wrongfully terminated

[almadri]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I'm in California and i worked at a big retail company. I was written up for opening up a register while a cashier was not present. This was something I did on a daily basis for 7 1/2 years as well as my other co-workers in the same position which still do till this day. My manager was well aware that this is what we did everyday but I was the only to get in trouble for it. Even at other stores with the same company it happens and yet no one has not been in trouble for it. Would I have a case?

 

[CSO286]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I'm in California and i worked at a big retail company. I was written up for opening up a register while a cashier was not present. This was something I did on a daily basis for 7 1/2 years as well as my other co-workers in the same position which still do till this day. My manager was well aware that this is what we did everyday but I was the only to get in trouble for it. Even at other stores with the same company it happens and yet no one has not been in trouble for it. Would I have a case?

Your defense "but everyone else does it too" isn't going to get you your job back.

And you were not wrongfully terminated. You were terminated for cause--regardless of whether or not other employees who do the same wrong deed are fired or not.

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I'm in California and i worked at a big retail company. I was written up for opening up a register while a cashier was not present. This was something I did on a daily basis for 7 1/2 years as well as my other co-workers in the same position which still do till this day. My manager was well aware that this is what we did everyday but I was the only to get in trouble for it. Even at other stores with the same company it happens and yet no one has not been in trouble for it. Would I have a case?

WRONGFUL termination implies that you were fired for an illegal reason. That means you laws were broken in the reasons they used to terminate you. That's NOT what happened in your case.

California is an at-will employment state. You can be fired for any reason, unless it is for an ILLEGAL reason, such as discrimination. What your employer did may have been unfair, but it was NOT illegal. In fact, since what you did was the result of violating a work rule (misconduct), it was even justified. Doesn't matter if others did it and didn't get disciplined for fired for it.

File for unemployment benefits immediately. However, given that the reasons for which you were terminated involved a violation of a known company policy, there is a real possibility that your benefits could be denied. Doesn't hurt to try, though. Maybe your employer won't challenge your claim.

 

[CSO286]

And here I thought you were chasing ME down for another drink**************...

 

[swalsh411]

File for unemployment while you look for a new job.

If you were fired for doing something that you had done all the time for years with management knowledge then it's unlikely they will suceed in getting you disqualified on the basis of misconduct. Misconduct means you did something really bad, like stealing, fighting, showing up to work drunk, or being late all the time despite warnings. If you opened the drawer every day for years, then it couldn't have been really bad.

 

[cbg]

As the others have said, this may have been an unfair termination but it is not a wrongful termination as defined by law under the facts you have described.

 

[commentator]

I don't even think the person was terminated, he/she says "written up." And no, the employer does not have to be fair. If the unfair write up caused the employee to quit, they have a very poor chance of getting approved for unemployment benefits, either. If this was an arbitrary and unfair write up, and there's no prior history of reprimands or disciplinary issues about this particular behavior, and the person was then fired, they have a fairly good chance of being approved for unemployment, but that's absolutely the only sort of "case" they have.

 

[sandyclaus]

I don't even think the person was terminated, he/she says "written up." ...

If that's the case, then the persons thread title is misleading. THAT says "Wrongfully Terminated", which is why we all assumed that they were ultimately terminated.

Could be that this write-up was the last of several infractions or violations the employee had committed, and they are upset that this was used against them to put the final nail in their coffin.