The basic concept of wrongful termination in violation of public policy is that employers cannot terminate an otherwise at-will employee if the termination would violate the "public policy". What does that mean? To be the basis of a wrongful termination action, the policy in question must be well established and substantial and it must be based on either a statute or constitutional provision. There are obvious violations of "public policy," such as terminating an employee for refusing to fire another employee because that employee is black and over 40 years ago.  But there is plenty of "gray area" as well.  A typical scenario is when an employee engages in "protected activity" and the employer fires him or her "because of" or in "retaliation" for engaging in that protected activity".

Protected activities: Wrongful termination claims usually are based on one of the following categories of "protected activities":

(1) Terminations expressly prohibited by statute (but you need to know which statute);

(2) Terminations where the employiee has exercised a constitutional or statutory right or privilge;

(3) Terminations for refusing to engage in conduct th at is unlawful; and

(4) Terminations for reporting alleged unlawful conduct by the employer. This is sometimes called "whistleblowing." For more infomration, read our section on the subject.