Wrongfull termination

[Kari Van Wagner]

my husband works in provo, utah. 2 weeks ago he went to his companies headquarters in salt lake city to complain about activities being done by his boss. these activities included wrongfully marking time cards, discrimination against applicants, use of prayer in inappropriate times, and others. he was worried that nothing might come of his complaint because his boss and her supervisor were good friends. earlier this week his boss had a meeting in salt lake, but never said anything about it. today he was called in to her office and was told that she felt their working relationship had deteriorated and that she felt he no longer respected her. because of this reasons she was firing him. is this legal? does my husband have any defensive given that he had just made a complaint about his boss?

 

[cbg]

Most of the time, in order for "whistleblower" laws to apply, the complaints have to be made to an outside agency, not just internally. I have recently heard that one district court has expanded this to protect employees who make internal complaints as well, but I don't know which district it is. (I have an idea it may be 2nd, but I'm not sure.)

However, if you are talking about illegal discrimination (all discrimination is not illegal) and since there is also the potential for religious discrimination, I think your husband would be well advised to talk to the EEOC. (The altered time cards would fall under the auspices of the DOL.) Whether your husband will be determined to have been wrongfully terminated will be for them to decide, but certainly it is worth a call to either or both agencies.

 

[Kari Van Wagner]

Thanks

thank you for taking the time to answer my question, it is greatly appreciated.