Wrongful termination - do I have a case?

[nwlce]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

This is actually for a friend. My friend was recently let go from her job due to a really childish and petty event. She feels like the situation was mishandled from the start and because of what they're accusing her of (retaliation) she cannot apply for unemployment and has been out of work for almost a month now, as the job market hasn't been as friendly.

The situation was basically an employee (known for stirring up trouble) went and told a store manager that she heard one of my friend's direct reports verbally trashing another manager. Instead of fact-checking and asking any of the numerous employees that were in the huddle that this was supposedly coming from, the store manager went over and pulled my friend aside and reprimanded her saying that as a leader it's her responsibility to hold that employee accountable. She tried to explain that no one said anything and the manager in question wasn't even part of the conversation they were having but he was still coming down on her. So she took it upon herself to go ask the employee that reported the incident and video recorded the results. She didn't do this to get that employee in trouble, but more or less to show the store manager that yeah she's known to start stuff and he was coming down on her for no reason and sure enough the video shows the employee back peddling and saying she never said this or that. The store manager was embarrassed and instead of apologizing, reported my friend to HR saying that he didn't want to be a part of it (although he clearly was) -- and unbeknownst to my friend, he reported it as a case of retaliation saying she was trying to throw the employee that reported the incident under the bus. He also stated that she tried to go back a second time and discuss the incident with the reporting employee (which my friend didn't) to insinuate harassment, intimidation and/or retaliation.

A week after the incident, the store manager called my friend into his office and told her he was letting her go on the grounds of retaliation; However; it seems like this decision was made long before it was "officially delivered to her" because she got her last paycheck three days before she found out. Furthermore, when she tried to appeal to HR, they told her they had already gotten all the information they needed from the store manager, which seemed suspicious because there's three parties involved and they only got the story of two employees (the reporting employee and manager apparently called HR together). They told my friend they were standing behind the store manager but my friend knows some people higher up in HR and they told her it did not sound like it was handled correctly and they recommended she call a hotline for an independent analysis.

The store manager has been known to show select favoritism towards the reporting employee including giving her vacation time during a black out period which is almost unheard of if you know anyone that works in retail. My friend feels like this was clearly demonstrated by the fact that he took her word at face value without doing further investigation and that they were (for lack of better words) in cahoots with each other to get her terminated.

Based on this information does she have a case for wrongful termination?

PS; thank you so much for your time and if you have any questions or need more details please ask and I'll be happy to get whatever you need.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Based on this information does she have a case for wrongful termination?

No, based on that she does not. First, it is important to understand what wrongful termination means in the law. In employment law a wrongful termination means a termination for a reason that the law expressly prohibits. The prohibited reasons include firing you because:

• of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or genetic test information under federal law (some states/localities add a few more categories like sexual orientation);
• you make certain kinds of reports about the employer to the government or in limited circumstances to specified persons in the employing company itself (known as whistle-blower protection laws);
• you participate in union organizing activities;
• you use a right or benefit the law guarantees you (e.g. using leave under FMLA);
• you filed a bankruptcy petition;
• your pay was garnished by a single creditor; and
• you took time off work to attend jury duty (in most states).​

The exact list of prohibited reasons will vary by state. Her manager fired her because, in her manager’s opinion, she retaliated against an employee that she supervised. It doesn’t matter whether the employer was right that your friend mishandled the situation. All that matters is that the reason for the termination was not one of the few that the law prohibits.

But just because she does not appear to have a good wrongful termination case here does not mean she wouldn’t unemployment benefits. She might get the benefits. She needs to apply ASAP since the time period for paying benefits typically runs from the date of the application; states do not often pay unemployment benefits retroactively for weeks prior to the application. It’s pretty cheap and easy to apply and the worst that can happen is that she is ultimately denied benefits after she exhausts her appeal, which makes her no worse off than she is now.

 

[cbg]

Tax has already explained why this isn't a wrongful term so I won't go into that.

From an HR perspective, I will say that your friend didn't do herself any favors either. As a manager, it's her job to investigate when a report of that kind is made. Instead of going to the employee who made the report (and videoing it was a really DUMB move, by the way) she should have gone to the employee who was reported to have made the remark. Doing it the other way (with a video, yet) gave the employee who reported the incident a real incentive to LIE about whether it happened or not. On video.

Yeah, I can see why she was fired and I can even see what it might have been termed retaliation.

 

[commentator]

But ditto on the she should go on and file a claim for unemployment insurance while looking for another job. The employer has the burden of proof to show that they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate her. And they'll get the whole story from both her and the employer, and make a decision. It has to be something she's been warned about, or she's got to have done something so bad it can be called gross misconduct, if the behavior is not determined to the level of this, she isn't going to be totally unlikely to receive benefits. The employer doesn't get to make the decision, and calling it "retaliation" or "insubordination" doesn't necessarily prove that is what it was and that it rose to the level of being a firing offense. The unemployment agency will make this decision,and as it has been mentioned, there are several appeals. The process costs nothing to the claimant and there's no downside to checking it out.

 

[nwlce]

@cbg and @commentator thanks for your replies. She was able to successfully apply for and get unemployment and I passed your respective feedbacks onto her for future reference. For those interested, the unemployment agency sided with her because she had no previous history of ever being reprimanded for any similar behaviors and because HR from the company she was working for, never reached out to her to ask her for her side of the story -- instead going with the manager and employee who had called into HR together (which she noted was also unusual). Furthermore, HR had actually processed her termination a full week before she was notified (basically unbeknownst to her, she received her last paycheck and they continued to let her work all the way up until the GM decided to officially tell her she was terminated. Meanwhile they kept telling her they were waiting to hear back on what HR's decision was as they were still investigating). Thanks again to everyone!

 

[commentator]

Thank you for coming back to let us know what happened. "For those interested" includes some of us who have had quite a bit of experience with these issues and were pretty sure how it'd be likely to work out. But its always a learning for people who haven't had this sort of thing happen to them; most people in the workforce actually believe they have so many more rights and protections than they actually do. But anyhow, glad she got approved for benefits, hope she finds a new job soon. That is about the only recourse available.