Gender Discrimination

Wrongfully terminated workers may be unsure if they can take legal action. In addition to this stress, the unexpected loss
of a job, especially for illegal reasons, can leave a person unprepared and without savings. At JLG Lawyers, we fight to
get our wrongful termination clients maximum compensation for their cases.
Your first step in filing a wrongful termination claim is to determine if your employer broke the law when they fired you.
Most workers in California are “at-will” employees. This designation means that businesses can fire employees for nearly
any reason, or for no reason at all. Even with this “at-will” designation, however, federal and state laws such as the
California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) protect employees from wrongful termination.
For example, employers in California cannot fire or discriminate against an employee because of his or her:

• Physical or mental disability
• Use of protected time off
• Pregnancy status
• Race or national origin
• Religion or religious practices
• Gender
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Political affiliation

An employee bringing a wrongful termination case has the burden of proving her case by a preponderance of
the evidence. In most cases, proof is circumstantial. An employee does not need “smoking gun” evidence to
win her wrongful termination claim. An employee may win a wrongful termination case by pointing to an
employer’s shifting reasons for the termination, inconsistencies in the employer’s story, or a proximity in time
between an employee’s protected conduct and the employee’s discharge.

How long a lawsuit continues depends on many factors, many of which are not in the control of the employee.
According to court statistics, nearly all cases settle before trial. In fact, some cases settle before they are even
filed in court. Other times, the parties are able to settle the claim within a few months after it is filed in court.
Without a pre-litigation settlement, a case may take several years of litigation to get to trial phase.

While some law firms charge a fee up front, JLG only charges a contingency fee – meaning we won’t get paid,
unless you get paid. Schedule a free call with one of our legal experts now and find out how we can help you.

Generally, an employer does not need a good reason, or “cause,” to fire an employee. Indeed, an employer
does not need any reason at all to fire an employee. Unlike workers in other countries, employees in the United
States have no job security absent a written contract or union bargaining agreement. In order to fight a job
termination, the employee must be able to show that the firing violated a fundamental public policy or worker
protection law. An employment attorney can help you determine whether your firing was unlawful, or merely
unfair. pursue legal action against for your former employer. You may seek damages for the impacts of the termination.

How long you have to file suit depends on the law that has been violated. For example, an employee has three
(3) years to file a complaint of workplace discrimination or retaliation with the California Department of Fair
Employment and Housing. On the other hand, a common law claim for wrongful termination is governed by a
two (2) year statute of limitation.

Yes, non-union employees in California can be fired for no reason. An employer may choose to fire an
employee because it’s Tuesday, or because the employee failed to thank the receptionist – these of course are
bad reasons for being fired, but they are not unlawful. Basically, an employee may get fired for no reason, a
bad reason or any reason at all, but if the reason wasn’t an unlawful reason, then the employee hasn’t been
wrongfully terminated according to California law.

The fact that a company reports your pay on an IRS 1099 Form does not mean that you are not an employee.
If you are fired for complaining about unlawful conduct, you can bring a wrongful termination claim. The
company’s label of your employment status does not matter; the Court will decide whether you are an
independent contractor or employee.