Most professionals do not want to lose their jobs, especially without notice. Unfortunately, companies must prioritize long-term solvency over loyalty to workers. Layoffs and workforce reductions are relatively common.
Employees laid off may be eligible for unemployment benefits. Some people laid off by their employers may question whether the decision to let them go was lawful and appropriate. Wrongful termination involves firing or laying off a worker for an illegal reason.
Employers typically cannot discriminate against workers on the basis of their age, race or sex. If there are signs that a layoff was illegally discriminatory, frustrated employees may have grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Was one group disproportionately affected?
Looking at trends when evaluating layoff decisions could help employees recognize wrongful terminations. Companies sometimes hide inappropriate decisions about employees behind mass reductions in their workforces.
For example, they may eliminate the positions of most of the workers over the age of 50 or a large portion of the professionals who belong to a certain race. When it is clear that one group went largely unaffected by the layoffs or that one group was at much higher risk than employees with other characteristics, workers may have grounds to claim that they experienced discrimination.
Even in at-will employment states, it is inappropriate for companies to consider the protected characteristics of workers when deciding who gets laid off and who keeps their jobs. Filing a wrongful termination lawsuit can lead to financial compensation, or sometimes even reinstatement, to a prior position.