Los Angeles Wrongful Termination Law Blog

A Los Angeles resident who is over 40-years-old probably gets even more stressed out about the possibility of a layoff or other termination than would a younger employee simply because, despite the laws preventing age discrimination, it can be harder for an older worker to find another job after being let go. Nevertheless, when faced with a pink slip and handed a severance agreement, many employees over 40 years of age will wind up signing the document, even it means giving up their right to sue their former employers.

Perhaps because of the possibility that people over 40 years of age might feel pressured into signing a severance agreement that is not in their best interests, California employers, like other employers nationwide, have to give some additional information and satisfy some additional requirements when laying off an older employee and trying to entice them into signing an agreement.

Like several other states, the courts in California are willing to enforce the terms of an employee handbook, as long as the employer distributes the handbook to its employees and as long as the obligations and promises it contains are sufficiently specific to enforce. California courts do so under the theory that an employer would not issue a handbook if it did not expect to follow the policies in it, and employees would, on the other hand, consult the handbook in order to know what the employer expected.

However, like many other states, employers in California have the option of expressly disclaiming the idea that an employee handbook is actually a type of contract or legal promise. All the employer needs to do is clearly and specifically state as much in the handbook with language like "this handbook is not a contract."

A Los Angeles resident can put in years or even decades of service to a company only to one morning get called in the management's office and be told that their services are simply no longer needed. Some get a severance agreement and package, but others may not be so lucky. These unexpected and abrupt changes in life clearly carry an enormous amount of stress. But it's important to try to keep a level head and approach the situation with a clear mind; there may be legal recourse.

Aside from the emotional shock, when one is laid-off without warning, it raises important legal questions. Perhaps, it was a matter of economic circumstances, but other times, the termination of a senior worker is a form of age discrimination, an illegal business practice.

In general, race discrimination in the employment process is not permitted but it can sometimes be difficult to detect. The employee or job applicant, however, may know it is going on. It may outwardly seem more subtle when an employer fails to hire or promote an employee because of their race when the employer is unlikely to state racial discrimination as the reason. Racial discrimination in the workplace is strictly prohibited by both federal and state laws.

Ways to establish racial discrimination in employment, hiring and promotion practices, for instance, include if the employer inquires about the applicant's race but then refuses to hire them. Additionally, it may be possible to establish patterns of racial discrimination in hiring decisions or if an individual who is less qualified is promoted instead of the individual that is suffering racial discrimination.