Orange County Wrongful Termination Lawyer

Terminated Because of Retaliation

California law protects you from being fired by your employer based on things like discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Being fired based on retaliation might mean that you filed a claim against your employer about sexual harassment, for example, and in response to your filing of this claim you were let go from the company.

It might also mean that someone was discriminating against you based on your nationality, disability, pregnancy, gender, race, religion, or age, which are all protected categories under California law. If you were fired because of filing a claim against your employer for discrimination, that’s also considered retaliation and is protected under the law, meaning you are entitled to damages.

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Your Next Steps

If you believe that you have a claim related to being wrongfully let go from your job, there are several things that you should know to protect your rights. Here are some steps that you should be taking:

Move quickly. From the date that you were let go you are allowed 21 days to look over any severance packages that your employer offered you. You have one week to change your mind. We urge you to get in contact with our Orange County wrongful termination lawyer as soon as possible during this period of time so they can look over the details of your firing, determine whether or not your rights have been violated, and establish what steps we need to be taking to protect your rights going forward in a timely manner.

Keep documentation. It’s important for us to be able to prove that your termination was wrongful and illegal, which means that we need to have some sort of record of your experience before and during the time period in which you were let go. If you were a victim of sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace, keep a journal. We want to know when it happened and what your employer did about it.

If there were witnesses who saw you being discriminated against or harassed, please get their contact information. We want to be able to reach out to them to potentially collect depositions from them. It’s also important that you keep any sort of information from your employer, such as performance reviews, notices of termination, your employee handbook and your employee contract. If you have emails or memos or even text messages from your employer that are relevant to our efforts, you should save those for evidence.

Reach out to an Orange County wrongful termination lawyer right away. These cases can get complicated and difficult. You wouldn’t want to go up against your employer without someone on your side fighting for your rights. The Department of Fair Employment and Housing serves as a neutral party. They will not be the ones fighting for your rights. It’s up to you and your lawyers to do that. You need someone who has extensive knowledge about these types of cases, including knowledge about the local laws and regulations applicable to your claim.

Keep off of the internet about your claim. You want to keep the situation in private. Don’t go off on Facebook, blasting your employer or messaging every former employer that you can find. It is advisable not to take this to social media because the attorneys representing your employer are likely to go over all of your social media sites trying to collect their own evidence that they can use against you. Even something that you might think innocuous could be something that they will twist into something it’s not. It doesn’t matter to them. It matters that they win their claim and if you are on your social media platforms firing off about your termination, you’re giving them more than they deserve.

The Process of Filing a Claim

Our Orange County wrongful termination lawyer is going to be by your side every step of the way. You will be informed about what’s happening with your case but you never have to worry about what is next because will take care of all of it for you. We will determine whether or not your employer violated your rights, what we need in order to put together a lawsuit, and how we will be presenting this.

Your claim will be investigated by both parties and if it is found that you were wrong by your employer and your rights have been violated, you will be given the right to sue. The Department of Employment and Fair Housing in California will act as a neutral party in the beginning phases of your claim. You will rely on your lawyer to write up your claim and then the employer who fired you will receive a formal notice which will then be filed with the court.

Before there is litigation on your claim and after everything has been filed properly, there is a period of time called discovery during which our side and the employer side will have an opportunity to collect evidence and information that is relevant to the claim. It might involve depositions with witnesses. We utilize our resources to build a strong case during this time.

When there are witnesses involved in your case, they will be under oath and must tell the truth about what they witnessed. Any depositions that are held are recorded to be available to both sides of the claim, including your Orange County wrongful termination lawyer and your employer and their legal team.

If you are worried about it going to trial, please know that most of these cases settle before they head to court. You want to find a lawyer, however, who is prepared for anything, which means they are building your case as if it is heading to trial before that option is even needed. You don’t want to end up having to go to trial and not being ready for it.

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What You May Be Entitled To

In civil cases such as these, you are essentially bringing your claim against your employer to pay you money damages which are intended to compensate you for any monetary loss that you have experienced due to your wrongful termination. When our Orange County wrongful termination lawyer is determining the value of your claim, we take into consideration all of the damages you’ve suffered which often includes the following:

Lost earnings: The main part of wrongful termination claims is being compensated for all the earnings and wages that you would have received had you not been fired wrongfully. It would be based on the wages you were earning before you were terminated as an employee in the company. You are also entitled to the benefits and additional compensation such as overtime that you would’ve received had they not wrongfully fired you.

Additional benefits: You are entitled to receive the value of the benefits that you lost including your medical and dental insurance as well as your 401(k), retirement and pension, as well as stock, if that’s applicable.

Emotional distress: Emotional damages are less common but very valid if you have experienced depression or anxiety after having been wrongfully terminated from your position. This is especially relevant if you were harassed or discriminated against before you were let go and having lost your job unexpectedly has caused you even more stress.

Punitive damages: In some cases, it is appropriate to ask for punitive damages in your claim which are specifically meant to punish the wrongful party as well as prevent them from doing something like this ever again in the future.

Cost of an attorney: There are some instances where it is appropriate to ask to include the cost of your lawyer and legal fees in your compensation award.

Call Our Orange County Wrongful Termination Lawyer Today

If you lost your job and you believe that your termination was illegal because of your employer’s behavior including harassment and discrimination or retaliation, we hope that you reach out to our Orange County wrongful termination lawyer as soon as you possibly can to get started on building a strong foundation for your claim to protect your rights.

We want to help you get a full result for your case, including the most compensation possible for the damages that you’ve suffered. We offer our services on a contingency fee, which means you don’t have to pay us unless we win your claim. Call right away to get started.