Many employees feel like the odds are stacked up against them when it comes to taking legal action against an employer for what they suspect may have been wrongful termination. After all, California is an “at-will” employment state, which means that your employer has the freedom to terminate you for any reason, with or without notice. However, as with any tier of the law, there are a number of important exceptions to this rule, and they may not be as rare and isolated as you may think. In fact, California employment law has a fairly robust and expansive set of protections for employees and their legal rights, and our highly experienced wrongful termination lawyers at Agemian Law Group will help you make full use of them.
Here are just a few of the more common types of California employment law cases we see every month:
Being let go from your job can be one of the most taxing affairs you can experience. Notwithstanding the initial shock or anger you may feel, you’re quickly forced to think twelve steps ahead to get your life back on track to financial stability. When the rug is suddenly swept from under you, it becomes a matter of survival to power through those feelings of anxiety and rejection and try to move forward. We recognize that type of resilience and strength of character in many of our clients. We know you’re just trying to move on from a bad experience, but before you close that door, we ask you to take a brief pause and think – is it possible that I was dismissed for discriminatory reasons? Did my termination violate the terms of my employment contract, or was it an act of retaliation? If you answered “yes” (or even “maybe”) to any of those questions, then it could be grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
We’re sure you have questions -- in fact, you may never have thought that you’d need the help of an attorney before your accident or incident occurred. Agemian Law Group is here to help you make sense of what’s next.
Wrongful termination is when an employee is fired, laid off, or forced to quit for any reason that is considered illegal in the state of California. Some of the most common unlawful reasons for termination include:
Termination that violates the terms of an employment contract, either written or oral
If you were fired any reason that is considered illegal under California’s labor laws, you can sue your employer to recover damages. The damages will depend on the facts surrounding your termination and what kind of case you’re bringing, but they can include:
If you think you were wrongfully terminated, you should contact an experienced wrongful termination lawyer as soon as possible to help you sift through the evidence and determine the best angle for your case. You will need to gather all written documents from your employer that may be relevant to your termination, which can include:
The average settlement for a wrongful termination case in California is around the $40,000 mark – but this of course is dependent on a variety of factors related to your case: whether you settle in or out of court, the severity of your wage losses, and other damages. Settlements can climb up to $80,000 and beyond for particularly strong cases (a recent survey shows that 22% of wrongful termination cases settled between $40,000 and $100,000 and 7% made over $100,000).
By the same token, the numbers can be much lower (or none at all) without the proper legal representation. In fact, the same survey shows that 64% of people who hired a wrongful termination attorney received a settlement or award, as opposed to only 30% who pursued the case on their own. Also, those who worked with a lawyer received an average of over $40,000 in compensation, whereas those without a lawyer received an average of less than $20,000.
A statute of limitations specifies the amount of time a person has to file a civil lawsuit. In California, the statute of limitations for wrongful termination claims varies depending on the type of lawsuit filed, but you generally have 2 to 3 years from the date of your termination, so it’s important to get the ball rolling quickly.
Our lawyers are confident enough to work on your wrongful termination case on what’s called contingency. That means that we take 100% of our fees from the settlement you win at the end of the process. If we don’t win you a settlement, you don’t owe us a single dollar.
That’s not the case for all wrongful termination attorneys in Los Angeles -- some only work on an hourly basis, which can rack up massive fees and even keep justice out of reach for those who don’t have the means to afford it up-front. At Agemian Law Group, we believe that justice should be available to everyone – particularly those who are already burdened by a great deal of financial stress due to job loss – which is why we gladly work on contingency.
