“INVOLUNTARY job loss is a stressful event, creating a variety of problems immediately, and long periods of unemployment can compound those problems,” states The Urban Institute, in a report it prepared for the Rockefeller Foundation entitled Consequences of Long-Term Unemployment.
As employment attorneys, we are only too familiar with the sad realities of being fired. The situation becomes worse when the employee is illegally fired. Of course, not all terminations are wrongful or illegal. California’s employment-at-will doctrine allows either the employer or the employee to end the employment relationship at any time. Therefore, an employee can quit his or her job at any time for any reason. The employer may also terminate employees at any time, even if the employee’s job performance has been excellent.
However, an employer may not fire an employee for a discriminatory or retaliatory reason. Discrimination based on age, race, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, medical condition, and pregnancy are illegal. It is also illegal to fire an employee in retaliation against the employee for registering complaints regarding the safety of the employer’s products, for refusing to engage in nonconsensual sexual acts, or for testifying about the employer’s unlawful practices.
Employees who suffer the injustice of a wrongful termination are doubly vulnerable because of either physical or emotional factors that led up to (or may have even caused) the termination. Disabled or pregnant employees, for example, who were targeted for termination precisely for their medical condition may experience feelings of fear, frustration and helplessness. Like other employees who have involuntarily lost their jobs, they may experience long-term unemployment. Long-term unemployment is defined as the state of being out of work for more than six months.
According to The Urban Institute’s study, long-term unemployment directly affects family resources through lost earnings, which increase with each additional week of unemployment.
The long-term unemployed borrow money from friends, spend savings, and miss mortgage or rent payments. They are generally in a poor financial situation with some filing for bankruptcy. The drop in consumption also means foregoing needed expenses such as dental visits, health care, and buying medicines.
Furthermore, the report cites a long history of research showing that becoming unemployed has large negative effects on mental health. As economic stress increases, the incidence of anxiety disorders also increase. Some evidence suggest that long-term unemployment increase suicide rates.
Job losses and long-term unemployment can affect children through increased family stress and reduced incomes. Children whose parents suffer longer unemployment and larger lifetime income losses are expected to suffer greater detriment to their emotional well-being, including cognitive distress and depressive symptoms, which may “result in worse education and labor market outcomes in the children’s generation.”
Finally, unemployed workers who eventually find re-employment earned about 5 to 15 percent less than similar workers who did not lose their jobs. And, according to the report, disabled workers (who can still work with accommodation) “are very unlikely to return to work; in fact, retired people are far more likely to reenter the labor market than the disabled.”
The report concludes “being out of work for six months or more is associated with lower well-being among the long-term unemployed, their families, and their communities. [They] also tend to earn less once they find new jobs. They tend to be in poorer health and have children with worse academic performance than similar workers who avoided unemployment.”
Employees who are wrongfully terminated, especially the most vulnerable ones, therefore, deserve serious attention. They need to know that there are remedies available to them under the law. Consulting with an experienced employment attorney may help clarify their next course of action.
***
The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost. Atty. Sayas’ Law Office is located at 500 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 980, Glendale, CA 91203. You can contact the office at (818) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com.
***
C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against employers and insurance companies. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.