How Long Does A Wrongful Termination Case Take

by John Gomez | Last Updated: April half-dozen, 2020

Filing For a Wrongful Termination Lawsuit

If you lot recently lost your job for unfair reasons, you might have a wrongful termination case confronting your quondam employer. A gratuitous consultation with a wrongful termination lawyer at Gomez Trial Attorneys will give you the information y'all need to determine whether you take a case. This guide will prepare you lot for the types of situations that establish wrongful termination, the things you tin larn at a free lawyer consultation for wrongful termination, and how to win a wrongful termination case if y'all decide to take legal action.

Wrongful Termination Scenarios

A wide multifariousness of task terminations can be wrongful. If y'all were let get for any of the following reasons, y'all need to schedule a complimentary lawyer consultation for wrongful termination:

A violation of an employment agreement
Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sexual practice, nationality, sexual orientation, and disability
Attempting to unionize
Refusing orders that are clearly a violation of labor laws
Refusal of sexual propositions and other reasons related to sexual harassment
Retaliation for filing a claim or complaint against your employer

Attending a Free Lawyer Consultation for Wrongful Termination

Consulting with an experienced wrongful termination attorney tin can provide you lot with the data you need to determine the all-time path forrard for your situation. A gratuitous consultation is an opportunity for yous to ask questions about your case and for your potential lawyer to acquire nigh your situation and guide you on your side by side steps. Information provided at a costless lawyer consultation for wrongful termination typically includes the following items.

If the attorney with whom you speak doesn't offering this information, feel costless to ask.

Your legal team. You should find out if the chaser with whom you speak volition be exclusively working on your case, or volition others exist helping. Who makes upwards the team—junior associates, paralegals, interns?
Availability. At a free lawyer consultation for wrongful termination, your potential attorney can let yous know his or her availability via phone or email to promptly respond to any questions you have.
Updates. It takes time to investigate the events that led to your termination and assemble relevant evidence to build a strong case. Your attorney cannot guarantee a specific timeline, merely you should have information about how often you can await an update on your case.
Instance examples. No two cases are exactly the aforementioned. The parties involved and the circumstances which led to your termination or forced resignation volition be different than some other person. Even so, it's likely the lawyer you speak with has handled previous wrongful termination cases. Get an idea of what can happen by asking for some examples of past cases that are similar to yours, and their outcomes.
Feel. You lot want a wrongful termination attorney who has experience, and then you want to know how many clients he or she has advocated for in wrongful termination suits and the associated track tape for settlement and litigation.
Strategies. Different wrongful termination scenarios require dissimilar strategies to win the instance. Your potential attorney should talk over possible strategies for your case and the risks and benefits of each choice.
Challenges. Although some cases are easy wins, it's more probable you lot will accept at least one obstacle or challenge with your case. Ask your potential attorney about any problems he or she sees with your instance and plans for overcoming those challenges.

Later attending a free lawyer consultation for wrongful termination, you volition accept the data you demand to take the adjacent steps. Wrongful termination attorneys have cases on a contingency fee ground, which means you don't pay for their services upfront. Instead, they collect attorney fees from any compensation they secure for their clients. If the lawyer you spoke with feels you have a case and you lot cull them to stand for you, yous need to have the appropriate actions to assistance win your wrongful termination case.

Tips for Prevailing in Your Wrongful Termination Case

California is an at-will employment state, making information technology difficult to testify wrongful termination. In at-will states, employers and employees tin can finish employment at any time and for any reason. This means that under California constabulary, your employer can discharge you without warning, without a hearing, and without any reason. Notwithstanding, some exceptions exist, and so employees who are wrongfully terminated can all the same fight. Once yous've hired an experienced wrongful termination attorney, he or she will propose you on the testify and other crucial things to help you win your example. The ultimate goal is to prove the company is lying about the reason they fired you lot. Of import documentation that can reveal this kind of information includes:

Employment application. Your employment awarding is the first piece of evidence that contributes to documenting your employment condition with your former employer. It establishes the position for which you applied and the data yous provided almost your piece of work history and personal history. Your lawyer can likewise review the types of questions on the application to ensure your employer complies with federal and state constabulary.

Visitor handbook/employee manual. If you received a company handbook or employee transmission when y'all started with the company who terminated you, yous demand to share it with your attorney. These documents typically spell out rules and expectations. If your employer terminated y'all for not following the employee manual, your chaser tin peradventure challenge their reasoning depending on the language in the manual. Additionally, your attorney will evaluate whether your employer followed their own stated policies in relation to the misconduct you reported. For example, if you reported sexual harassment, and you doubtable your termination was retaliation, did your employer follow their own policies to investigate your complaint?

Job contract. A job contract is of the utmost importance for winning a wrongful termination case in California because it is an at-will state. Your contract tin can contain provisions across the length of the contract and your salary. In some cases, job contracts include an agreement with company policies in employee manuals, agreement with your job description and accepted duties, and a variety of other things that tin support your wrongful termination case.

