Retaliatory Termination Is Never An Acceptable Action At Work

While California is an at will employment state, there are specific limitations in place for what employers are allowed to do when it comes to terminating an employee. For example, they aren’t allowed to fire an employee as a retaliatory measure. There are some specific points that employees should remember about retaliatory dismissal.

First, the dismissal can’t be because of lax performance at work. You have to keep up the same work ethic and meet the same standards after you file complaints about sexual harassment or any other unethical behavior. There aren’t any protections from termination based on substandard work, even if the termination comes after you file a complaint about something.

Second, you need to make sure that you react appropriately. If you are terminated, you should remain respectful and calm. This might prove to be difficult, but it might help your case out if you opt to take legal action about the matter.

Third, you need to keep clear documentation of what happened. Write out what happened as soon as possible so that you can refer back to that note if you need to. Be sure to include the information about who terminated you and what reason they give you. This might prove to be important later.

It can be difficult to think about going up against your former employer in court, but this one thing that could help you get compensation for the unethical and illegal termination that you had to deal with. It might not get you an influx of money right away, but it might prove useful in the future if your case is successful in court.