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Is this "wrongful termination"?

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firstdennis

Guest
i live in south carolina, which is a right-to-work state. i have worked at a prominent state agency for 12 years and always received good or excellent performance reviews. this spring it became clear that the state was short of money and there would be a round of layoffs. my agency of 170 people laid off 16, of which i was one. i ask if i have some sort of wrongful termination case for 3 reasons:

- i am the only employee here doing the job function i do, and they have already begun outsourcing the work. this will cost much more than keeping me on staff. i would estimate that in 4 or 5 months they will have spent more on this than if they had kept me.

- it is no secret that my boss, who came here 2 years ago, does not like me. this person told me that they would not have hired me. this person has a wide and terrible reputation for getting rid of people that don't behave like personal slaves.

- none of the other positions eliminated match my situation. they are all either low-skill hourly workers, or people who were within a couple of years of retirement anyway, or not even filled but just vacant spots on the org. chart.

- there are many employees here who have only been here a year or two and have 3 or 4 workers doing the same work. it is virtually unheard of for a state employee in sc, in a professional position that is vital to the agency's mission, who has 12 years' seniority and an excellent work record, to get the boot.

i was given no severance pay other than four more weeks of employment, during which it was understood that i was not expected to do any more work for them and was free to search for another job.

i have spoken off the record to the state's grievance board representative, and they did not hold much hope of fighting to get my job back, which would be an awkward situation i do not want anyway.

do i have a case for a lawsuit? i would love to at least get a cash settlement for the shabby way i have been treated.
 


L

loku

Guest
Wrongful termination?

If a state employment regulation was violated (which I doubt or the State Grievance Board would probably be the appropriate forum), then you could defend your job based on the regulation.

If they did not violate a state reg, then ordinary principles apply, and certain types of discrimination are protected, such as age, sex, national origin, religion, disability. If you don't fall into one of those categories, then the law has no recourse.
 

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