What Are My Rights When I Leave A Job?
4 min read
Wrongful Termination California Lawyer
Employee turnover is expected in California. An employee can leave their positions due to termination, constructive damage or even self-will for greener pastures.
Thankfully, employees have legal rights even when leaving their jobs.
Before you leave your job, make sure you have a clear understanding of your rights and responsibilities and any legal implication.
Employee’s Rights When Leaving A Job
If you are leaving your job after termination, it would be better to hire a wrongful termination lawyer in orange county ca to help you learn of your rights.
Employees are comfortable changing their workplace environment or maybe terminated for legal or illegal purposes. In California, most employees are employed at will. Meaning, employees may leave their jobs at any time without any valid reason. Besides, their employers have no obligation to provide such employees with notice. However, this may be required where necessary.
One primary type of ending employment relationship is when an employee undergoes a constructive discharge. Employers do this by making the working place intolerable for such employees to work. But, this may be one perfect ground for filing a wrongful termination claim.
When leaving your job, you have to be keen on any employment records from your employer. The reason is that they may carry lots of weight for your employment life in future.
When an employment relationship ends, the employer and employee have certain rights. These may include:
- Issuance of a final paycheck: Under California paycheck laws, an employee must be provided with a final paycheck within 72 hours. However, the employee has to give their employer notice of less than 72 hours. In addition, such final paycheck has to include your accrued wages, unused vacations, among others. When this doesn’t happen, an employee has a right to collect a waiting time penalty.
- Insurance benefits:Most employers have group life insurance policies for their employees, where an employer pays half of the premiums. When an employee leaves the job, the employer may notify such an employee of the need to move to an individual coverage to pay for their full premiums.
You can claim your benefits or chose to move on with personal coverage. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows employees to continue their health insurance when they lose their jobs. But such rights are mostly possible after filing a lawsuit.
- Severance pay:Though there is no law requiring employers to pay for severance pay when employees are laid off, this may happen when there was a promise made to pay. The agreement of payment may or may not be in the form of writing. This means that if there is a practice of paying employees who are laid off a severance pay, you may also demand such pay. However it may be not easy to prove an oral agreement. Again, you may also show the promise from your employment manual.
Some employers play tricks with employees. For example, they may request an employee to sign a waiver and release of the contract when issuing a severance package. This is to deter an employee from taking any legal action for anything illegal that may have happened during or after employment. Note that such a severance package may be more than monetary value. For the best action, you need to speak with a lawyer.
- Unemployment insurance: In most cases, you may not be eligible for unemployment benefits if there was no valid reason for quitting. It would be argued out that a reasonable person in your situation could not have left the job. But you have a legal right in case of discrimination, termination or even constructive discharge from your employer. You can seek help from an experienced employment lawyer. Such can advise you on the eligibility to collect your unemployment benefits.
Have You Left Your Job?
Any employee who has left their job or has been laid off can tell you that the process is not easy. First, you have to clearly understand your right and responsibilities to ensure your employer doesn’t take advantage of you.
Remember that you will also have to look for a new job. Meaning you will need correct references
California state laws allow employee rights after being laid off. Such laws are sophisticated and may require one to seek help from an employment lawyer.
Your search for another job will require you to get your personnel file within 30 days. You may also get your recommendation letter to get it easier when applying for jobs.
If you have issues during your layoff or quitting your job and believe your employer is making the situation hard, you can choose to speak to an employment lawyer as soon as possible.
Before the lawyer agrees to handle your case, they will have a free case evaluation to ensure your claim is valid.
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