Legal Question in Employment Law in California
In a private company of only 3 board members, can 2 accuse the other of falsifying documents?
my dad works at a private help company has for 35 years. the owner passed away leaving it to his daughter and son . all 3 make up the board, my father only hols 2% percent. Before the owner passed away he changed my father;s contract to protect him as he knew his son is greedy and only wants money and feared he'd liquidate. the contract revision gave 5 years at salary if terminated unless gross negligence. last week , the son fired my father saying he falsified financials & would not honor the contract . in his 35 years with the company , he has never been accused of anything but saving the company , building the company being the heart of the company. Can this type of accusation REALLY be made &hold up? It's breach/'defamation / wrongful termination and he literally left him w/ nothing
2 Answers from Attorneys
If everything is and happened as you described, and there is evidence to back it up, your dad has a good case for wrongful termination. Anyone can accuse anyone of anything. Whether it can hold up depends on the evidence. The burden of proof will be on the employer to show gross negligence. If they can't prove it, your father would be entitled to the five years salary. Your father may also have minority shareholder rights that have been violated. He should contact an attorney directly right away.
People CAN do anything they like, and can get away with.
Your father's remedy now is a lawsuit for wrongful termination and breach of agreement. He has to show they were false allegations and that they had no grounds to terminate him. If he is serious about hiring counsel to help him in this, feel free to contact me. Do not delay.
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