Short answer to the above-posed headline query leading off today’s blog post: You might have.
A recurrent scenario plays out daily in Delaware workplaces and other employment locales spanning the country. Word ripples across a company that a top-tier employee has lost his or her job.
In a word, that worker was terminated.
What if that employee is you?
If it is, we note at the established Wilmington law firm of Martin D. Haverly the likely case that you toiled mightily to assume a leading position in your professional career. It is undoubtedly true that “years of dedication and hard work have gotten you to where you are today.”
Understandably, many upper-level managers and other company principals are loath to just passively walk away from their jobs in the wake of a pink slip directing them to the exit door. Legions of them have material questions surrounding the validity – and, importantly, the legality – of a company’s termination dictate.
We duly note on our website that Delaware is a so-called “at-will” state where an employer customarily has broad prerogatives when it comes to parting ways with a worker.
That commanding discretion is far from unlimited, though. There are legal checks on an employer’s conduct, with it often being the case that an adversely affected worker has strong legal grounds to file a lawsuit grounded in an unlawful termination claim.
Revealed facts in some employment matters starkly indicate that a termination was really based on a worker’s lawful labor activities rather than alleged underperformance. Perhaps ageism was at play, or a manager’s disinclination to perform alongside a person with a different ethnic heritage or political views.
Employees who come forward with inside information concerning company fraud are also frequently retaliated against as whistleblowers. Pregnancy, race, sexual orientation, disability – all these factors and more might be at the core of a firing and provide a terminated worker with ample ammunition in a responding legal claim.
Company owners and managers have wide latitude to act in employment matters, but their decisions must be lawful. A proven employment law legal team can provide further information.
