When an employee from Michigan loses his or her job, one of the primary points to ponder is whether the termination was unlawful. If there are indications that the employee’s firing was an act of wrongful termination, that employee has the right to file a claim in civil court. By making the right decisions at this crucial juncture, employees can hope to receive monetary damages if the termination already is complete, or obtain an appropriate severance package if the termination has not yet occurred.
According to federal and Michigan state laws, a termination may be deemed wrongful if the circumstances leading to the firing involve any of the following situations:
- A violation of state or federal employment Laws
- An incident of sexual harassment
- A violation of a written or verbal employment agreement
- A violation of state or federal labor laws
- An act of retaliation by his or her employer due to whistleblowing activities
In some of these cases, there exist statutory penalties, while in other cases, an employer may have to pay damages to the terminated employee in order to compensate for lost wages and other ancillary expenses. For any form of wrongdoing committed against the employee, there also may be some cases in which a court orders punitive damages to be paid by the employer.
There is, however, some important information that a terminated employee must gather in order to file a wrongful termination claim. An employee must try to discover the reason behind a termination and not take instinctive negative actions against the employer. Finding out who decided to terminate the employee may also help. In addition, an employee should be thorough with the terms and conditions of the employment agreement, request a hearing and attempt to negotiate a severance package, making an effort to not feel intimidated during negotiations.
Source: FindLaw.com, “Wrongful Termination Claims,” accessed on Aug. 15, 2014
Source: FindLaw.com, “Wrongful Termination Claims,” accessed on Aug. 15, 2014