Here at Neaton & Puklich, we understand how important people’s jobs can be in supporting themselves and their families in Minnesota. In many instances, people may be living from paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to have their employment threatened. This is why being wrongfully terminated is such an injustice and can put many workers in a tough spot financially.
According to Cornell University Law School, an employee can claim wrongful termination if he or she is fired in violation of a public law or his or her employment contract is breached. The public law violation could include things like discrimination, requesting or taking FMLA leave, retaliation for whistleblowing, military service, pregnancy or maternity leave or requesting workers’ compensation for an injury. All of these things are protected by law and therefore it is illegal for the employer to fire an employee based on any of these reasons.
In some instances, an employee’s contract may state that termination can only be done for certain reasons. If the worker is fired for a reason that is covered in the contract, he or she may sue for arbitrary discharge. In cases of at-will employment, employers can fire employees for any number of reasons, however, if workers can show they had an implied contract to work permanently, they may have a case for wrongful termination. For instance, some workers have had successful wrongful termination suits when they have shown that provisions in their employee handbooks state that termination should be for a cause.
To learn more about this subject, please visit our wrongful termination and retaliation page.