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Wrongful Termination
'Wrongful termination' is a blanket term that refers to any and all ways an employee can be illegally
terminated from a job. It is not itself a cause of action, and can refer to all forms of illegal termination
such as discrimination based on race, age, gender, or disability, for example, retaliation for exercising a
legal right or reporting illegal activity, breach of an employment contract, violation of specific statutes
like the Family Medical Leave Act, and so on.
Actually, in California, private sector non-union employers are generally free to terminate employees,
and employees are free to leave an employer, for any reason or no reason, as long as in so doing no
specific statute, contract or public policy is thereby violated. This is because employment in California is
generally considered to be at the will of the employer and the employee, or 'at will,' meaning that there
is no contractual obligation on the part of either the employer or the employee and therefore good cause
is not required for termination. This is spelled out specifically in California Labor Code section 2922.
Of course, employees are not 'at will' if they are employed under an express or implied employment
contract, including a labor agreement, or if they are employed by a public entity like a city, a county, the
state, or a school district. In such cases the employer may be required to prove 'just cause' whether or
not a statute or public policy has been violated.
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