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CA employment laws, employee's rights against wrongful termination
Fullerton, CA
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Posted 11 months ago in Wrongful Termination
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wrongful termination:
I worked for a wine company as a wine consultant doing in home wine tasting and sales and other events for the company. I worked in the office an average of 5 days a week but was not paid as I was total commission. The commission on sales was 15%. About 3 weeks before my husband and I went on a 3 week vacation I informed my manager I would be gone. Three days before we left, he fired me saying that he thought I would loose the company money by being gone so long. This was after I had a very good week of sales, which would have been better but he took away my last two appointments I had scheduled. Plus after I had sent out 450 invitations to our next two hotel wine tasting events to my and other clients so that they could come and taste and buy wine while I was gone. The manager is supposed to cover us while we are unavaliable.
What I am wondering is, do I have a case against the manager or the company? As a side note, when this manager came to work for our office in January he spoke with another manager saying that he wanted to bring in all new young wine consultants to energize the office. I also have a signed contract from 2 years ago when I was hired by PRP that has a no compete clause in it. Thanks for your advice. I am not the type to go this far but this is more than personal. Linda
Additional information
Since it has been a few months since I was terminated, I wanted to add some information . I am 57 now, was 56 at the time of term. My manager used to cringe when I would tell him my age as in..I am not as young as I look and setting up a booth, working it and then taking it down a few days later is not as easy for me as it used to be. As for the update on the office, he has hired several wine consultants after I left and just recently 5 more. I am not sure how many have lasted, but I do know that my former clients are getting calls from several w/c and are not happy with them or with me being termed. One asked me today, she is also a close friend, why did they fire you when they just went out and hired more people. Good question. I do believe that the do not compete clause is just so I will not take my clients to another like company. Thank you for your assistance and advice. Linda Answers (2)
Jon-Erik G. Storm
This attorney is licensed in California and 1 other state.
Posted 11 months ago.
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Hi, Linda.
You say you're in California? Then there's a big problem with a non-compete clause. As far as the basic circumstances you describe regarding your termination, it sounds like it was ok. There may be some questions about the propriety of your pay structure and whether or not your termination violated age discrimination laws, but it's hard to say based on this short description. You should contact an employment lawyer to find out more. 
Craig Trent Byrnes
This attorney is licensed in California.
Posted 9 months ago.
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There could be a number of problems with what they've done. In particular, your manager saying that he wanted to bring in "young" consultants to "energize" the office is strong evidence of age discrimination. If you are over 40, this would be illegal. As a broader stretch, I've sometimes argued that firing someone for taking their vacation constitutes a breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but I usually don't pursue that on my own. Finally, the validity of the noncompete agreement depends on its language and what it is trying to protect. A nonsolicitation agreement, for example, may be enforceable under limited circumstances, while a contract keeping you from working elsewhere will generally not be.
If you believe that you have been treated illegally, make sure to act prior to the expiration of your statute of limitations, or your right to do so will be lost forever. Good luck with your legal matter, Craig T. Byrnes www.ctblawfirm.com For the Workers. Always. |
