Any statute of limitation corresponds to a period specified and allotted for filing lawsuits of a certain kind. The idea is that a victim is virtually barred(in most cases) from initiating a lawsuit for their cause, keeping aside some lawful exceptions also mentioned in the corollary of the said statute. There are different types of legal actions that can be taken by the aggrieved party, and statutes define respective deadlines for all of them, given the subject matter.
When it comes to the California Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Termination, it specifies the deadline for filing a lawsuit or initiating a claim against your employer in case they fire you without giving a valid reason, all while considering the “at-will” nature of employment practice in the state of California. We will now further discuss Wrongful Termination California Statute of Limitations Tracking.
Wrongful Termination California Statute of Limitations Tracking
As mentioned above, this statute is a very important document for all employees facing the brunt of unlawful firing by their employers as they need to be in the know about the deadlines of approaching various legal resources for a particular type of firing instance, as will be discussed ahead.
What is Wrongful Termination to begin with?
Any act of firing an employee which is a breach of the employment contract with that employee is based on discrimination rooting from gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, or sexual preferences, is rooted in retaliation for blowing the whistle on illegal and unfair workplace practices including sexual and other forms of harassment, for forming unions, etc., qualifies for wrongful termination. Any act of wrongful termination can be challenged in a relevant forum for enforcing the rights of the fired employee, including reinstatement and compensation.
Instances enforceable under Wrongful Termination California Statute of Limitations
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Termination resulting from Discrimination and Harassment
The termination of an employee as a result of discrimination and harassment based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and preferences, or a physical disability is one of the most rampant reasons for documented wrongful terminations. Lawsuits for bringing to book the perpetrating employers can be filed under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act(FEHA) or the federal Civil Rights Act, 1964.
The statute of limitations specifies that an aggrieved employee has a deadline of 300 days after the date of termination, given that they have filed a federal charge with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing(DFEH). Therefore, an employee first needs to file a charge with the DFEH within 180 days of termination.
- Termination in the Breach of Employment Contract
The most clear-cut cases of wrongful termination are those wherein the employer blatantly breaches the contract of employment signed with the employee in question when they were onboarded. Such a violation of contract, be it written, implied, or verbal, is definitely under the purview of being sought a remedy against by the aggrieved employee.
The statute of limitations specifies a deadline of four years from the date of termination for filing a lawsuit for all cases of termination which violate such a contract. An exception to this is the violation of an implied contract, where the deadline is set at two years instead of four.
- Termination because of purported Defamation or Fraud
Termination on the grounds of purported defamation or because of fraud comes under the grounds of wrongful termination. An employer that gets involved in such a practice is liable under employee rights to be brought to a court of law for compensation.
In case of defamation, the statute of limitations specifies a deadline of one year from the date of slander or libel.
In case of termination because of fraud, the statute specifies a deadline of three years from the date of discovery of the fraud by the aggrieved employee.
- Termination in violation of Public Policy
Since California is a state that practices “at-will” employment, an employee can be fired at any given time without getting a reason or justification. However, such termination can still be challenged as unlawful if it violates public policy(other than the reasons discussed above).
In such cases, the statute of limitations provides a deadline of two years from the date of termination to aggrieved employees for filing a lawsuit with the relevant court of law or any other legal forum where it may be enforceable.
Conclusion
Wrongful termination is a sore that hurts employees everywhere in the world. In California, the Statute of Limitations lays out the deadlines under which an aggrieved employee can seek remedies for their suffering because of unlawful termination.
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