Sometimes, San Diego businesses have to make major staffing changes. After a merger or acquisition, there may be redundant staff members that increase operating expenses. When a company faces insolvency, staffing reductions are often necessary to preserve the organization.
Layoffs involve companies terminating the employment of numerous workers at once, typically for financial reasons. In some cases, employees who unexpectedly lose their jobs during a workforce reduction could assert that the decision to terminate them was wrongful.
When is a layoff potentially actionable?
Employers should not discriminate or retaliate
An employee might have a reasonable suspicion that their employer terminated them to punish them for engaging in protected workplace activities. In such cases, they may have experienced a retaliatory termination, which is a violation of their rights.
Other times, they might claim that their termination was wrongful because it was discriminatory. When it is clear that a specific group of workers was more affected by the layoffs than other groups of employees, the company may have inappropriately considered the protected characteristics of staff members when deciding who to retain and who to fire.
Occasionally, if there have been issues with the company permitting a hostile work environment or engaging in discrimination against a specific individual because of their religion, sex, race or other protected characteristics, a worker might be able to claim that their inclusion in a layoff was discriminatory. They may have grounds to take action even if the layoffs did not disproportionately affect workers who share that characteristic.
Reviewing what happened before and during a layoff with a skilled legal team can help professionals to understand their options and exercise their rights effectively. Employees who experience wrongful termination may be able to take legal action to seek reinstatement or compensation for the illegal firing they experience.