What Is Wrongful Termination In California?

California provides an important legal right to sue for wrongful termination. Unlike many other states, in California employees may sue for wrongful termination even if the legal right supporting the wrongful termination case does not have its own provision allowing employees to sue for wrongful termination. California also allows a wrongful termination suit if a statute has been violated that allows employees to sue thereunder for losing their jobs.

Examples of statutes that automatically allow for a wrongful termination lawsuits include anti-discrimination laws such as:

The Fair Employment and Housing Act that prohibits discrimination based upon age, cancer, disability, Family Medical Leave, medical conditions, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, or sex

Other California statutes also provide direct rights to sue for wrongful termination:

Terminations of employment due to military leave
The California Labor Code which prohibits discharges of employment due to complaints about unsafe work environments, complaints to government agencies, and some types of whistle blowing
Terminations of employment because somebody discloses the amount of wages they earn

If you want to know how you can sue for wrongful termination, call our California wrongful termination attorneys at 1-877-525-0700. Also call us to start your wrongful termination lawsuit, free of charge. We are only paid legal fees when and if we win. We also advance all wrongful termination case costs.

All of this is beautiful to look at and great until you are fired from your job and this is no longer your view from the corner office, or when you leave your tower and take a lunch break, or maybe you never get to see this because your employer won't let you take meal and rest breaks outside. We have been representing employees of the Los Angeles workforce since 1993. If you need to sue your employer, please call us.

The following are examples of California wrongful termination cases:

A Los Angeles nurse is fired for complaining to her manager about patient abuse
A San Francisco insurance adjuster is fired for complaining his assistant is being sexually harassed by the vice-president
An El Monte bus driver is fired for truthfully testifying she heard a coworker called a wet back
A Bakersfield oil field worker complains about hazardous chemicals dumped onto the ground at an oil field
A Sacramento surgeon complains his surgery room is repeatedly unsanitary
A Long Beach refinery worker is fired because his supervisor hates Blacks
An Encino executive is fired for refusing to commit financial fraud
A Thousand Oaks automotive finance manager complains used cars are being sold as new
An employer fires a Sylmar mechanic because the employer refuses to accommodate the mechanic’s disability
A Baldwin Hills social worker complains about the wrongful diversion of government funds that are supposed to be used on welfare to work clients
A Burbank collection manager is fired because her employer does not want to wait for her to get back from maternity leave
A Laguna Hills marketing executive is recruited under false pretenses merely so the employer can pick his brain and steal his marketing contacts. He is fired once the employer has his trade secrets.

California Wrongful termination lawsuits often involve whistleblowing, refusing to commit an illegal act for the employer, or discrimination. California wrongful termination also occurs if the employee is fired so the employer can avoid a statutory obligation such as paying the employee legally required wages or a commission.

Examples of California Wrongful Termination Based Upon Wage and Hour Issues Include:

A Compton security guard is fired after insisting he receive overtime pay
An Orange County salesman is fired in order to avoid paying him a large sales commission
A Yorba Linda regional manager is fired to avoid paying him a bonus
A Calabasas divisional manager is fired to avoid paying him a stock option
A Bakersfield heavy equipment operator is fired to avoid paying him

prevailing wage for work at a California correctional institute in Delano What if any of the above happened because I quit, and I was not fired? FOR INFORMATION ON WHETHER YOU CAN QUIT AND SUE, CLICK HERE. California employees, who quit due to intolerable, illegal circumstances, may be eligible for what is called a constructive wrongful termination lawsuit. The damages in a California constructive wrongful termination are the same as in a California wrongful termination lawsuit.

Damages for California wrongful termination lawsuits as well as forced to quit cases include lost wages and emotional distress. Some California wrongful termination cases involve punitive damages. Punitive damages are damages above and beyond the actual damages suffered by the California employee who is wrongfully terminated. Punitive damages are damages designed to punish exceptionally bad California employers. Punitive damages in a California wrongful termination case can be up to 10 times the employee’s actual damages. California wrongful termination cases also involve a potential California Labor Code Section 1102.5 fine up to $10,000.

