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Wrongful termination lawsuits

There is almost nothing worse for an employer than having to discharge an employee.

Some employees may have long-term contracts that prevent you from firing them whenever they like, but usually most employees are "at-will" employees, who can be terminated for no reason at all. Even at-will employees, however, have some legal protections.

A firing might be "wrongful" because a contract (the employee's own contract or the union's contract with your company) prevented you from firing the employee, because the firing was for some illegal discriminatory reason (such as race or disability), because it was in retaliation for the employee's exercise of legal rights, or because state law prohibits firing for some other reason.

If you think your employee might bring a claim against you for "wrongful termination," see an attorney who specializes in employment law before you decide to discharge the employee.

• Firing an employee before the end of the contract
• Can I fire an employee without "good cause"?
• Discriminatory firings
• Retaliatory firings
• Firing employees for complaining
• Other prohibited reasons for firing
• May an employee who quits sue for wrongful termination?

Firing an employee before the end of the contract

Some employees have contracts that say they will be employed for a certain amount of time - for example, 5 years - and permit termination before then only for misbehavior or poor performance. If you have such a contract with your employee, you cannot fire the employee before the end of the contract unless the employee misbehaved or performed poorly.