Layoff Protection for Layoff Employees
There are many factors that make employers to cut down on their employees. In most cases, employers usually conduct layoff if the company is making huge losses. In most states, employment is usually at will. This means that you can decide to quit your job or the company can fire you even without a cause. Although the employer is not prohibited to lay off workers if they are not able to sustain them, there are some cases where employer usually conduct illegal layoff of employees. All employees have the right to be notified in advance by the employer in case the company plans to lay them off. If the employer fails to give proper notice, then employees have the right to sue the company and seek compensation for damages. It is a right that has been given to employees by the Federal Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN).
WARN law is implemented in many states including California. However, employers in California are not required to continue giving employees health benefits or pay small severance. It only requires them to give advance notice prior to a layoff.
Discrimination laws
Have you been laid off because of discrimination? The biggest challenge that employees have is being to prove that their layoff was discriminatory. For instance, it is not good enough to say that your layoff was discriminatory if the evidence that you provide is that you were laid off because the company could not afford your high salary. However if you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were discriminated, you can file a lawsuit and sue the employer. This is because the federal law prohibits discrimination against employees based on age, sex, race or religion.
Required notice
If a company is planning to conduct massive layoff or if it is planning to close, the employees who will be affected are required to be notified 60 days in advance. If employees are in union, then the employer can communicate to their officials to inform them about the matter. Their representatives will then pass the information to the affected employees. The notice given must comply with both federal and Californian law. This include providing detailed information of the specifics of the layoff. For instance, the employer is supposed specify whether the layoff will be permanent or temporary, the expected date of layoff, whether the employee will have bumping right as well as when they will receive letter of termination.
Employers who conduct illegal layoffs or fail to comply with WARN and federal law may be ordered by the court to compensated affected workers for the damage that they have caused. Employers will also be ordered to pay all court costs and attorney fee that employees incurred when suing the company. Employees who don’t give proper notice to the government can also be fined.
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