Wrongful Termination

/

Many employees, at one time or another, go through the trying process of being terminated from their jobs. This time can be especially emotional, often leaving the employee feeling they were treated unfairly. If you’ve been fired from your job and feel you were treated unfairly, you may question whether you have a legal claim against your employer for wrongful termination. In most states, including New York, employees by default are considered employed “at will,” meaning they can generally be terminated from their job for any reason or no reason at all. The only exceptions to this rule exist where specifically recognized under the law, such as where the termination violates an employment contract or specific state or federal statute.

Eisenberg & Baum’s employment discrimination practice group has experience with wrongful termination cases in New York and across the United States. Whether you believe you were fired for a discriminatory reason or in retaliation for reporting wrongdoing, we can help advise you of your legal rights. Here are several of the most common grounds for wrongful termination claims of which you should be aware if you are considering a claim. This is not intended to cover all of the grounds for a wrongful termination claim, and such grounds can vary from state to state.

Grounds for Wrongful Termination Claims

As I noted, employees in New York and most other states are typically employed at will. However, there are situations in which an employee’s firing can be considered wrongful and therefore entitle the employee to recover damages from their employer.

Violation of the Law

In the absence of an employment contract, you will most likely be considered an at-will employee, and therefore your grounds for challenging your termination will be more limited. While an at-will employee may be terminated without cause, that does not mean the employee can be terminated for any reason. If the employer decided to terminate the employee for an illegal reason, then the employee can challenge the termination. Two of the most common illegal grounds for termination are discrimination and whistleblower retaliation.

Discrimination

Federal law prohibits certain employers from taking adverse actions against their employees (including termination) on the basis of certain protected categories. Those categories include race, color, national origin, gender, pregnancy, age, religion, disability, and genetic information. If you are employed by a private employer, you should be aware that most of the federal laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace apply to private employers only once they have reached certain minimum threshold number of employees (typically 15).

On top of the federal laws, many state laws prohibit discriminatory employment decisions. For example, in New York employers are prohibited from discriminating against an employee on similar grounds as recognized under federal law as well as sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity, arrest and conviction record, military status or service, observance of Sabbath, political activities, unemployment status, and status as a victim of domestic violence.

Whistleblower Retaliation

In addition to the federal and state protections against workplace discrimination, an employee can base a wrongful termination claim on the concept of whistleblower retaliation. Both federal and state laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for reporting certain kinds of improper conduct by their employers. An example of this could be an employee of a chemical company reporting illegal dumping of waste by their employer or an employee of a securities firm reporting insider trading by the firms’ employees. Whistleblower laws are designed to protect employees and ensure certain types of improper employer conduct are reported.

Breach of Contract

Breach of ContractThe exception to at-will employment occurs when an employee has either an express or implied employment contract in which the employer provides the employee some assurance of job security. Courts are more likely to recognize and enforce express or written contracts versus implied contracts, which require evidence the employer has promised continued employment through policies or other statements. If you are able to prove your employer fired you in contravention of an express or implied contract, you can pursue a breach of contract claim against your employer.

Take Action

While most employees in the United States are considered at-will employees, employers do not have blanket authority to terminate employees where they make their decision in breach of an express or implied contract or in violation of the law or that are based upon discrimination. Many employees, regardless of their at-will status, enjoy the protection of state and federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on race, age, gender, religious preference, and a number of other protected categories.

If you believe you have been wrongfully terminated, please contact contact Eisenberg & Baum. We’re based in New York City and have attorneys licensed in many states throughout the country, so we can help no matter where you are. Our group of experienced employment discrimination attorneys will take a look at your case and advise you of your rights and legal options. In discrimination and retaliation cases, we offer free initial consultations and bill on a contingent fee basis, so you won’t have to pay us unless we win your case.

Can a single employee win a discrimination claim against a Fortune 500 company?

/

Deciding to sue an employer because you have been discriminated against at work can be a difficult decision for anyone. On top of the mixed emotions an employee can have about taking on their current or former employer, the employee can be intimidated by the size and financial wherewithal of the employer. That intimidation can reach extraordinary heights when the employer is a large, multinational company with thousands of employees, an entire department of lawyers, and annual revenue in the billions of dollars. But, the American legal system is fundamentally designed to level the playing field between litigants and impartially judge the merits of an individual’s claims no matter how deep the pockets of their counterpart.

