What is wrongful termination?
Wrongful termination, in simple terms, means that a person’s employment has been ceased in an unfair or unjust manner. However, because there is no single wrongful termination law, not every case of an unjust termination qualifies legally for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Wrongful termination is probably the most common term people use to refer to this situation…other common terms include:
- Illegal discharge
- Illegal dismissal
- Illegal termination
- Wrongful firing
- Wrongful dismissal
- Wrongful discharge
The key concept is that an employer must discharge an employee illegally for this type act to qualify as wrongful termination.
If the employment termination isn’t illegal, then it is not “wrongful termination” in a legal context, even though it may be unfair or immoral.
An example of wrongful termination that’s illegal:
An employer fires an employee because of race, creed, color, or age, in clear violation of a state or federal employment discrimination law. In this case, then the employment termination is illegal and most likely qualifies as wrongful termination.
An example of wrongful termination that is not illegal
A company unfairly fires an employee because of an personality conflict with that employee’s manager. While perhaps unfair, this situation is unlikely to qualify as wrongful termination in the legal sense.
