As a worker in California, you may look at losing your job as a devastating event that you have no recourse to prevent if the company claims you violated your employment contract. However, if the company does not follow its own procedures, you could have legal recourse. We at The Kaufman Law Firm often counsel clients on their rights in the workplace.
According to The National Law Review, one of those rights may involve careful investigation of claims of terminatable actions that may be made against you by someone else. This was the case of a former professional baseball player working for the MLB Network. A media source reported that the man had acted in a way that the company believed violated the code of conduct as defined by a clause in his employment contract.
The litigation filed by the former employee claimed that the company accepted those reports without conducting its own investigation to determine if the allegations were true. His claim also stated that the company threatened to terminate him if he did not agree to amend his contract based on the accusations against him and that the company caused him to lose other contracts because it implied to the public that he had admitted to the alleged misconduct.
A jury found that the company was guilty of wrongful termination, as well as breaching the employment contract because it took action without conducting a thorough investigation of the reports. More information about termination procedures and employee rights is available on our webpage.