Did you recently lose your job, and do you think you were wrongfully terminated? Your first reaction is likely frustration or anger — or both. Losing a job is hard enough on its own. Losing it unfairly just makes it worse.
Don’t despair; there are steps you can take if it really is a wrongful termination. You do have rights. To get started, try asking yourself these five questions:
- What happened before the termination? For instance, if your boss made sexual advances, you rejected them and then you got fired, that’s a problematic chain of events.
- Do you have any specific evidence? You want to know if this is more than a gut feeling. Maybe you have text messages showing the inappropriate comments or a direct statement from your boss, for instance.
- Are there any witnesses? Maybe your boss made their interest in you clear or even made jokes about it to other employees. Maybe you showed co-workers inappropriate text messages or email messages.
- Were you the only one? Unfortunately, in many cases like this, multiple people experience the same treatment. While no one deserves it, a pattern of behavior can support your case.
- Did you work in a hostile workplace before the termination? If you were subjected to repeated instances of discrimination, abuse, harassment and the like, that can create a hostile workplace. This is evidence of how you were treated and why you may have been fired.
These are not the only questions you need to ask, but they do help to get you started as you think about your rights and legal options.
