Guidelines on Terminating of Employees

Usually the employer cannot dismiss and employee for complaining about illegal or unethical activities at the office. There are many employment laws that protect a workers right to complain to the authorities or management about illegal activities at the workplace. Some of these types of whistle blowing are covered by the employment laws that prohibit retaliation. For example, an employee who files an OSHA complaint or files a charge of discrimination with the EEOC cannot be fired for doing so. However, protections for whistleblowers go quite a bit further. An employee who complains about financial irregularities or improprieties relating to a government contract cannot be fired for doing so. There are many employment laws including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that protect the employee’s right to complain of accounting irregularities and potential shareholder fraud without the fear of termination. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 protects employees who complain of accounting irregularities and potential shareholder fraud.As there are different types of whistle blowing that are protected, you will be better of if you do not fire an employee for complaining of illegal or unethical behavior. Consult experienced employment attorneys before you take any disciplinary action against an employee who has made this type of complaint.

There are employment laws in all states that prohibit employers from firing an employee in violation of public policy—that is, for reasons that most people would find morally or ethically wrong. Well, since morals and ethics are relative, in each state the prohibited reasons for firing are different. Employers are explicitly prohbited by certain state and federal employment laws from firing workers for taking advantage of certain rights, like taking family medical leave or supporting a union. In some jurisdictions, in the absence of a statute that spells out exactly what the employer can and cannot do, an employee can successfully argue that he or she was fired in violation of public policy. Although the laws and rules vary from state to state, most states agree that firing an employee for any of the following reasons would violate public policy:

• not taking part in an illegal activity such as falsifying insurance claims or submitting false tax returns

• acting as a whistle blower—that is, for complaining about illegal workplace conduct and

• exercising a legal right (such as voting or filing a workers’ compensation claim).

To find out more about the employment law regarding public policy in your state, contact your state labor department or your state fair employment office. You must determine whether your company has an employment contract with the worker prior to taking the decision to fire that worker. While this can be easily done in most cases by just looking for an employment contract amongst the employee’s personnel files, in come cases, it is much more difficult. Employers sometimes create employment contracts without meaning to or even knowing they are doing so. These contracts are referred to as implied contract. Implied contracts are not written down, but instead are inferred from your actions and statements— are every bit as binding as signed, written contracts.