Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

untrue allegations & termination

My daughter was just written up for work practices and attitude. She has documentation to prove that what her supervisor states is incorrect. She is on a 30 day trial and if her stated goals are not met her supervisor will terminate her. There are 3 other employees who received the same type of letter and 30 day notice, all with untrue accusations. They all received their letters the same day. They are all in different departments. None of them have ever been spoken to or written up before and they have all worked at this company for at least 2 years.

Does she have recourse? Is there a way to fight this unfair attack?

--name removed--


Asked on 10/29/08, 10:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Susan Beecher Susan L. Beecher, Atty at Law

Re: untrue allegations & termination

In Washington State (and most other states) employees can be fired for any reason or no reason at all, so long as it is not an illegal reason. If the supervisor has an illegal motive (your daughter belongs to a protected group, for example, or this bad review is in retaliation for your daughter exercising her statutory rights), your daughter may have legal recourse.

If the employer is a union shop, the collective bargaining agreement might also offer some protection. She should speak to her union rep.

If none of the above apply, and she is let go, she probably can do nothing to get her job back, but she may want to dispute the accusations in order to protect her job references and possibly in order to qualify for unemployment. (This may be the motive behind the accusations.) An attorney might be able to write a demand letter that would protect these interests without going to full blown legal action.

Good luck.

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Answered on 10/29/08, 10:42 am


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