Do I Have A Wrongful Termination Claim In California?

Employees may not be dismissed for exercising their legal rights, declining to perform an illegal act, or reporting workplace illegality. Public policy claims are similar to, yet somewhat different from, retaliation claims. A retaliation claim is based on a specific employment law provision that forbids employers from firing people for exercising their rights or complaining about being denied them.

A public policy claim, on the other hand, does not have to be based on a specific statute or employment law. Here are some instances:

• An employee belongs to a group that opposes required childhood vaccinations and attempts to persuade lawmakers to allow parents to opt-out of vaccinating their children. She is let go, even though she did this job entirely on her own time.
• After declining his manager’s request to lie to an IRS auditor regarding the company’s equipment purchases throughout the previous year, he is let go.
• An employee at a firm that produces airplane parts is let go after filing a complaint with the federal government, claiming that the business engages in the practice of using after-market components.

Even though there is no law that explicitly prohibits employers from firing workers for doing so, an employee would have a wrongful termination claim if they were to do so in each of these situations. The main idea is that no one should be dismissed for doing something legal, demonstrating, or refusing to participate in unlawful or unethical activities.

Wrongful termination in violation of public policy is a tort (wrongful act) claim, which implies that an employee may be awarded not only lost income and benefits, but also damages for emotional distress and punitive damages (whereby an employer’s actions are especially egregious).