Employment Law
Wrongful termination occurs when an employee is fired for an illegal reason. Most US employment is at-will, meaning an employer can generally fire you for any reason or no reason, but there are important exceptions. It is unlawful to fire someone because of a protected characteristic such as race, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, or pregnancy, or in retaliation for protected activity like reporting discrimination, filing a workers' compensation claim, or whistleblowing. Termination may also be wrongful if it breaches an employment contract or violates a specific state public-policy protection, which vary by state. A lawyer can evaluate whether an exception to at-will applies, gather evidence such as emails, performance reviews, and witness accounts, and calculate damages including lost wages and, in some cases, emotional distress or punitive damages. Many claims require first filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or a state agency within strict deadlines, sometimes as short as 180 or 300 days. First steps: preserve all workplace documents and communications, request your personnel file, write down a timeline while events are fresh, avoid signing any severance release before review, and consult an employment lawyer quickly because filing deadlines are short and state-specific.