Job clarification. Ane possible reason your employer might give for your termination is that you lot refused to practice something that was office of your job description. Your job description is likely role of your employment contract, and then yous need to likewise share this with your attorney. Your task description alone volition not win your wrongful termination instance, but it tin can be a tool for your attorney to strengthen your case.

Pre-employment screening documents. Not all employers require pre-employment screening; withal, if you take these documents, they might be helpful in your case depending on the reason the visitor gave for termination. Consider this case. A worker hurts his back on the job and files a worker's compensation merits. The employer is angry, so he finds some reason to burn down the worker. The employer likewise claims the injury did not occur on the job. However, pre-employment medical screening revealed no back injuries and cleared the worker for activeness. In this case, copies of these documents can help prove that the worker did, in fact, suffer an injury during the time he was employed.

Résumé. An employee's work history can speak volumes to back up a wrongful termination case, peculiarly those related to sexual harassment. Under California law and federal police force, quid pro quo harassment occurs when supervisory or managerial employee propositions a subordinate and promises them employment benefits for credence. If a harassment victim receives a promotion that isn't in line with his or her experience, it suggests special treatment. The same applies when special handling creates a hostile work environment for other employees.

Payroll records. Your payroll records show your bacon while you lot were employed. This also includes any decreases or increases, which can signal demotions or promotions. Much like your resume, your payroll records tin assistance support a instance for wrongful termination when it is retaliation for filing a claim or complaint confronting your employer for sexual harassment or some other state or federal violation.

Witnesses and other victims. 1 of the biggest challenges an chaser tin can have with a wrongful termination example is proving your employer knew nearly your protected action earlier they fired y'all. For example, if you filed a complaint with upper management or human being resources because your supervisor sexually harassed yous, your attorney must show that you were terminated after your employer learned most you lot filing the complaint.

Ane of the best ways to testify your employer acted unlawfully is through witness statements from other employees or supervisors. This isn't always easy, especially if you lot are trying to protect your identity. Withal, this is where an experienced wrongful termination attorney is valuable.

Other employees tin can help you in iii distinct ways:

Providing a argument, and testimony if necessary, that they witnessed wrongdoing past the employer
Providing a argument, and testimony if necessary, that they accept witnessed others suffer the same fate equally you
Providing a argument, and testimony if necessary, that others committed the aforementioned "errors or missteps" for which you were terminated, but they were not terminated

If you know of other sometime employees who were wrongfully terminated by your employer, information technology tin can be helpful for your case if they tell their story as well.

Attendance records. Your attendance records provide evidence that you upheld your contract with your employer. Missing chunks of work can also be an indication of emotional distress because of harassment, discrimination, or other poor handling in the workplace. Finally, omnipresence records assist to cement your employment status with the company.

Operation evaluations. A common reason employers use to terminate employees is poor performance. You've heard the stories of companies who look for an employee to practise something wrong so they can burn down him or her. That is a textbook example of wrongful termination. Y'all need to provide your attorney with whatever copies you have from past operation evaluations, then he or she can ensure your records match the visitor records. It's difficult for your employer to say you lot were terminated for performing poorly when you accept performance evaluations that show a far dissimilar moving picture.

Documentation of termination. It's likely obvious to you, just you need to provide detailed records and an explanation of your termination. Much similar a journalist, yous need to keep track of the who, what, when, where, and why:

Who fired you? Who was in the room? What were their names, titles, and roles within the system?
What prompted the termination? What were the events that led upward to getting fired or your forced termination?
When were you fired? What were the fourth dimension and date? Were you fired after a big company outcome? Did the fourth dimension and engagement of your termination have any special significance in relation to other things going on inside the company?
Where were you fired? Was it a formal coming together, a lunch, at your desk? witnessed past colleagues?
Why were you fired? What reason(south) was given for your termination? Why do you believe yous were fired?

An Experienced Wrongful Termination Chaser Can Help Y'all With Your Case

Losing your job can exist an embarrassing, traumatic, and anxiety-inducing consequence. If you experience y'all have been wrongfully terminated or forced to resign, our skilled wrongful termination lawyers can help you through this difficult fourth dimension. The federal laws and state laws that inform wrongful termination cases are circuitous and multi-faceted, making them difficult for someone who is inexperienced to interpret. A qualified lawyer has the knowledge and skills to apply the law to your case in the best way, giving you the best chance for a positive consequence.

Additionally, wrongful termination attorneys are trained negotiators who tin help you get a higher settlement and advocate for yous in the courtroom if necessary. Finally, and most chiefly, experienced wrongful termination lawyers know how to investigate these kinds of cases, how to handle the finer details, and they know the tricks companies play to avoid liability for wrongful termination.

Gomez Trial Attorneys
655 Due west Broadway, Suite 1700
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: (619)-237-3490

John Gomez founded the firm alone in 2005. Today, John acts equally President and Lead Trial Attorney. He has been voted by his peers as a pinnacle 10 San Diego litigator in three separate fields: Personal Injury, Insurance and Corporate Litigation. Since 2000, he has recovered over $800 million in settlements and verdicts for his clients with more than than 160 separate recoveries of one million dollars or more. A prolific trial lawyer, John has tried to jury verdict more than 60 dissever cases.