Am I going to be wrongfully terminated?
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Am I going to be wrongfully terminated?
I’ve always had great reviews at work and recently an issue came up that I was written up for. New Link Destination
day I was called in with HR saying I needed to show major improvement otherwise I will be let go. I was unaware there were any issues, and my boss lied directly to HR regarding my performance. She also makes me feel very uncomfortable by asking me to go drink late at night, making me cancel meetings to go drinking which I was then reprimanded for by my boss’s boss, etc.
Asked on June 8, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, New Jersey
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
There is morally wrong and legally wrong, and the two things are very different.
If you are let go when you have not done anything wrong or based on your boss's lie, that would be morally or ethically wrong.
However, unless you have a written employment contract which is still in effect (unexpired and not otherwise properly terminated) which guarantees you your job for a defined period of time and/or prohibits you from being fired for the stated or claimed reason, then terminating you would not be legally wrong--that is, it would not be wrongful. Without the protection of a written employment contract, you are an "employee at will," and an employee at will may be terminated at any time, for any reason, even unfair or factually baseless/unsupported ones--that is, you could be terminated without any performance issues or based on your boss's lies. An employee at will quite simply has no rights to or protection for his or her job.
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
There is morally wrong and legally wrong, and the two things are very different.
If you are let go when you have not done anything wrong or based on your boss's lie, that would be morally or ethically wrong.
However, unless you have a written employment contract which is still in effect (unexpired and not otherwise properly terminated) which guarantees you your job for a defined period of time and/or prohibits you from being fired for the stated or claimed reason, then terminating you would not be legally wrong--that is, it would not be wrongful. Without the protection of a written employment contract, you are an "employee at will," and an employee at will may be terminated at any time, for any reason, even unfair or factually baseless/unsupported ones--that is, you could be terminated without any performance issues or based on your boss's lies. An employee at will quite simply has no rights to or protection for his or her job.
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