Yonkers Wrongful Termination

Employment Lawyers Representing Claimants in the Yonkers Area

Yonkers is divided into four quarters but has dozens of diverse and distinct neighborhoods. It has a mayor-council government. Many famous singers or musicians are from Yonkers, including DMX, Anthrax, Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, and Steven Tyler. People who work in Yonkers should know that their employer is generally entitled to terminate their employment at will. However, there are exceptions. Your employer cannot violate the law or a contract in terminating your employment. You also cannot be terminated because of your race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, pregnancy, or other protected characteristics, and you also should not be terminated in retaliation for engaging in a protected activity, such as complaining to HR about sexual harassment. If you received a wrongful termination, you should consult the Yonkers wrongful termination lawyers at Phillips & Associates.

Examples of Wrongful Termination

A wrongful termination happens if an employer terminates an employee for reasons that are against the law or against a contract. For example, if a new manager comes on board at your company, learns that you are Muslim, and fires you because of your religion and your request for a reasonable accommodation of your religious practices, this is likely a wrongful termination. You may be able to sue under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the New York State Human Rights Law.

For another example, if you complain about sexual harassment to HR, and you are terminated shortly afterward, you may have been subject to a wrongful termination under Title VII. To sue under Title VII, however, your employer must have at least 15 employees. In other cases, a wrongful termination attorney in the Yonkers area would sue under state law, which prohibits sexual harassment even in workplaces with just one employee.

Retaliation and Wrongful Termination

Sometimes employees are not right about the reasons for discrimination or harassment. In other cases, employers are quite sophisticated and savvy about hiding unlawful animus, and it may not be possible to prove the bias. However, you may have a claim for wrongful termination based on retaliation. Federal and state laws include provisions that prohibit retaliation for engaging in protected activities, such as filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), complaining to HR about discrimination or harassment, or filing a lawsuit in court. Even if you are not the direct victim of the discrimination or harassment, and you merely provided information to an investigator, testified, or participated in an administrative proceeding, you are protected against retaliation.

As long as you believe in good faith that you were subjected to discrimination or harassed (or that someone else was), you are protected against retaliation. If your employer retaliates against you for a complaint of discrimination or harassment, whether internal or external to the company, by firing you, our Yonkers wrongful termination attorneys can help you bring a lawsuit.

Laws Governing Wrongful Termination Claims

When your claim is based on federal law, such as Title VII, the ADA, or the ADEA, you will need to file a charge with the EEOC within a narrow time frame. The EEOC will investigate. It may ask you to participate in mediation. Usually, however, the EEOC does not take on representation of the employee.

There are also other laws that could give rise to a wrongful termination claim. For example, you would be protected from a wrongful termination if you are a whistleblower who lets the government know that your employer is submitting false bills to Medicare. You would also be protected from a wrongful termination if you alerted the authorities to your company's violation of securities laws. Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, eligible employees of covered employers are permitted to take 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave each year. You are supposed to be able to take this leave without fear of reprisal. If your employer terminates you for taking the covered leave for which you are eligible, you may have a claim for wrongful termination.

Hire a Knowledgeable Wrongful Termination Lawyer in Yonkers

At Phillips & Associates, our experienced attorneys help people who have received a wrongful termination from a previous employer. If you believe that you have been fired for an illegal reason, contact us at (866) 229-9441 or online for a free consultation.