Legal Question in Business Law in California

Since 2001, I have worked at a small electrical contracting company owned by my father, who sold it to a large international corporation in February 2015. I managed all financial office tasks with increasing responsibility which has proven to be unique and cannot be re-staffed, since I was terminated at the hands of my newly hired, unqualified in-law for unjustifiable reasons which are still unclear and grossly violated my civil rights. Do I have a stake in the sale of the business seeing that it was run and operated by myself & my (now estranged) father?


Asked on 4/15/16, 1:10 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

"Run and operated" does not automatically translate into "owned." It's perhaps worth your while to have an initial conference with a local business attorney, but I don't see any grounds for claiming part ownership or any other claim.

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Answered on 4/15/16, 1:16 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

I agree with Mr. Whipple. It sounds like you were an employee. The facts that you had a lot of responsibility, that your father owned the company, and that you and he worked closely together cannot make you an owner.

It's not at all clear that firing you violated any of your rights, regardless of your feelings about the person who did it. That you don't know the reasons doesn't mean there were none. Even if there weren't any, most employees can be fired without cause. I can't tell if that was true in your case. Even if it wasn't, I can't tell whether there was valid cause to let you go. And while there are some particular reasons the law will not accept (race, religion, whistle-blower status, etc.), nothing you've said suggests that any of them apply here.

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Answered on 4/15/16, 3:27 pm


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