Texas is noted for being a state with the ‘most’ employer friendly employment laws. Employers and employees are equal in bargaining.
Even with the legal notion in Texas that the employer and employee are equal in bargaining, there are still some rules that companies must follow. For example, although they may terminate a worker at anytime for any reason, that reason may not involve discrimination. There may also be other exceptions that involve a contract signed by the company and the worker.
“Texas subscribes to the legal notion that the employee and the employer are equal in bargaining. While this sounds good, often in reality, employers tend to have more bargaining power than workers. There is an exception or two to that scenario and under a specific set of legal conditions, Texas workers may file for unlawful termination,” outlined Ty Gomez, a Dallas business lawyer who writes for the Dallas based Gomez Law Group.
Unlawful termination may be a cause of action in two primary circumstances in Texas. For instance, if a worker was told to do something illegal and they didn’t do it and got fired because they did not do it, this may result in a cause of action for the employee. The second avenue that may be taken for unlawful termination would be discrimination. “Be aware that discrimination lawsuits rarely succeed unless the discrimination involves a protected class; e.g., gender or religion,” commented Dallas business lawyer Gomez.
“Even if you have been asked to do something illegal, and didn’t do it, you must prove you were asked to do something illegal. In other words, you (the plaintiff) have to present evidence you were ordered to do an illegal act. If this has happened to you, you need to have as much evidence as possible before you no longer have access to it. There are two reasons for taking this precaution, the first is that having evidence will likely net you compensation for unlawful termination and bring a ‘crook’ to justice,” Gomez observed.
The bottom line in cases that deal with unlawful termination is that if the person has been let go because of an employer’s discriminatory actions or because that individual said no when asked to do something illegal, they may be able to obtain compensation for their losses. Always make it a point to talk to an experienced Dallas business lawyer to find out how to proceed in an unlawful termination case.
Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.
