Do you believe you were wrongfully fired? Whether it was a suspected discrimination firing, a retaliation firing, or a violation of public policy, being wrongfully terminated is not only frustrating to deal with but also illegal for an employer to do. And even if your employment was terminated years ago, you may still have legal actions you can take today for compensation. You will need to check the statute of limitations for wrongful termination in California to see if you still qualify.
If you believe you have a wrongful termination claim, Justice Employment Law is ready to assist you in obtaining the compensation you deserve. While there is a statute of limitations on wrongful termination, you might still have a case.
What Is a Statute of Limitations?
The statute of limitations on any case is the period of time over which an individual can file a claim regarding a specific offense or crime. The amount of time varies depending on the crime that has been committed. However, it will generally start when the victim of someone else’s illegal or wrongful conduct has been hurt in some way. It can also start when it is later discovered that the actions taken by the perpetrator caused harm that went unnoticed.
The statute of limitations typically has an expiration date after which a victim loses their ability to invoke their legal rights in a civil or criminal claim. If the victim files a claim after the statute of limitations has expired, the defendant can often have the case dismissed without facing serious consequences.
The reason the statute of limitations exists is to encourage victims to invoke their rights quickly and have the judicial system process the wrongdoing or crime as soon as possible. This ensures that any evidence or memories of an incident will be fresher for the case while also preventing the defendant’s ability to repose.
How Do I Know If I Was Wrongfully Terminated?
There are a number of ways you can be wrongfully terminated in California.
- Retaliation: This occurs when an employer fires an employee for filing a complaint against their company. This is often used to cover up issues within the company.
- Discrimination: This is when an employer fires an employee over race, religious beliefs, disability, ethnicity, or even pregnancy.
- Violation of Public Policy: This occurs when a worker is fired for reasons that society recognizes as illegitimate grounds for termination, such as taking time off work to vote, serving on a jury, or alerting the public to an injustice happening in the workplace.
- Constructive Terminations: While there is no firing that takes place here, this happens when the employer makes an inhospitable workplace for an employee they want to fire but don’t have grounds to terminate them. This is also illegal.
Laws Concerning Wrongful Termination
In California, the statute of limitations is determined by the type of wrongful termination itself, but typically it will be between two and four years. It is important when filing to consult a wrongful termination lawyer to assist with managing the timeframe. There are several common wrongful termination cases in California, and each has its own statute of limitations.
- Violation of Public Policy: This is when an employee is fired for things like refusing to break the law, performing a legal obligation, or exercising their legal rights. This statute of limitations covers two years.
- FEHA Retaliation: FEHA covers most wrongful termination claims in California, covering workers’ rights to avoid retaliation and file complaints against their employers, as well as harassment or discrimination termination claims. This has implications under both federal and California law, and it is also protected under California law through the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which receives and investigates all wrongful termination claims. Before submitting, workers will have three years from the date of their termination to file an administrative complaint with the DFEH. Once they receive their right to claim from the state, they have one additional year to file the claim.
- Breach of Implied Contract: This is when an employer terminates a worker’s position despite having an implied contract for continuing employment. This tends to be rarer in California because most workers in the state are considered at-will employees. Regardless, the statute of limitations is two years.
- Other potential wrongful terminations: California’s WARN Act covers any major plant closures and mass layoffs and has a statute of limitations of three years to file a wrongful termination claim. California also has the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which specifically protects whistleblowers from retaliation and also has a three-year statute of limitations.