If you are an employee and believe you have been wrongfully terminated, you can file a claim in a court of law. This claim results from an alleged violation of state or federal anti-discrimination laws, labor laws, or employment contracts. Also, you can file this claim when they think the termination was because of sexual harassment or in retaliation to a complaint or workers’ compensation claim.
Finding yourself out of a job for no valid reason is quite frustrating. However, a termination is not wrongful when it’s wrong in the legal sense of the word. A lot of myths concerning wrongful termination exist. These include the following:
Wrongful Termination is Any Termination that Seems Unreasonable
Generally, private-sector employment in North Carolina is “at will.” This means that an employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at all. Unless you signed and an employment contract that requires a cause for termination, you can be fired for any reason whatsoever. If there is a contract and your employer failed to give you a reason for termination, you can file a wrongful termination claim. You can strengthen your claim by hiring one of the most skilled charlotte nc employment lawyers to review or prepare it for you.
Only Women and Minorities are Covered by Workplace Discrimination Laws
Each person has a unique gender, natural origin, race, religion, marital status, or medical history. This means that everybody has the right to be protected under workplace discrimination laws. Anyone can be discriminated against at the workplace and those who were fired because of their race, religion, medical condition, or sexual orientation can file a wrongful termination claim.
You Cannot File a Wrongful Termination Claim If You Quit
If you find your work environment too hostile, dangerous, or intolerable to continue working for the company, you may decide to just quit. In this case, you can still sue your employer. In fact, you can still file a claim even if you have been coerced into submitting a resignation.
The Employment Law Automatically Protects People Older than 40 Years Old
It is important to know that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 only protects job applicants and employees who are eligible under a set of guidelines. These employees include those who are employed by a company with at least 15 employees. The North Carolina Equal Employment Practices Act is enforced for claims of wrongful discharge in violation of public policy.