Posted on February 19th, 2018
You try your very best to run a very ethical and fair business, so you assume you will never have to hire wrongful termination lawyers. But you never need one, until you really need one.
Wrongful termination lawsuits have risen 260 percent in the last 20 years. This cannot just be easily explained as employers are being more reckless in letting people go then they used to be.
It’s mainly because of the current environment we are in one of the first instincts an employee has after being terminated these days is “I wonder if I can sue?”
All too many businesses know the pain of the following scenario…
You hire a seemingly qualified employee, but they end up constantly underperforming. You try coaching them but to no avail. You’re forced to let them go and wish them well. Only to find out soon after you’re being sued by them.
A California Termination checklist would certainly be great to have. You can also read our article on how to fire an employee legally in California.
But sometimes you just need a lawyer. And here’s how they can help.
Wrongful Termination Lawyers Aid With Reputation Management
First of all, think of your reputation, online and off.
If someone takes you to court for wrongful termination, that’s now part of your permanent web footprint. And it will show up whenever someone Googles you. Yes, that includes future clients and possible new hires.
If this is going to show up in a Google search, you also want it very visible that you fought this case and you won; you were found to be in the right. That can completely offset the hit your online reputation takes with the accusation.
Wrongful termination lawyers can help you fight this case in court and win. So an ugly payout or settlement isn’t going to stain your business’ name online for future recruits or clients.
Financial Damages
You know that these lawsuits can be expensive. But how expensive?
Here are some numbers to consider:
- The average wrongful termination lawsuit costs about $250,000
- The average out of court settlement clocks in at about $40,000
- About 60% of all employers have faced a lawsuit over the past 5 years
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission collects about $404 million from employers every year
Also, consider some of these recent settlements:
- A terminated JP Morgan Whistleblower won a wrongful dismissal claim and received over $150,000, plus his unspecified 2012 bonus and reimbursement for his lawyers’ fees
- A California self-storage clerk claimed she was fired for being pregnant, and won over $1.3 million
- Klamath County in Oregon was ordered to pay $431,000 in payments to three litigants. This included $115,000 up front and $35,000 per year through 2023
Again, these are just the tangible damages. This doesn’t account for the loss of business that can result from these lawsuits, after your name has been dragged through the mud, online and off.
It also doesn’t account for the cost of not being able to get the most qualified and quality pool of applicants when you post a job in the future.
Employee Morale
These lawsuits can have a massive effect on your office culture.
To be blunt, losing these cases can be a massive downer and hit to employee morale. You may see a drop in overall productivity and find it hard to get the best out of your staff.
Your employees may lose faith in you, as their employer. They may start opening the job bank or reach out to people on Linkedin looking for new opportunities. You won’t see the immediate effect of this, but your best employees may trickle away.
And as you can imagine, the next time you let someone go (for any reason), their first thought will be, “Well if Mark sued them for wrongful dismissal, I probably can too.”
Wrongful termination lawyers can help you win your case and prevent all this from happening, by helping you win your case, and save face to your entire staff. That way, nobody loses faith and nobody leaves.
Know The Types of Wrongful Dismissal Cases
There have never been more legal reasons why a former employee can come after you after being let go.
They may sue you on the grounds of any combination of the following:
- Discrimination. This may include race, sex, age, religion or other factors
- Sexual Harassment
- Breach of Contract
- Disabilities
- Emotional Distress & Mental Anguish
- Invasion of privacy
- Whistleblowing and/or retaliation
- Negligent hiring, supervision, promotion, and retention
All of these allegations can be costly, and you need to adequately represent yourself in the face of them.
How Do You Fight a Wrongful Termination Lawsuit?
Documentation is key!
Your wrongful termination lawyers will help you gather and leverage the proper “paper trail” to prove that:
- You acted lawfully and fairly
- You had a perfectly legitimate and lawful reason for terminating this employee
- There were absolutely no other malicious or discriminatory factors in their termination
These documents can include just about anything from email strings, to records of coaching/training efforts, and/or records of disciplinary actions.
Your team will also help you prove that these documents:
- Were prepared organically over the course of regular day-to-day business
- Were created for the use of the business
- Were not created or intended to be used solely to prevent a lawsuit
They need to ensure your documents weren’t created retroactively after the allegations in an effort to backfill a legal alibi.
Same Actor Doctrine
You can also significantly help your odds in these cases if you have (and can prove you have) one sole person making all of the hiring and firing decisions with your company.
The mentality here is that said single person hired the employees and chose that employee from the other applicants.
So they’re unlikely to suddenly develop a racial, sexual, or age bias from out of nowhere and terminate the employee for those reasons.
If You Read This Far, You May Need Wrongful Termination Lawyers
We have a proven track record of representing businesses like yours against labor allegations of any kind.
AND we only represent employers.
You can start right now by clicking here to book a free consultation.
