May, 2005

Pink Slip

Every once in a while, I get the following question:  “I was just fired from my job for no reason.  Can they do that to me?”  The short answer is “yes.”  Unless you have an employment contract, you are an employee at will, and can quit or be fired without a reason.  You can be let go for Good Cause or No Cause.  They just can’t fire you for Bad Cause.

“Bad cause” is i.e. for certain kinds of discrimination.  Under both state and federal law, it is illegal for most employers to discriminate against you because of race, color, religious creed, or national origin.  You may also not be discriminated against based on your sex, or if you are handicapped or a senior citizen in certain circumstances.  Let’s look at each of these in turn:

Race, Color, Religion or Nationality – The days of employment ads saying “Irish need not apply” are an ugly part of our culture’s history.  Although such blatant discrimination is gone, don’t fool yourself by thinking this type of discrimination is gone altogether.  It is just more subtle, making the employee’s job that much harder to prove he was discriminated against.  The best way to prove it?  Show that your replacement, (or the guy who didn’t lose his job), was no more qualified than you were; that that only difference between you two was your race or your nationality.  The burden then shifts to your employer to prove he didn’t discriminate against you.

 

Sex – The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work.  The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone because of his or her sex. 

Handicap - As long as you are capable of performing the essential functions of your job with reasonable accommodation, you can’t be discriminated against because you are handicapped.  To be “reasonable”, the “accommodation” must not impose an undue hardship to your boss or his business.  A cab company would have good cause not to hire a blind person (even though many do.) 

Age – I just turned 40.  I can now officially be discriminated against based on my age.  It is unlawful for a private employer to discriminate based on age unless it is also based upon a bona fide occupational qualification. This is narrowly applied.  The employer must show that the essence of his business would be undermined if he hired an older person, like Hooters.    If you were let go because they thought you were too old, you can establish your case by showing that you were performing your job capably and were replaced by a person with roughly equivalent job qualifications or that a person was retained in the same position.  If you show this, the burden shifts to the employer to show a legitimate reason for the termination.

Remember, just because you were let go and may fall into a protected class, that is not proof of wrongful discrimination.  It may be that you were just a lousy employee.