Question
What are the possible legitimate reasons for which an employee can challenge a wrongful termination?
In what situations does a terminated employee have no recourse?
Answer
Employment Relationship and Procedure
Employers should be conversant with wrong termination laws considering that dismissing an employee wrongly or illegally can cause trouble. Notably, most employees in the world today, particularly in the United States are at-will employees, which means that the employer can terminate them at any time and for various reasons provided that the reason is not invidious, retriburory or illegal. Therefore, an employee can challenge wrongful termination if he or she was discriminatory dismissed. It is illegal under the federal law to dismiss an employee on the basis of the employee’s gender, race, nationality, religion or even age (Thomas, 2015). Moreover, it is against the law to terminate an employment contract of an employee just because they are pregnant or has a serious medical condition. Additionally, an employee has a right to challenge wrongful dismissal on the basis of retaliation. According to the law, it is unlawful for an employer to dismiss an employee for exercising his or her rights as described by the law. Employees have a right to exercise their rights, and in the event that they are dismissed on this base, they can always challenge their dismissal.
On the other, it is worth noting that an employer has a right to dismiss their employees at will and whenever he or she feels that the employee is not substantially contributing to the organizational goals and objectives. According to the law, the employer can dismiss his or her employees at will, provided it is not a discriminatory dismissal or because the employees have violated public policy (Steingold, 2017). Furthermore, the employer should lay the groundwork where the employer is clear on what he or she expects from the employee. Therefore, in case the employee fails to meet the expectations, the employer has a legal right to dismiss the employee.
References
Steingold, F. S. (2017). The employer’s legal handbook: Manage your employees and workplace effectively.
Thomas, J. C. (2015). Assessment for Employee Selection, Promotion, and Termination Programs. Oxford Clinical Psychology. doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780195385496.003.0006
