Wrongful termination?

Well, there are a few different issues at play here. One - when you were let go, were you told directly that the position was being eliminated? If so, did they give you anything in writing? Two - did you file and are you receiving unemployment? Did they fight it saying you were not laid off? Three - the part about being let go due to your absences is at this point merely hear-say. You have no proof that they did any such thing. So that would be difficult to prove, although if they DID hire someone new to replace you, it certainly does not look good on their part that you are pregnant and they let you go. Four - they cannot terminate you for "being" pregnant, but if they can show that your absences proved to be a hardship for them (unlikely) they could possibly term you for absences. In CA, an employer with 5 or more employees must offer PDL (Pregnancy Disability Leave) and your time off for doctor's appointments will usually not be considered good grounds for discipline since those appointments are for the pregnancy.

Now, having said all of that, let me add one more thing. If they "laid you off" and told you your position was being eliminated, you have something from them stating that you were let go for that reason, AND you can prove that they hired someone new for that position (within a short timeframe), you may very likely have a case against them. If you have witnesses that will come forward to establish that they unlawfully discriminated against you due to your pregnancy, you have a REALLY good case against them!

Telling someone they are being let go for false reasons can get a company into big time trouble. Often, employers don't want the confrontation issues so they make up a reason they are letting someone go in the hopes that it will sound nicer. But when they hire someone for that supposedly eliminated position, they place themselves at great risk for lawsuits. Keep in mind that it is entirely possible they just have someone else in that position and that person is also performing the work of another position so they don't have to have a single person in your position. That is lawful.

If you believe you have a case, I suggest you call the Dept of Fair Employment and Housing. Below is a link to their contact page.

http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/DFEH/contact/Default.aspx

Call them and ask them about this. They will be able to point you in the right direction. I hope this helps. Good luck to you and congrats on your pregnancy!

As an 'at will' employee the only wrongful termination would be termination due to discrimination. An employment attorney can help you by trying to fit the discrimination bases (at www.eeoc.gov) into your situation. In a discrimination suit you must show that other workers who did a similar job, in similar circumstances, were treated better due to their age, sex, race, etc. Because others were written up but not terminated, you may have a chance with this. In conjunction with what poster Billy Big said, California has its own rules about employees - it is considered a pro-employee state regarding laws. Ohio and most of the Midwest and Eastern states are pro-employer, which means that the laws favor the employer. Yes, it is possible to take a termination case to appellate and high court levels by alleging that there is some implied contract in the Employee manual, if you have the money. That type of case would cost in the range of $7,000 to $15,000 up front. As for unemployment, in Illinois about 85% of all employers fight a previous employee's unemployment benefits. Why? Because the more previous employees that get benefits the higher the annual tax is on the employer. In an unemployment case there are 2 reasons not to get benefits 1. the employee quit and 2. the employee committed misconduct. Misconduct under the Unemployment Statutes does not mean that the employee made a mistake, it has a legal meaning. Again, you need to contact a local Ohio licensed employment attorney who can help you with these issues as they are under Ohio law. Good luck.

I'd rather address a bigger and better issue. Getting fired was the best thing that happened in my career. The company needed to cut expenses.......guess what.....they found a way. When they have a target, they can make up about anything....and if you fight it.........it's still their terms and your out the door.

Nowdays, I am with a top 3 company, with a very high award given in the first 6 months. I am way too happy. I appreciate having a job and I work very hard........because of my past firing. It's kind of a "fire phobia", I worked so hard to keep my last job, did it to a T and worried up until the end......but nobody could have stopped that company from firing us all. It just carried over into my next job and they think I am stellar, and I feel it.

Nowdays, I am a beast. I never show up late, never get sick, think through my work hard, keep my boss informed, keep my mouth shut, ignore testy workers.............thank you X company for firing me. It's amazing what a blow to your ego can do. It can reset your world.

Enjoy and learn to cook to save money......I cook well nowdays.

I do not believe it is legal to terminate due to pregnancy. Contact the EEOC and talk to one of their advisors. They will tell you if they can help you and if it is a case, they will supply a lawyer free of charge.

http://www.eeoc.gov/contact/

Employment can be terminated at any time, for any reason, unless you have a written contract with the employer stating otherwise.

you could file a wrongful termination suit and might even win. they might even offer you your job back. personally i would threaten the suit and then just walk away. i wouldn't want to work for a company that treated it's employees like that

You shouldn't be missing work like that. When you get your next job, make arrangements in advance to make up any lost time.