Wrongful Dismissal: When Should You Talk to A Lawyer

Did you recently get dismissed from your workplace without a justified reason? Are you wondering if you hold any legal claims against your company? Losing a job can be a distressing event, especially when you are unsure as to why you were dismissed or where you fell short.

Although being wrongfully dismissed from a job is incredibly frustrating and is bound to make you feel blue, this is something that happens to employees more often than you think. Being laid off or fired from your work without compensation or prior notice goes against the law, and you should certainly fight it.

An employee who is fired without notice is in an immensely vulnerable place, left incapable of making ends meet without the safe cushion of an ongoing income. The good news is that you can hire the assistance of Ontario laws wrongful dismissal lawyers to help you understand your rights as an employee and fight for full compensation.

What Is A Wrongful Dismissal?

Wrongful dismissal is when an employee is terminated or dismissed by their company or organization without justifiable notice. It is a situation where the termination of the employee breaches the employment contract or the company policy. Wrongful dismissal can be considered as a broad category that refers to any unlawful reason for terminating an employee.

Discrimination

– It is illegal to terminate an employee on the basis of their color, race, ethnicity, disability, age, sex, religion, or genetic information. Local and state laws also frequently cover additional characteristics like sexual orientation and marital status.

Violation of Public Policy

– In most states, it is considered illegal to terminate an employee for morally corrupt reasons. For instance, if a worker is fired for using their legal right to vote or they want to report a fraud or wrongdoing in the workplace.

Retaliation – It is illegal to terminate an employee if they have reported a complaint against illegal behavior such as discrimination, wage violations, harassment, workplace safety issues, and any other admissible reason.

When Should You Consider Legal Assistance?

If you were terminated against circumstances that were possibly illegal, you might want to seek the legal assistance of a wrongful dismissal lawyer. The lawyer will go through all the facts and evaluate whether you hold any legal claims.

Once it has been established that you were wrongfully dismissed, the lawyer will help you decide how you want to proceed and assert your rights as an employee. For instance, you may want to demand a settlement, try to negotiate a severance package, or file a lawsuit or administrative charges against the employer.

On the contrary, depending on your particular situation, you might decide that it makes better sense to simply move on. However, the only way you can be a hundred percent sure as to how solid your claims are or what you want to do is to discuss your situation with a lawyer.

It is particularly significant to seek legal guidance if you have been asked to sign a release of claims or waiver, in which case you lose the right to sue your employer. Many employers ask the employees to sign such a contract in exchange for a severance package. Once you sight that contract, it becomes quite challenging to pursue any legal claims that you might discover later.

Following are some possible sceneries where you should certainly hie legal assistance:

• You just filed a complaint against harassment or discrimination.

• Actions or statements that indicate that you were dismissed for biased reasons.

• You recently exposed that you have a protected characteristic such as a disability.

• You recently reported fraud or wrongdoings of the workplace, such as sloppy accounting practices.

• You just exercised a lawful right, such as taking medical leave or casting a vote.

• Your termination altered the demographics of your workplace. For instance, you are the only employer who isn’t white, or you are the only female in your department.

• Your termination breaches the employment contract that you signed in the beginning.

• You are hesitant to receive particular benefits like collecting retirement money or vesting stock options.

In all of the above-mentioned situations, your termination may or may not be illegal. A legal attorney can guide you through the facts, organize your legal claims, and decide how you want to proceed with them.

What to Look for In A Wrongful Dismissal Lawyer?

Finding legal assistance to handle your wrongful dismissal might not seem challenging, but you need to find an attorney who is experienced in dealing with cases of wrongful termination. Losing your work is an incredibly distressing and confusing time, and you want the best possible assistance to get you through the process.

There are many legal aspects of the termination that you may not understand, and a legal professional can help you understand where you stand, what legal options you have, and what possible course of action you can take. They will help you understand if there was a union involved, if there was any breach of employment contract, or if any law was broken in the process.

You need an attorney who understands the differences that take place and the tricky details of the legal applications, particularly the wrongful termination cases. Wrongful dismissal lawyers will be able to better understand your situation and will help you decide how to proceed.

Bottom Line

Sometimes simply trying to find an appropriate work position that we don’t absolutely despise and that enables us earn a livable wage is too challenging. On top of that, when you lose that safety cushion without any justifiable reason, it can be a truly devastating experience.

We all have the right to earn a living and provide for our loved ones. Often, we are living from paycheck to paycheck, and to have that snatched away from us abruptly can be disastrous for our families and us.

Laws for workplace safety and health are there for a reason, and violating them needs an appropriate course of action. Many times, people are terminated from their workplace without a justifiable reason or prior notice, and they don’t take any action.

It is important to acknowledge that you, as an employee, have certain rights. If you ever find yourself in an unpleasant position where you have been wrongfully dismissed, get in touch with a legal attorney and fight for your right.