What termination reasons are illegal?
Absent an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement that states otherwise, most California private sector employees are considered “at-will,” meaning they can be fired for any reason (or no reason at all) except those reasons specifically protected by law. Some illegal termination reasons include those based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, gender, pregnancy, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity, military status or service, or in retaliation for complaining about harassment and discrimination, whistleblowing, or filing a worker’s compensation claim. There are many other unlawful termination reasons as well, including those discussed on our wrongful termination page.
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