds upon which they may be fired. Between these two extremes is the concept of “implied contract.”

When the principle of implied contract applies, it restricts the right of a California employer to terminate an employee who has not signed a formal employment contract. The employer may have distributed an employee handbook, for example, which lists grounds for termination, and this may imply that the employee cannot be fired absent these grounds.

If you believe your employer violated California’s implied contracts law, an Orange County wrongful termination attorney can help you review employee handbooks and other materials that outline the employer’s listed grounds for determination. This is one of the best methods for identifying implied contracts violations and can form the foundation of a solid wrongful termination lawsuit.

“Constructive” Termination

Put succinctly, “constructive” termination occurs when your employer, rather than fire you and risk a lawsuit, makes working conditions so intolerable that you are strongly encouraged to quit (i.e., the employer knowingly permitted working conditions so bad that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to resign). To win a wrongful termination claim based on constructive termination, you must prove that:

• Your employer had no right to terminate you under California law; and
• Your employer’s acts and omissions created working conditions so intolerable that just about anyone would have quit because of them.

It’s possible for constructive termination incidents to also involve other forms of mistreatment at work. For example, if you were subject to sexual harassment consistently and your employer created a hostile work environment, these conditions could constitute not only a wrongful termination claim but also a sexual harassment claim against your employer.

WARN Act Claims (Mass Layoffs)

California’s WARN Act applies to employers with 75 or more employees. It is triggered when a workplace is closed or relocated, or when an employer lays off at least 50 employees. The WARN Act requires your employer to provide you with 60 days’ advance notice before taking any of these actions. If your employer fails to give you 60 days’ notice, you can claim lost wages and benefits for one to 60 days (depending on the length of the actual notice period). WARN Act stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

Is It Hard to Prove Wrongful Termination?

Proving wrongful termination may seem difficult at first due to the myriad excuses employers may use to justify wrongful terminations. However, an experienced Orange County wrongful termination lawyer can help their client discern evidence of wrongful termination. The attorneys at the Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams have years of experience handling difficult wrongful termination cases. They have the resources necessary for helping clients substantiate their wrongful termination claims. In addition, our firm can help you gather the evidence you need to build your wrongful termination case, such as records of communications with your employer, statements from your coworkers concerning workplace conditions, and contracts and other documents that might pertain to your unique situation.

Damages

If you win your wrongful termination lawsuit, you could become eligible for the following types of damages:

• Back pay and benefits, typically beginning on the date of your termination;
• Emotional distress caused by the loss of your job;
  Attorney’s fees; and
• Punitive damages (designed to punish your employer).

Not every claimant is entitled to all of the types of damages listed above – most claimants do not receive punitive damages, for example.

What Is the Average Payout for Wrongful Termination?

It’s difficult to predict how much any given wrongful termination claim might be worth if a plaintiff succeeds with their lawsuit. Your attorney can help you calculate measurable economic damages such as lost wages starting on the date of your termination, projected pay rate increases, and loss of your benefits. However, wrongful termination also causes emotional distress and creates a financial burden for the employee in the form of attorney’s fees. Additionally, a jury may determine that an employer is liable for punitive damages, depending on the scope of their hostile treatment of the plaintiff. Your Orange County wrongful termination attorney will help you calculate the projected value of your lawsuit, so you know what to expect in terms of a recovery.

What to Expect From Your Orange County Wrongful Termination Lawyer?

It’s natural to feel isolated and uncertain about your legal options after experiencing a wrongful termination. The unjust loss of your job can create an enormous financial strain on you and your family, and having the right legal guidance on your side is invaluable in this type of situation. Your Orange County wrongful termination lawyer will help you gather the evidence you need to prove the truth of your firing. They can contact witnesses like your coworkers or other managers at your workplace to help you substantiate claims of mistreatment from your employer. They can also assist you through the claims process with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if your wrongful termination claim pertains to harassment or discrimination of any kind.

The attorneys at the Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams have years of experience helping clients navigate the most complicated wrongful termination cases, and we can put this experience to work for you. Contact us today to schedule a consultation with an experienced Orange County wrongful termination attorney.

My Other Areas of Practice

In addition to employment discrimination cases, I also handle the following types of claims:

• Commercial litigation
• Employment discrimination
• Sexual harassment
• Retaliation
• Unpaid wages and overtime
• Whistleblower retaliation
• Medical and pregnancy leave
• Class action lawsuits

In some cases, a wrongful termination claim will involve similar offenses such as sexual harassment or unpaid wages.

About Corbett H. Williams

Corbett H. Williams has been practicing law full time for over a decade. After graduating in the top three percent of his law school class, Corbett went to work for Jones Day, one of the world’s top law firms with offices in 19 countries. After five years at Jones Day, he moved on to a boutique law firm in Newport Beach, California, where he honed his litigation skills even further. His current practice centers on employment law and commercial litigation.