Estate Planning

Wrongful Termination in Florida

By David M. Goldman

Often I am asked about wrongful termination by Florida Employees. While in some states a company must have cause to fire you, Florida is not one of those states. Florida is an at-will employment state. This means that an employer may fire, demote, hire, promote, and discipline employees for almost any reason or no reason at all.

This does not mean that you have no rights or protections from a wrongful termination in Florida.
You may ask yourself the following questions:

Did my supervisors make comments that indicated bias?
Did your boss or supervisor make racial or sexual jokes?
Did your supervisor indicate that you were too old, or require you to work on religious holidays?
Did they make comments about your disability?
Were you treated differently than others in the same situation. Perhaps people of a different race, sex, religion, national origin, age, or other protected status were treated differently under the same circumstances?

These types of comments can be evidence of discrimination and could lead to a claim under Florida Law.

You may ask yourself why was I really fired? If you made a worker's compensation claim or reported the business for a violation and were fired shortly after, it can be an indication that you were fired in retaliation for making the claims or reports. These could lead to a whistle blower claim.

Is your employer saying false things or statements to others about you? If you can prove they are making statements that are false you may be able to sue for defamation. To create policies to protect your company from suits or if you believe your employer has violated your rights you should contact a Florida Business Lawyer.

Full post as published by Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog on January 08, 2008 (boomark / email).