How Can A Wrongful Termination Attorney Assist Me If I Was Terminated Without Just Cause In Manhattan, NY?
Terminating an employee without cause or just cause does not, in itself, give rise to a cognizable claim in the Manhattan, NY. New York is an at-will employment state. This means that employment law in Manhattan is not always fair, and it does not always conform to popular notions of right and wrong.
In Manhattan, unless you have a contract of employment that states otherwise or unless you are a member of a labor union, you can be terminated – that is, fired — for any reason or no reason, good reason or bad reason, as long as it’s not a reason that’s prohibited by statute or public policy.
Most reasons for termination that are prohibited by statute or public policy fall into the categories of discrimination or retaliation. That is, either the firing is discrimination against you based on your membership in a protected class (for example, your race, color, religion, sex, and national origin), or the termination is retaliation against you for engaging in legally protected conduct (for example, complaining about discrimination or harassment in the workplace). Employees who are fired for taking part in protected conduct are often called “whistleblowers.”
The courts of the State of New York will not second-guess an employer’s business judgment in terminating an employee.
Further, a business in Manhattan may fire an employee because the business believes that the employee engaged in certain conduct, even if, in fact, the employee did not engage in that conduct. An employer need not be factually correct in its reasons for firing you. For example, a retailer may terminate a store employee because the retailer believes that the employee stole money from the store’s cash register, even if, in fact, the employee did not do so.
Similarly, a company in Manhattan may discharge an executive or a professional because of the company’s subjective view of the executive’s performance, even if the company’s view is objectively mistaken. For instance, an employer in Manhattan may fire an executive or a professional because the employer subjectively believes that the executive is doing a bad job of increasing the employer’s revenue, even if, objectively speaking, the executive is doing a terrific job of expanding the company’s profits. The New York courts do not sit as a super-human resources department.
To sum up, in Manhattan, unless you have an agreement of employment that states otherwise or unless you are a union member of a labor union, the mere fact that your firing was unjust or unfair does not give you a cause of action for wrongful discharge. Rather, your termination was unlawful if it violated a statute or public policy, such as by discriminating against you on the basis of a protected characteristic, or by retaliating against you because of your protected activity.
If you are an executive or a professional in the Manhattan, NY metro area and you believe you may have been wrongfully terminated, call Manhattan Wrongful Termination Attorney David S. Rich at (347) 835-5688 today.
