Here are the facts, as I understand them:
1. You have never had any disciplinary problems, and were never late, and you had a near-perfect attendance record.
2. You were recently arrested, which caused you to miss four days of work, and also made it difficult or impossible to call in.
3. When you were terminated, your employer stated that it was because you were absent and/or failed to call in promptly. Alternatively, if your employer gave no reason for your termination, you believe that it was for the absence/failure to call in.
4. You are aware of other employees who have engaged in misconduct but who have not been similarly treated. Several have been absent from work for a longer period of time but were not terminated. Others have been caught smoking marijuana at work and received a write-up, but were allowed to continue working.
5. You are wondering if you have a case for wrongful termination.
As a general rule, employment relationships in California are "at will," which means that an employer can discharge an employee for good cause, no cause, "bad" cause, but not an illegal cause. To simplify this answer, I will assume that you were an at-will employee, even though you may not have been.
To have been wrongfully terminated, the employer must have acted with illegal motivation, such as for legally protected whistleblowing, or for unlawful discrimination based on race, religion, age (40/over), sexual orientation, national origin, color, or gender.
If the employer was merely acting arbitrarily, and treated you different from those other employees for no particular reason, or because of a personal disliking for you, then there would not appear, based on the facts as I understand them, to be a case for wrongful termination.
Other facts which might affect the viability of a wrongful-termination case include, but are not limited to: (1) your race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, and age at the time of the termination; (2) the same (race, religion, etc.) for the other employees who engaged in misconduct but who were not terminated; (3) your job title and duties; (4) the job titles and duties of those other employees; (5) whether you were under contract and not actually at-will; (6) the identity of your employer; and (7) how many employees there were.
If you have any specific questions or would like additional guidance, feel free to contact me ( jbryant@gmail.com ) or another employment-discrimination attorney directly.