You’re Not Alone — We’re Here to Help

In each of the cases below, individual employees who felt they’d been discriminated against at work took on employers who ranked amongst the largest in the country. The employees typically first sought a remedy directly from their employers only to be turned away and, in some cases, fired. Their ultimate resort was court, where they were able to bring their employers to terms either through a court judgment or settlement.

If you’ve been subjected to harassment or discrimination at work and are considering filing a lawsuit against your employer, large or small, contact Eisenberg & Baum. We’re based in New York City and have attorneys licensed in many states throughout the country, so we can help no matter where you are. Our group of experienced employment discrimination attorneys will take a look at your case and advise you of your rights and legal options. We offer free initial consultations and bill on a contingent fee basis, so you won’t have to pay us unless we win your case.

Contingency Fee Arrangements

In addition to the design of the legal system, victims of employment discrimination can benefit from the fact that many plaintiffs lawyers, including Eisenberg & Baum’s employment group, provide their services on a contingency fee basis, meaning that an employee can engage legal help with very little cost up front and the lawyer will only be paid if you are able to recover damages from your employer. If you win, your lawyer is simply paid a percentage of your overall recovery.

Courts in New York and around the United States are filled with examples of individual employees taking on their Fortune 500 employers in discrimination lawsuits and prevailing. Any employee who is the victim of employment discrimination yet feels unable to defend themselves against their employer can take hope from these cases, which demonstrate that no employer is too large to be brought to account.

Calibuso et al. v. Bank of America Corp. et al.

Judy Calibuso, a financial advisor with Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit, helped lead this New York class action lawsuit on behalf of about 4,800 current and former female financial advisors and trainees at Merrill. Calibuso and the plaintiffs alleged Merrill and Bank of America engaged in gender discrimination by favoring male financial advisors in a number of employment areas, from pay to job support. The plaintiffs also alleged that Merrill retaliated against female employees when they complained about this apparent gender bias. After three years in New York federal court, the parties agreed to a settlement under which Bank of America paid the plaintiffs $39 million and made changes to its employment practices to address the alleged gender bias.

Ingraham v. UBS Financial Services, Inc.

Carla Ingraham worked for UBS for 22 years as a client services associate before being fired in 2009. What precipitated her firing, according to Ingraham, was sustained sexual harassment by her manager, a UBS vice president, that included inappropriate sexual comments, emails and phone calls to Ingraham’s home. After Ingraham reported the harassment to both UBS and the Missouri Human Rights Commission, Ingraham was subjected to a UBS investigation and ultimately fired. Ingraham filed a lawsuit against UBS in Missouri state court alleging the company and its employees sexually harassed her and retaliated against her for reporting the harassment. The jury ultimately agreed with Ingraham, and Ingraham received $8.4 million in damages.

Nickel v. Staples Contract & Commercial, Inc. et al.

Bobby Nickel had been an employee of Corporate Express for six years when Staples purchased it in 2008. According to Nickel, after Staples acquired Corporate Express, Staples systematically tried to push older, higher paid employees to leave. When Nickel refused to resign, he claimed his fellow employees and manager leveled false accusations against him and harassed him, ultimately leading to his firing in 2011. Nickel was 64 at the time. Nickel filed a lawsuit against Staples in California state court, alleging that Staples had harassed and discriminated against him because of his age. A California jury sided with Nickel, awarding Nickel $26 million in damages.

Juarez v. AutoZone Stores, Inc.

The plaintiff in this case was a female employee named Rosario Juarez, an employee of AutoZone who, after complaining of an apparent glass ceiling policy at the auto parts retailer, earned a promotion to store manager in 2004. According to Juarez, though, things changed in late 2005 when she let her manager know that she was pregnant. Juarez alleged that, from that point forward, her manager treated her differently, pushing her to step down from her store manager position and ultimately demoting her. Juarez filed a lawsuit against AutoZone alleging she had been discriminated against because of her gender, at which point AutoZone fired Juarez. The California jury in the case found in Juarez’s favor in a big way, awarding her $185 million in damages. After AutoZone asked the trial judge for either a new trial or reduction in damages, the parties settled the claim for an undisclosed amount, ending the litigation.