How do I know if I have a wrongful termination claim in California?

Determining whether or not your termination was wrongful can be a complicated task, and the rules for determination vary by state. Most at-will employees can be terminated without reason. Wrongful termination is different from unfair termination. Wrongful indicates the employer did something unlawfully.

Are you a member of a protected class? For instance, what is your ethnicity, national origin, religion, or gender? Are you pregnant? Are you over the age of 40? Do you have a disability? If fired because you are a member of one of these classes, you may have been wrongfully terminated. The next task is to be able to prove it.

On the other hand, if you are terminated because your boss favors another person, there were personality conflicts, or you posted something on social media that your boss did not like, these things do not constitute wrongful termination.