Wrongful termination is a broad and general term that attorneys use to describe the fact that the termination of employee was legally wrong in some way.While Connecticut is an “at will” state and employers generally can terminate employees without providing a reason, there are several exceptions to this general rule.Most of the exceptions ask the question, “why did the employer do this?”The employer’s motivation is the central question to ask.Among the reasons that a termination could be wrongful or illegal are that the employee was terminated because of his or her:
- Race
- National Origin
- Gender
- Sexual orientation
- Opposition to illegal conduct
- Religion
- First Amendment speech
- Disability
- Exercise of Workers' Compensation rights
- Defamation
- Positive Drug test (taken without reasonable cause)
- Use of FMLA time
- Other illegal reason
Do I have a legal claim if I am fired?
There are many state and federal laws designed to protect employees from being terminated.Most of them have deadlines by which claims need to be filed.Some deadlines are as short as ninety (90) days.Most of these laws permit lawsuits for money damages.Some allow reimbursement of attorneys’ fees.You should not delay to enforce your rights.
Recent Cases:
An employee of a food manufacturer who attempted to make sure that his company was disclosing important information to consumers and was then fired has been allowed to continue with his case after the company moved to dismiss his claim. The employee discovered that a draft of the disclosures that he had written had been changed, and, in order to comply with the law, the employee wrote up a new draft with instructions about what needed to be disclosed. A Connecticut trial court held that he could proceed with his claim for wrongful termination. Godbout v. Watson Foods, Inc., 2011 WL 522895 (Conn. Super. Jan. 25, 2011) (Cosgrove, J.).
A Connecticut trial court recently denied an employer's Motion to dismiss a case in which an employee complained to the company Vice President about illegal behavior and was subsequently terminated. In this case, the employee had been caught in video making disparaging remarks about his superiors. When the video was shown to his co-workers, to the employee's great embarrassment, the employee reported violations of state law and wasteful spending of state money for items such as an expensive Christmas party at a casino. He was then fired. The employer moved to dismiss his case on procedural grounds, but the court allowed his case to go forward. Vasyliv v. Adesta, LLC, 2010 WL 5610901 (Conn. Super. Dec. 20, 2010) (Wagner, J.).
A Connecticut trial court has held that an engineer who alerted her supervisors of safety violations and was subsequently terminated could proceed with her case. The employee repeatedly told management at the plant she worked at that they were violating laws and endangering the health of the public and employees by improperly storing hazardous waste and failing to secure the facility. The court denied the plant’s Motion to Strike the wrongful termination count in her complaint against the plant. Trimboli v. Von Roll Isola U.S.A., Inc., 2010 WL 2106190 (Conn. Super. April 15, 2010) (Wilson, J.).
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The Hayber Law Firm, LLC, Employee Rights Advocates, 221 Main Street, Suite 502 Hartford, CT 06106
