Can the case be made that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about work conditions? If so then the employer is in deep doo-doo.
Unless she is averse to litigating under any circumstances then he should at least talk to an employment law attorney to find out what recourse(s) she may have.
at will is tough to get around...
EEOC....last thing any business needs is someone going to the Feds.
Would I want to force an employer to retain me? Ah, no.
“At will” means they can let you go because it was sunny that day.
If you really think the employer straight-up broke a law then you might have a case. But that seems unlikely. Being unfair or unjustified won’t cut it.
Depends on the reason. At will means you can be fired for an infinite number of different reasons or no reason at all, but you can’t be fired for the wrong reason. The list of wrong reasons is fairly limited, but basically, age, gender, race, nationality, religion, etc.
I vote for “let it go”. Your friend will save herself further emotional upset pursuing an unlikely cause. Not a lawyer, but I worked in state government administering Unemployment claims for years. As I understand “employment at will”, you can be let go for any reason other than certain proscribed forms of discrimination. Or for no reason at all. The fact that the employer cites a BS reason is not relevant, IMO.
HR is the overseer of companies.
Their job is to squeeze/$crew employees to the max and not get in trouble.
After I took early retirement from a large company, some minority and women employees still with the corporation found out that HR was never on their side.
This is a blot on her business reputation and they should be forced to correct the record.
In business all you have is your reputation.
If they want to let her go that is fine, that is what "at will" is all about. But they are not allowed to lie about the reason they let her go.
At Will- bye bye.
One persons perception of bullying is another’s attempt to give direction to an employee operating under expectations.
Notes of perceived issues are fine, but won’t go anywhere without a bunch of other employees because the employer will probably pull out a videos which store for at least a year if this ever went forward.
It sounds like a case can be made for a hostile workplace lawsuit.
FWIW, I’d speak to an Attorney, Hostile Work Environment is the area I bet they look into. Did she document it in excruciating detail? That might be key. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise. When you get let go/fired it means you took the wrong job in the first place. IMHO from personal experience, people bring their dysfunctionalities, insecurities, an other pathologies that have nothing to do with her as a person or performance as an employee. Been their done that and have the tee-shirts to prove it...
bfl
Do you think they were trying to make her quit?
If she quits or gets fired, they don’t have to pay unemployment. Or maybe someone is just being a big ol’jerk.
First question is if she is successful in fighting for her job, would she actually want to still work there?
Is your friend going to get a good referral when future employers call?...what will the last employer tell them? That might determine what she does now.
Was she fired with cause? Or was she just “let go”, which is considered a layoff or furlough. At will only states that an employer can terminate your employment for any reason, or no reason at all. But, unless she was fired “with cause”, quit, reached the end of a contract, she would be eligible to claim unemployment.
The first thing to do is contact the HR at her former employer and reguest a copy of her personnel file, they have to give her a copy of it. Then locate a labor attorney, preferably local, and explain the situation to them. The local attorneys usually know who the real bad actor companies are, and would know how to handle them.
I vote no. Lawyer will ask for retainer in advance.
Even if you sue and win you will forever be:
Your name v . employer
Future job prospects will be impacted as trouble maker.
LPT:
It’s not fair but should have looked for different job
When problems started.
An ‘at will’ company??? She’d better get her resume’ updated...
Yes and take the log. Let them make copies but keep the original. Contact a labor lawyer. Hostile work encironment.
Do not accept offer to go back to work there