Lost wages in California wrongful termination cases are for both past and future lost wages if appropriate. Future lost wages include money the wrongfully terminated employee loses in the future, often based upon a replacement job paying less than the job the California employee was wrongfully terminated from. Emotional distress in California wrongful termination cases is also for past and future damages for emotional distress. The costs of finding a new job after being wrongfully terminated can be recovered in a California wrongful termination case. Losses of employer paid medical insurance, 401k contributions, and other benefits can also be obtained in a California wrongful termination lawsuit. For a discussion about your recoverable legal damages in a California wrongful termination case, call our experienced California wrongful termination lawyers at 1-877-525-0700.

Typical economic damages in a California wrongful termination case:

Lost wages from the date of termination until the date of the new job that pays more or at least what the job paid the employee was unlawfully fired from
Future lost wages from the date the employee took the new job until it is believed their wages at the new job will catch up with their wages at the job they were wrongfully fired from
Reimbursement for medical insurance or COBRA insurance benefits from the day the employee was wrongfully terminated until a new job starts that pays the employee for comparable insurance benefits
Tax penalties paid on a 401k withdraw needed to survive after a wrongful termination
Loss of investment value in a 401k plan that had to be depleted due to a wrongful termination from a job
Moving expenses due to a wrongful termination
Moving expenses due to being defrauded into accepting employment
The cost of therapy bills due to the wrongfulness of a termination of employment
Plane tickets and gasoline expenses incurred while searching for a new job

Karl Gerber has been involved in the following punitive damage awards in court or binding arbitration for California wrongful termination of employment:

a punitive damage award for a pregnant Los Angeles warehouse worker forced to violate her doctor’s restrictions
Punitive damages against a supermarket due to the wrongful termination of a Los Angeles janitor
Punitive damages against an Encino retailer when they falsely imprisoned a sales employee in order to coerce him to quit his employment
Punitive damages against a Woodland Hills Mexican restaurant due to the sexual harassment, by a manager, of a waitress

If the circumstances surrounding your loss of employment, or the reasons given for your firing seemed unusual or unlawful, you may have a California wrongful termination case. However, not every unfair, unjust, paperless, or unusual termination of employment constitutes wrongful termination. The Employment Lawyers Group has handled more than 600 wrongful termination lawsuits. Call our California wrongful termination lawyers at 1-877-525-0700 to find out if you have a wrongful termination case. We have offices throughout California including: Sherman Oaks (our main office), downtown Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Tustin, Oxnard, Bakersfield, San Jose, and San Francisco. We are equipped to handle a wrongful termination case anywhere in California.

Examples of California Wrongful Termination Case Results of the Employment Lawyers Group:

$150,000 for a San Fernando Valley CFO terminated due to disability
$127,500 for a Sylmar parts driver forced to drive an unsafe van
$135,000 for a Simi Valley MBA who complained about financial fraud
$115,000 for a West Hills medical center director who blew the whistle
$125,000 for an El Monte food manufacturing worker who complained of unsafe working conditions and became sick as a result
$300,000 in a post-trial settlement for an El Monte man fired for taking a rest break
$175,000 for a former Marina Del Rey controller
$221,000 in 2014 dollars for a whistleblower in a sports equipment manufacturing fraud case
$738,500 in 2014 dollars to a Torrance quality control employee
$200,000 for a worker fired due to medical issues & complaints of discrimination
$200,000 for a sales woman in her 60s, age discrimination
$150,000 forced to quit due to sexual harassment
$165,000 for a car dealership manager denied baby bonding and CFRA Leave
$125,450 retail sales manager terminated after complaining about national origin harassment by coworker

Firm founder, Karl Gerber has handled more than 2,000 employment cases in state and federal court as well as company mandated binding arbitrations. Most of these employee cases involved a loss of employment. For a California wrongful termination lawyer who handles all cases on a contingency, as he has done since 1993, call 1-877-525-0700.