Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia

Unless you have a written contract with your employer, then IN VIRGINIA you would not have " case."

UNLESS there is some situation like racial discrimination or covering up some violation of law or something. (I would not get too excited about this This is not easy, either. But it is something to look into.)

Virginia is an "AT WILL" State and a very strong, strict one. This means that employers can fire employees for NO reason at all (if they do not have a contract).

On the other hand, if there is a contract, Virginia will strongly enforce the contract, whether it favors the employee or the employer.

So, your employer does not need ANY reason to let you go (if there is no contract).

Because they can fire you for NO reason in Virginia, Virginia does not care if the reasons they give are false.

HOWEVER, whether you resign or are fired CAN affect whether or not you can get unemployment compesnation.

I do not handle unemployment compensation cases, so I cannot tell you off the top of my head how that works. I don't remember.

You can -- and should -- call the Virginia Employment Commission first thing on Monday morning before you make your decision.

However, I do know that it can make a HUGE difference in whether you can get unemployment compensation whether you resign or whether you wait for them to fire you.

If they DO fire you, I believe that they might be able to try to CHALLENGE your claim to unemployment compensation. (Again, check with the VEC.)

But to do this they must PROVE that you committed serious wrongs.

So if you wait for them to fire you, you might be able to FORCE them to try to prove their allegations. In that context, the fact that they never told you before what you supposedly did would work against them very seriously. It would be hard to believe their accusations in the unemployment compensation challenge if they never told you these things before firing you. (NOT "when" firing you, but BEFORE -- long before.)

Again, I do not handle U.C. cases, so you should confirm all of this part with the Virginia Employment Commission. What kind of hearing will you get, etc. I worked on some cases like this in another State, not Virginia.

HOWEVER.....

the fact that they can let you go for no reason at all DOES NOT mean they can go around making false statements about you.

If they claim that you violated their policies or did soemthing wrong, and you did not, you can sue them for defamation. (WARNING: You have only 1 year under Virginia's statute of limitations. One year from the time when they SAY something false about you to ANY third party (public or private).)

You can tell them that they can let you go for no reason , but if they claim that they are firing you for doing something wrong, they WILL be liable for any false statements they make, and you will sue them.

On this point, allowing them to challeng you in the unemployment compensation context may help you. (It could also hurt you if they really do have evidence of some wrongdoing.)

Let me know if my law office could help you further.