Wrongfully terminated? Sexually harassed or discriminated against? You need to be represented by El Segundo, California attorney, David Smith Bates.

Mr. Bates has been practicing law for 41 years and specializes in representing wrongfully terminated employees who are victims of discrimination or harassment based on age, sex, race or disability.

A “wrongful termination” is when an employer has terminated, discharged or laid off an employee for a reason prohibited by law. It is not enough for the employee to simply show that he or she was treated unfairly but the person must show that the firing was “wrongful” meaning one or more legal rights were violated. California has adopted a law known as “employment at will.”  "Employment at will" means that the employer has the right to terminate someone with or without a reason.  The employee has the equivalent right to quit at any time with or without a reason.  This is in contrast to states which have adopted a “Right to Work” law, in which employees cannot be fired except for cause.  In California, a written contract (such as an individual employment contract, or a Union’s Collective Bargaining Agreement) may alter the right to work doctrine and require that an employer follow certain disciplinary steps, or provide a period of notice.  Some contracts guarantee that an employee will not be fired except for cause.

If you have a written employment contract and you have been terminated, or you believe you are about to be terminated in violation of the contract, you should contact a competent employment lawyer immediately.  Such contracts often provide internal remedies, such as a hearing before a review board or personnel commission, or alternative dispute resolution, and these internal remedies must be exhausted before an employee can initiate a lawsuit for wrongful termination.  Even if you do not have a written contract, if your employer has behaved in a manner which led you to reasonably believe that you would not be terminated except for cause, you may have a claim for wrongful termination.
If your case does go to court, you may be surprised to see a complaint with multiple causes of action.  A single case can implicate 20 or more legal claims, including:

• • Violations of Public Policy
• • Breach of Contract
• • Breach of an Implied Contract Not to Terminate Except for Good Cause
• • Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
• • Discrimination based on age, race, sex, disability, religion, or national origin

Federal laws which prohibit discrimination include 

• origin;
• • The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;
• • the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older;
• • Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments;
• • Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government; and
• • The Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces all of these laws and provides oversight and coordination of all federal equal employment opportunity regulations, practices, and policies.

The comparable state agency is the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which administers employment discrimination claims brought under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act.

State law is often more protective of employee rights than the federal laws, and most plaintiff side employment attorneys prefer to file employment cases in State Court.  The primary source of California’s laws against discrimination is the Fair Employment and Housing Act, beginning at Government Code Section 12900.  The FEHA contains prohibitions against discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, sex, religion, disability and other immutable characteristics (i.e., traits which we cannot change).

Remember that timing is critical in a wrongful termination case.  If you miss certain deadlines, you may lose your case, even though it has great merit.  Thus, do not delay in protecting your rights.