Rice & Company, LPA
Attorneys at Law
2424 Woodville Rd
Oregon, OH 43616
(419)697-2424
(419)697-3993 fax
Listening to you. Fighting For
You.
Wrongful Discharge from Employment in Ohio
Ohio
is what is known as an "employment at will" state. What that means is that a person can be
terminated from employment at the will of the employer for any reason or no
reason. If you do not have a
written contract of employment, be that an individual contract or a collective
bargaining contract in which a union negotiated the terms and conditions of
your employment, you are an employee at will.
For employees at will, Ohio and Federal law prohibit
termination, or other adverse employment action, only for illegal reasons. Adverse employment actions, in addition
to discharge, typically include demotions, refusals to hire or promote, discrimination
with respect to pay rates or equal pay, denials of leave, a hostile work
environment, sexual harassment, and refusing to accommodate disabilities. Harassment that leads an employee to
quit because they just cannot take it anymore may be what is called a
"constructive discharge," and may be a basis for a claim.
Chief among the illegal reasons that provide a cause
of action are when the termination or adverse employment action is based on
discrimination against an individual on account of their race, sex, religion,
age, disability, or national origin.
Additionally, a wrongful discharge may occur when a reason for the
termination involves retaliation against the employee for exercising a
protected right. Some of these
common rights (this is not an exhaustive list) include: filing or participating
as a witness in a civil rights charge, filing a workers' compensation claim,
engaging in coordinated activity on behalf of fellow workers (chiefly union organizing),
attending jury duty, or exercising or attempting to exercise rights under the
Family and Medical leave Act (FMLA.)
If a client contacts our office regarding a wrongful
discharge or employment discrimination case, usually the first things we need to
know are:
(1) What was the adverse employment action taken
against the employee?
(2) When did this happen?
(3) Why was the action wrongful – what sort of
discrimination or retaliation motivated the employer to take action against
you?
(4) Who is the employer? (Many people seem to be reluctant to discuss this. However, it is important for us to
know. We do a lot of work in this
area, and often have experience with certain employers that can help us
understand or advance your case.
It is also important to make sure we avoid any potential conflicts of
interest.)
(5) Were you an employee at will, or do you have other
remedies available to you? If you
are a member of a union or a public employee, you likely have additional
rights, and it may be essential that you exhaust those remedies in order to
pursue the matter.
First we will need to address these threshold
questions. If a client has a good
grasp of these and can let us know the answers from the start, we will be in a
much better position to help them.
Only then we then will be able to get further into issues of evidence
and damages.
(c)
2009 by Kollin L Rice. This content
is intended for general information and should not be construed as legal
advice. For legal advice, one
should contact the author directly.