It is understandably devastating to find yourself suddenly unemployed. However, it’s even more devastating to experience unfair dismissal and wrongful termination. Not only will you have no income and no way of paying your bills, but you might also be concerned about your professional reputation and the negative impacts on your career path.
But if your termination contradicts labor laws, there’s no reason you should have to fit the bill for your missing income.
If you have been terminated wrongfully, take the following steps.
1. Contact A Lawyer Right Away
An experienced employment lawyer can guide you through the many complexities of employment law and filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against your previous employer.
Legal representation with HKM employment attorneys is the best way to receive fair compensation and benefits from your employer. You might not be able to get your job back, but the right lawyer can negotiate a lucrative compensation package that will keep you afloat financially until you can find another job.
That said, when searching for the best employment lawyer, it’s wise to consider years of experience, fee structures, attorney personality, availability, and case success rates.
2. Get Your Documents Together
It’s impossible to build a strong legal case without enough valid evidence. So, you’ll need to gather all relevant documents that support your wrongful termination claim. These documents can include emails, text messages, and even physical letters that justify your claims.
It’s best to have all your documents together before consulting an attorney. Otherwise, you will delay the process of claiming compensation for wrongful dismissal.
3. Collect Witness Statements
While a majority of your colleagues might feel reluctant to get involved, as they may fear their employment status will be in jeopardy, it’s still worthwhile to try to collect witness statements that support your claims.
You might discover that several colleagues have the same or similar complaints that resulted in your wrongful termination.
4. Review Your Termination Letter
If you have received a termination letter, it’s important to review it with the help of your employment lawyer. You might be able to counteract the reason for dismissal. For example, if you have been terminated due to a workplace infringement but have evidence that proves your innocence, you might be able to reverse your termination or pursue compensation from your employer.
5. File Relevant Complaints
Employees have the right to file appropriate complaints with various agencies like the equal employment opportunity commission (EEOC) or your state’s labor board.
In addition, you should also file a complaint with your employer through the human resources department or other relevant channel. With this, avoid filing a complaint with the boss who terminated your employer, as they may wrongfully dismiss your complaint.
When pursuing a wrongful termination lawsuit, the right lawyer will ensure that you receive fair compensation that substitutes your lost income and employment benefits such as health insurance and others. As a result, you can find alternative employment or change careers without the burden of financial stress.
Wrapping up
Today, getting fired can happen to almost anyone and almost no one has a secure job until the end of their working life. Restructuring, the sale of companies, world crises, and shutdowns due to unprofitability are no longer rare occurrences but are happening more and more often.
In the private sector, this often means that a large number of people get fired and that they most often did not contribute to the termination of the employment relationship by their own mistakes. Therefore, if you have lost your job or expect to be fired, it is important to know what you must do in order to move on and find a new job as easily as possible.
Consulting with the right employment attorney, as we mentioned in the article, is definitely the right move to make. That’s as far as the legal dimension goes, but you should also work on accepting all possible outcomes, be it finding another employment opportunity or going back to your old job.
Give yourself time to accept the resignation
Getting fired is a big deal and the level of stress can be compared to losing a close person. Therefore, it is important to give yourself time to accept the fact that your life will change from the ground up. However, you often spent more than eight hours a day at your workplace, you made friends, and perhaps defined yourself to a large extent through your work, which is not unusual.
It is quite normal that at first, you cannot believe what is happening to you. Typical feelings that arise in those moments are feelings of sadness and hurt. Maybe you’ve lost all motivation to get up in the morning and feel anxious. Or you are angry and would prefer to take out your anger on your employer. It’s all normal. However, the latter is usually the worst choice because you will hurt yourself the most. It is understandable that you have the need to take revenge on your employer, but be aware that this will cause new problems.
So it’s important to give yourself time when you go through this. Be sad, angry, and hurt because you have every right to feel that way. If you feel anxious or anxious, you can also seek the help of a specialist, especially if the condition lasts longer.
Finally, start your job search as soon as possible
Job hunting takes time, especially if you want to find a position that matches your experience and your affinities. Therefore, update your CV or create a new one as soon as possible. Think about which companies you would like to work for and try to find out if they have open positions.
Maybe you know people in companies that would be interesting for you as an employer? In addition, announce as soon as possible to your circle of family and friends that you are looking for a job. This is often the easiest way to find a new job.