Hawthorne Wrongful Termination

Hawthorne is located in Los Angeles County. The city’s population is 84,293, and it covers 6.1 square miles. Between 2009 and 2013, Hawthorne’s median household income was $44,649. The income of around 19.2% of the population in Hawthorne put them under the federal poverty line during that time. As in other places, workers in Hawthorne are sometimes wrongfully terminated. If you feel that you were unlawfully fired or let go from your job, a dedicated Hawthorne wrongful termination attorney at the Calderone Law Firm can assess whether you have a viable claim.

While you may be able to recover damages for wrongful termination in certain situations, not every termination with which you disagree constitutes a wrongful termination. Most employment in California is classified as at-will. Under this rule, an employee can be terminated at any time and arbitrarily. However, there are exceptions. You may be able to keep your job or sue for wrongful termination damages if you meet an exception to the at-will rule.

If you’ve got an employment contract that promises that you will be employed for a specific amount of time or that restricts your employer’s ability to terminate you by requiring a showing of good cause or requiring that other conditions exist, your employer must fulfill its end of the contract in order to terminate you.

Employment contracts can be made in writing or through oral agreement. Sometimes they explicitly state that employees may only be terminated for cause. In other cases, actions or statements by an employer can create an implied employment contract. When an employer breaches a contract by terminating an employee without cause or during a set term of employment, it may be possible to sue for wages, benefits, or anything else that is owed. The contract may also be used to negotiate a severance package with an employer. A dedicated wrongful termination attorney serving Hawthorne can represent you in these sorts of negotiations.

A wrongful termination lawsuit may also be brought if a termination violates an anti-discrimination law. Employees should not be terminated due to their membership in a class protected under state or federal laws. For example, if your employer is covered by Title VII, wrongful termination may have occurred if you were terminated based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. Similarly, if you are terminated due to your disability, you may have a claim for wrongful termination under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) applies to smaller employers in California and prohibits wrongful termination based on membership in categories including race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, and age.

Under FEHA, wrongful termination may have occurred when an employee is fired for opposing workplace harassment or employment discrimination, or based on an employer’s failure to grant requested family or pregnancy leave.

If you can establish liability against your former employer in California, you may be able to recover monetary damages. A knowledgeable Hawthorne wrongful termination lawyer can help you prove the extent of your losses. Wrongful termination damages can include amounts for lost benefits and wages as well as pain, emotional distress, and loss of professional reputation. When an employer’s wrongdoing is severe, it may be possible to obtain punitive damages. The kind of damages you can get in a wrongful termination lawsuit against your employer hinges on the particular facts of the case and the legal basis of the suit.

In California, you’re expected to mitigate your damages in an employment lawsuit. To mitigate your losses you should seek out and accept other jobs in order to make up for your losses in being wrongfully terminated. Your ability to recover lost wages and benefits depends partly on the extent to which you tried to mitigate your damages. Lost wages and benefits recoverable as damages are reduced by the amount you did earn or could have earned in a substantially similar job to that from which you were terminated.

If you have questions about wrongful termination or retaliation in Hawthorne, an employment lawyer at the Calderone Law Firm can assess your circumstances and the viability of a lawsuit. We tenaciously represent workers who have been wrongfully terminated. Call us at (424) 348-8290 or complete our online form.