Legal Question in Employment Law in California
No reason for dismissal
I was recently dismissed
from a part-time job without reason. I
politely called the
manager to reach an understanding for
the matter, but after I attempted to
reach her by phone to no avail, I was
then called by a fellow employee at the
restaurant and said that the official
reason is ''no reason,'' which is simply
saying the manager, who was once nice
to me, didn't want to dignify my matter
and instead have someone else do the
dirty work. I just want the matter
settled. Was it for reasons beyond their
control and I can use them as a
reference? Was I fired for something
unbeknownst to me? It's odd how I went
from constant praise at my job to being
''let go'' without reason and being
refused one. Do I have grounds for
anything here? I was told by someone
that in California they are required to
give a reasoning for grounds for
dismissal. Is that still true for part-time
jobs? Don't I have the right to know
these things? More or less I wouldn't be
beyond assuming discrimination,
considering it's a Mexican restaurant,
the manager/co-owner is Thai, and I
am a Caucasian and was a
minority while on the job. While it could
be a stretch, without reason I don't
know.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: No reason for dismissal
An 'at will' employee, you, can be fired anytime, without reason or explanation. IF you think you can show reverse discrimination, by conduct or comments about your ethnicity, then contact me to discuss the facts, and see if there are grounds for legal action under the discrimination statutes.
Re: No reason for dismissal
These are all very good questions. Unfortunately, an employer in California can terminate you for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all, as long as the reason is not an illegal reason. The most frustrating part for you is the employer is not required to advise you (unless there is a union contract stating otherwise) why you were terminated.
However, should you apply for unemployment, the employer may advise unemployment why you were termianted through their interview process. Furthermore, if you have some money to spare (which most people do not have) you can hire a job reference company to do a background check on yourself by calling your previous employers or specifically just this employer to determine what is being said if anything as to what the reason was for your termination.
Nevertheless, the law does not require the employer provide you with a reason. You did mention a concern with race discrimination. Proving discrimination must be more than actually differing races at work amongst staff. You would have to be able to show diferrential treatement between staff based on race, racial comments by the superivsor and more. Should any of the above type of conduct or similar conduct have occured I suggest you contact legal counsel.
If you have any further questions you are welcome to contact our office or an attorney in your area. I wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely, Beth Mora
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