Was I wrongfully terminated?
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Was I wrongfully terminated?
I had 1 incident with a crewmember. It wasn’t pretty, but it was only
one time. On my termination paper, they claimed I created a hostile
work environment. Now that label will follow me to other jobs. The
incident that happened didn’t fall in any of the guidelines that
constitutes that label. Also, my manager never talked to me. Not once
did he ask me. There are slot more details about this. I need help
here. I asked this question on another site over a week ago and never
received an answer. Please help me.. I
Thanks
Asked on March 5, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Arizona
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
This is not legally wrongful termination unless you had a written employment contract which was violated by your termination. Otherwise, without a written contract, you were an employee at will and an employee at will may be terminated at any time, for any reason--including unfair ones and including without the right to speak to a supervisor or defend him/herself. Quite simply, an employee at will has no rights to his or her job. It doesn't matter what they called the reason for termination: they could terminate you.
IF they tell other people that you did something that you did not--e.g. tell a possible employer, on a reference check--you may be able to sue for defamation. But their statement must be *factually* incorrect; if factually correct, it doesn't matter what their opinion of the incident was or what they called it (only false factual statements may be defamation). So if they say you had a short incident with another employer when you did in fact have one, that is not defamation, even if you disagree with them calling it the creation of a hostile environment.
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