Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Wrongful termination?

I was terminated today, for an incident I was verbally counceled on in November. In November I was told by my Supervisor that this issue had been discussed with Human Resources and that the next time it happens this could lead to termination. I told him verbally that I understood. No written counceling was given. Besides that incident I have no written councelings on file and the incident never occured again. Today I was taken into the Human Resources office to discuss the matter that happened in Nov. I informed them that this matter had been discussed with my supervisor.She said she did not know about it and that my employment was terminated as of today. Is that possible? And now I dont know if this is something worth seekin an attorney over.


Asked on 2/01/06, 11:28 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sandeep Shah Shah Sheth, LLP

Re: Wrongful termination?

In California, if you are an "at-will" employee (which 90+% of employees are), then you can be terminated for any reason and/or for no reason, so long as it is not an "illegal" reason, without it constituting wrongful termination.

Thus, your company could conceivably terminate you for wearing an ugly shirt one day, and that would be completely legal. Similarly, if they are saying that they terminated you for an incident that occurred in November, that would also be valid.

Unless they terminated you for an illegal reason, or you have evidence that they actually terminated you for a reason other than what they stated, then you may have a potential claim.

(This is not to be construed as legal advice)

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Answered on 2/07/06, 7:28 pm


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