Georgia Wrongful Termination Lawyers

Losing your job is traumatic, especially if the dismissal feels unjust or illegal. Georgia is an at-will employment state. However, employers cannot fire you for discriminatory reasons. They also cannot fire you for whistleblowing under specific state and federal laws. At The Kirby G. Smith Law Firm, LLC, we focus on holding companies accountable for unlawful employment practices. With over 40 years of combined experience, our legal team will investigate your claim and gather evidence. We fight to win the justice and compensation you deserve.

Do You Have A Wrongful Termination Case?

You must show your firing was illegal to bring a claim. Most cases require proof that your employer acted on a specific motive. This includes discrimination or retaliation for a previous discrimination complaint. You may also have a case if you faced retaliation for whistleblowing protected by law.

How Do You Link A Wrongful Termination To Discrimination Or Retaliation?

The court requires a causal connection between your wrongful termination and the discrimination or retaliation you experienced. You may establish this connection through circumstantial evidence — circumstances surrounding your termination that identify discrimination or retaliation as a motivating factor. Circumstantial evidence includes comments directed at you, the arrival of a new discriminatory supervisor, or management’s failure to stop discriminatory jokes. Other examples include termination occurring shortly after you complain of discrimination or after a medical condition causes you to miss work. You may also use comparator evidence, which exists when a company treats co-workers differently than you under similar circumstances.

However, these proofs represent only part of the burden; to prevail on a wrongful termination claim, you must also prove the company’s business reason is illegitimate.

How Do You Prove The Company’s Business Reason Is Illegitimate?

Most people assume that proving a business reason is illegitimate merely requires proving the reason is false; however, this alone will not win a case. You must prove both that the business reason is false and that the company held no reasonable belief in its truth. The company may present witnesses or other evidence to establish that it believed in good faith that you committed the alleged act. You must use the discovery process to demand documentation and take witness statements to disprove that belief.

To illustrate, consider a termination based on an accusation that you cursed at a supervisor. In a “he said, she said” scenario, a jury decides who is telling the truth. If the company presents a witness who supports the supervisor, you must undermine that witness’s credibility. If you show the witness holds a known bias, such as a personal friendship with the supervisor or the promise of a promotion for a false statement, you prove the company holds no legitimate belief in the accusation.

Even if the accusation is true, you may still prevail by proving that management knew co-workers committed the same acts but did not terminate them. If a legally protected characteristic, such as race, gender or whistleblower status, distinguishes you from those co-workers, you may have a valid claim. Learning more about the discovery process and evidence standards is a helpful first step.

Could You Fall Into One Of The Exceptions?

You could fall into an exception to the wrongful termination analysis above if you are a public employee, if you are a member of a union, if you have a collective bargaining agreement with your employer, or if you have a contract with your employer.

Free Consultation About Your Illegal Firing

Do not wait to act if your situation falls into these categories. Employment claims have strict deadlines. These often range from 30 to 180 days depending on the nature of the claim. A sudden firing doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Reach out to our team at 770-892-6019 or use the contact form to review your firing for free.