Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I've recently been fired from my job and i have reason to believe it falls under wronfgul termination. I worked for a general contractor in construction. I was an employee for 4 years. I worked alongside my father who has was with the company for 21 years. The reason for our termination came about a simple argument with a superintendent who was in charge of the job site. After the incident my father refused to continue working and left the job site. Our termination came 2 days after the incident where the project mananger approached us at another job site and dismissed us and told us to pick up our checks. The superintendent who was in the argument with my father happens to be the nephew of the company ceo. My questions is if we have a case or not.


Asked on 12/07/10, 4:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Not based on the facts you provide. "Wrongful termination" is more than just unfair termination or unjust termination. It requires an illegal motive or purpose, such as racial or gender discrimination, termination in violation of medical leave laws, retaliation for protected conduct such as whistle blowing, union organizing or filing a wage action, or something like that. I'm assuming your dad is over 40, in which case he could theoretically have an age discrimination claim, but you have not offered any facts that would support that, and even if there was discrimination, as long as there was a legitmate basis for termination also, the wrongful termination claim will fail. Since he walked off the job, they seem to have a clear legal basis for his termination, even if they had a discriminatory purpose as well.

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Answered on 12/13/10, 2:59 pm


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