Legal Question in Employment Law in Ohio

I recently got fired from me leasing consultant job at an apartment complex. I am recently married and have a newborn on the way. At my job i was the only male in the office. The girls all would gossip and I would be stuck in the middle of each situation. Often times a resident would come in and complain about something that needed supervisor attention but the supervisors would tell me to just tell the resident they are not there or to tell them there is nothing we can do. Example: cable jacks are working in home. The answer is there is nothing we can do. Of course the resident would be happy with this and they would go off on me. Becuase i felt horrible lying for my bosses i started looking for a new job. One day a propspect came in looking for an apartment. During my tour the prospect began to tell me what she did for a living. She advised me she travels alot and gets to see many amazing attractions. When i heard this I advised her what i needed to do to get a position like this. She stated alot of people that work there are over the age of 40 and she was the only person who under that age. She advised me of the companies name and explained to me the position. That evening i went onto the comapny website and on the employees website I found the president and vice presidents names and email addresses. I sent the an email stating " I recently had the pleasure to speak with one of your employees by the name of Kate Begin. She explained to me what she did for a living which seemed to fit many of the things I was looking for in a career. I would love to have the opportunity to speak to someone concerning starting a career with your company. I look forward to hearing from you soon and thank you for your consideration." A couple days later Kate Begin canceled her application to move to our apartments and she stated it was because i violated her privacy and used her name as a reference to get a job. My job fired me on the spot and stated i violated the code of conduct my using her information. I was confused because the lady seemed very willing to give me her companies name during the tour. I believe i was fired because they thought was using the information from her apartment application in order to find her employer and get a job. Where Infact i used the word of mouth of the information she gave me. I didnt fight the firing but they never gave a written warning or anything. They just did an on the spot fire. One day after my firing i firgured i would like to find out this code of conduct and get a copy of it. I received a text from my former boss later and she stated that she is not allowed to give out the code of conduct. I have newborn on the way, only African American in the office, only male in office. There are males that are on the maintenance team and one if africa american but anyways, Do i have a case?


Asked on 10/02/12, 6:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Sauter Cloppert, Latanick, Sauter & Washburn

Probably not. Ohio is an 'at-will' employment state, meaning that subject to certain exceptions (discrimination based upon race, gender, disability, religion, national origin, etc.) you can be fired for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all.

For example, good cause is because you screwed something up. Bad cause is because you are a Michigan fan and your boss is an OSU fan. No cause is being fired for no reason at all. Again, in Ohio, as with most other states, this is perfectly legal, so long as you weren't subject to those certain exceptions.

Just because you're a male and/or African American does't that you automatically have a claim for wrongful termination. The termination has to be because of your race or gender. Proving that is incredibly difficult, especially so in your situation where you were terminated because of this alleged privacy violation. Even if no such code of conduct existed (termination based on good cause), you could still be fired for bad cause or no cause at all.

This being said, I don't practice in labor and employment law and I would encourage you to consult with someone who does practice in that field.

Best of luck to you.

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Answered on 10/05/12, 7:28 am


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