what is a wrongful termination claim 
a wrongful termination claim is filed in a court of law by someone who believes they were unjustly or illegally fired from their job wrongful termination claims involve an alleged violation of federal or state antidiscrimination laws oral and written employment agreements contracts or labor laws including collective bargaining laws or whistleblower laws employees who feel their termination was a form of sexual harassment or in retaliation for having filed a complaint against the employer may also file a wrongful termination claim understanding a wrongful termination claimin the united states employment in most states is considered at will meaning that employers neither need to have a reason to fire a worker nor give advance notice of termination though many do issue formal notices to allow workers to obtain consolidated omnibus benefits reconciliation act cobra health benefits and unemployment insurance benefits still employment at will doesn t mean that businesses can discharge employees completely at their discretion firing people for certain reasons or motives is not permitted especially if it s in violation of state or federal laws or is a breach of contract of some sort individuals who feel their involuntary dismissal represents such a violation can file a wrongful termination claim against their employer a wrongful termination claim is like a lawsuit the employee is bringing an action against their former company and seeking compensation for being unfairly fired if the employee prevails then the compensation for wrongful termination can include monetary damages based on lost wages job hunting costs and other expenses an employee could also ask to have their job restored or be given a comparable position depending on the grounds of the claim see below the employer might also face statutory penalties types of wrongful termination claimsemployees can file wrongful termination claims on several grounds some of the most common include someone fired because of their race color religion sex including pregnancy sexual orientation or gender identity national origin age 40 or older disability and genetic information including family medical history may file a wrongful termination claim 12 these laws fall under the purview of the u s equal employment opportunity commission eeoc on its website the eeoc outlines how to file a charge of employment discrimination 3the u s equal employment opportunity commission eeoc requires you to file a charge of discrimination with the agency before you can file a job discrimination lawsuit against your employer employers cannot legally punish workers for reporting wrongful activities such as criminal activity at work this is known as whistleblower protection 4 also it is not lawful to terminate a worker simply for filing a workers compensation claim although anyone asserting that this has happened will have to prove that the measure was retaliatory and not based on work performance or another permitted reason under the genetic information nondiscrimination act gina employers may not use genetic information in dealing with employees or when making employment decisions including hiring and firing using genetic information includes testing for whether a candidate or employee is at greater risk than average of developing certain diseases or inquiring about family medical history 5while an employer may have grounds to fire an individual for complaining or venting about an employer or boss under the national labor relations act nlra workers are permitted to engage in concerted activity to improve wages or working conditions such as organizing a labor union or conducting a campaign to bring an existing union into their workplace workers need not already be in a union to be covered by this protection 6individuals engaged under a contract that requires a cause for their termination but does not receive one may be eligible to file a wrongful termination claim 7 unlike other types of claims this is a contractual breach rather than a violation of a law or statute the contract must stipulate that the person can be fired only for cause meaning a reason for the dismissal must be noted and it must fall under certain sorts of behavior or action such as willful misconduct deliberate neglect of job duties deliberate sabotage or destruction of company property or divulging company secrets 