Legal Question in Employment Law in California

It sounds like there might theoretically be some illegal age discrimination going on, but you don't provide any facts other than longevity to support that. Based on just the bare facts of your question, I'm afraid the answer is "yes they can." An employer may often have a choice between trying to succeed in a down economy with fewer employees by hiring, retaining and motivating what it thinks are the best employees, by offering higher pay or better benefits, or to succeed by having more employees so people are not over-worked or demoralized by lay-offs, and hoping it can hire and keep the quality of employee it needs even if it has to cut benefits. As long as the company does not make its decision on an illegal basis, such as race, age, gender, etc., the law does not, and cannot in a free country, force the employer to make one or the other choice.

Yes. There are no laws against 'unfair treatment' or poor management. In general, unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or fired any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice, other than for illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [race, AGE, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy and make the company money. That�s how they pay your wages. Now if the firing was illegal under those definitions, feel free to contact me for the legal help you�ll need. I highlighted AGE for a reason, if you can show it was at least a factor in your termination. If you are over 40 and were the only one terminated, and younger employees were retained, then you could consider taking action.

Mr.Nelson is correct,and if you may have grounds for age or aother form of discrimination you should consider legal action, and you can determine that by consulting a qualified attorney, Certainly if you had a written agreement, you need to consul with an attorney asap, and if you have a union you need to contract your union rep asap.

But here is another take - that will likely not help you personally but is nonetheless important. The reason you do not have job protection is because the law will not help you in that regard, and because - and I am assuming this to be true- you had neither a written employment agreement and no union.

I may be preaching to the converted, and I hope I am. But the reason why the events in Wisconsin over the past few weeks are so important is that the concept of employee's rights has taken a couple major steps backwards in recent decades. Yet I spend an hour or two a week on this website, as an attorney, reading and occasionally responding to scores of workers who have no rights, even after decades of service, because they have no union. My experience is a very, very small sliver of an enormous iceberg, and it is heartbreaking that Americans do not understand why unions are important. Without a union,most American workers have no to little job protection at all, no matter what they have given to their employers.

There - my diatribe is over. I am sorry for your hardships. But without a written agreement or a union, or evidence of actionable discrimination, there is nothing an attorney can do for youl

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