Wrongful Termination Lawyers: When should Employees seek their Help?

Wrongful termination lawyers defend employees in various situations, including discrimination, violation of public policy, fraud (via misrepresentation at the date of hire), contractual breach and constructive discharge, among others. What do all of these scenarios have in common? The employees who suffer through them all put some measure of trust into their employer, but are deceived at their own expense.


Employers should practice fair dealing and good faith at all times, meaning they should treat similarly situated employees in the same manner. However, this often times is not the case due to widespread subjectivity in our business culture. Wrongful termination lawyers can help defend those who are treated unfairly in the following scenarios: Discrimination, Violations of public Policy, Fraud and Constructive Discharge.


Discrimination: in a discrimination suit, wrongful termination of an employee occurs due to his or her possession of certain characteristics rather than for legitimate reasons.


Violations of Public Policy: in a suit based on the allegation of violation of public policy, the employee must show that (1) the public policy involved is derived from an administrative regulation, state or federal statute, and (2) that the policy is fundamental and of benefit to the general public, rather than just to the employee or employer. It is the employer’s job, on the other hand, to show that it decided to terminate the employee based on legitimate business reasons.


Fraud (via Misrepresentation at the date of Hire): an employer may be liable for fraud if it makes promises at the date of hire that it fails to keep. For example, if at the date of hire the employer promises regular pay rate increases that that it never intended to deliver, it has committed fraud. It is thus very important for employees to accurately and adequately record such promises as soon as they are made in order to give wrongful termination lawyers strong foundations to defend a claim.


Contractual Breach: this occurs when written, oral, and implied contracts are not fulfilled by the employer. It is up to the employee to prove that the contract exists and that he or she suffered from wrongful termination in violation of that contract. Employers often try to avoid these lawsuits by asking employees to sign the Confirmation of Receipt, which can defeat their claim that there was an implied or oral contract. On the other hand, employers can create a clause in a written contract that allows for termination at-will in order to protect them from wrongful termination claims. The best thing for employees to do is to read and understand all contracts thoroughly before signing them.


Constructive Discharge: in this type of suit, the employee claims that the working conditions were made so intolerable that a reasonable person would be compelled to resign. However, the employee is instead terminated, producing a breach in the employer’s implied promise of good faith. This most often occurs when the employee claims that he or she was harassed at work and that the employer did nothing to prevent the harassment.


If you are an employee who has suffered from any of the above scenarios, contact the offices of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik today to file a claim with our Wrongful Termination lawyers.

California Wrongful Termination Laws

Pursuant to California Labor Code Section 2922, an employment relationship between an employer and an employee of an unspecified time period may be terminated at the will of either the employee or the employer.  This employment law rule governing the discharge of employees creates a presumption of at-will employment. However, the California at-will employment presumption can be overcome by employees if the employee can show evidence that the employer terminated the employee as a result of discrimination.

Furthermore, even where an employer does not actually terminate an employee, an employee can still bring an action for wrongful termination under California labor laws using the theory of constructive discharge. In order for an employee in California to successfully bring a claim for constructive discharge, the employee must be able to show that the employer either intentionally created or knowingly permitted working conditions that were so intolerable or aggravated at the time of the employee’s resignation that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would be compelled to resign. If the employee can prove that the working conditions were truly intolerable, the employee may be able to recover damages under the constructive discharge theory for a violation of state labor laws.

Pursuant to California wrongful termination laws, constructive discharge occurs when the employer's conduct effectively forces an employee to resign. Although the employee may ultimately say, "I quit," the employment relationship is actually terminated involuntarily because the employer has intentionally created an intolerable working environment for the employee, against the employee's will and against California labor laws. As a result, under California labor laws, a constructive discharge is legally regarded as a firing rather than a resignation.

Even though employees can sue employers for wrongful termination under California labor laws based on a constructive discharge theory, an employee cannot simply quit and sue the employer. The conditions giving rise to the employee’s resignation must be sufficiently extraordinary and egregious, known as intolerable in the legal work, to overcome the normal motivation of a competent, diligent, and reasonable employee to remain on the job to earn a livelihood and to serve his or her employer. Under California state employment laws, an essential component of a constructive discharge lawsuit against an employer is that the hostile working conditions must be so intolerable that any reasonable employee would resign rather than continue to work for the employer.