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Can an At-Will Employee Claim Wrongful Termination

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  • 03-31-2014, 10:59 PM
    ellis
    Can an At-Will Employee Claim Wrongful Termination
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: WA

    2 years ago a peer was promoted and became my boss. For 2 years, work life has been often unbearable and many people hated this person and complained repeatedly about him through a corporate complaint line. I have since been terminated at 59 years old, for things I didn't do and based on the strength of a previous bogus review this person had given me over a year ago. At the time of that review, I told him I thought we needed corporate intervention but nothing ever came of it. Now that I'm out the door, I'm having a hard time getting management employees who will even talk with me and I've been told that they were directed not to talk with me.

    I'm considering an age discrimination suit against this former employer. What they did to me was nothing other than a cost cutting measure by filling my spot with a younger, cheaper person. Does a plaintiff in a suit like this have opportunity to subpoena a select few to make their case? Attorney's generally work on contingency?

    Any thoughts on how to proceed?

    ellis

    - - - Updated - - -

    Important to note too, the person who termed me had only been at the facility a couple of months and had just given me my annual raise & bonus. Later he used the prior guy's review who had been removed from his position earlier.
  • 04-01-2014, 01:09 AM
    Dogmatique
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    I'm not seeing any wrongdoing, from what you've said. If everyone hated him, it actually lessens your claim that age discrimination was present - he seems to be an equal opportunity jerk.

    Stand by for the HR experts though.
  • 04-01-2014, 05:58 AM
    eerelations
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    I'm not seeing a wrongful termination either.
  • 04-01-2014, 06:42 AM
    cbg
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    A wrongful termination does not mean you were fired for something you didn't do; it means you were fired for a reason prohibited by law.

    Simply being 59 is not sufficient to support an age discrimination claim. What evidence do you have that if you were under 40, you would still be working there?
  • 04-01-2014, 07:39 AM
    budwad
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    I don't suppose that you filed a written answer to the bad review. Just asking corporate to intervene is not the way to deal with a bad review if you feel it was unjustified.

    They terminated you for cause not age or to replace you with a lower salaried employee. That is the common story line to do exactly what they did, lower employment costs.

    If you didn't have that bad review in your folder and they replaced you with a lower salaried employee, you may have had a leg to stand on. But that still wouldn't have been age discrimination.
  • 04-01-2014, 07:43 AM
    cbg
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    You know that for certain, budwad? You work for this employer and have access to the OP's personnel file?

    No?

    Then let's wait for the answer to my question before you make declarative statements as to the employer's motives.
  • 04-01-2014, 08:37 AM
    budwad
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    Quote:

    Quoting ellis
    View Post
    I have since been terminated at 59 years old, for things I didn't do and based on the strength of a previous bogus review this person had given me over a year ago. At the time of that review, I told him I thought we needed corporate intervention but nothing ever came of it.

    I certainly can wait for OP to respond but I was using OP's own words to know what is in his file.
  • 04-01-2014, 09:17 AM
    cbg
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    If the OP was certain of the answer, he wouldn't have been posting here now would he?

    How many years experience do you have investigating discrimination claims?
  • 04-01-2014, 10:25 AM
    budwad
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    I'm not so sure of that. OP thinks he was terminated because of age and I doubt that was the reason because that would leave the company open to a law suit and they are smarter than that. He is asking about an a age discrimination case. And so far, 3 members (including myself) say no age discrimination case. However, even in at-will states, wrongful termination can be proven depending on the company's policies and how they were carried out.

    Quote:

    How many years experience do you have investigating discrimination claims
    Probably not as many as you. But that doesn't make me ignorant of the laws and the case law and wrongful termination, in an at-will state, is something I have some experience with or I wouldn't be posting in this thread.
  • 04-01-2014, 10:32 AM
    cbg
    Re: Wrongful Discharge and At-Will
    How do you know the company is smarter than that? By that assumption, no one would ever be able to claim age discrimination.

    I agree that WITH THE INFORMATION WE HAVE AVAILABLE there is no evidence of age discrimination. That's why I asked the poster for additional info. I'm not prepared to make an absolute declarative, particularly not of the motives of an unknown employer, based on only what we've got. If you are, shame on you.

    For the record, 49 out of 50 states are at-will states, and the 50th state recognizes the at-will doctrine in some situations. If you knew as much about the law as you think you do, you'd know that.
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