If you have been wrongfully terminated from your job, potentially on grounds related to your ethnicity or religion, you may be entitled to compensation. The goal of a wrongful termination lawsuit is to restore you to the position you would have been in if the unlawful dismissal hadn’t occurred.
So what kind of reparation can you expect if you’ve been dismissed against the legal provisions? Read on to learn more about potential recovery, and feel free to reach out to PLBH at (800) 435-7542 for legal consultation.
Kinds of Damages Applicable in Wrongful Termination Cases
Wrongful termination lawsuits often involve a variety of damages, encompassing economic losses, compensatory losses, and punitive losses. However, the potential damages you can claim, and their respective amounts, are contingent on several factors. A competent wrongful termination lawyer can help you understand the likely damages in your specific case.
Economic Damages Often Dominate
Economic damages typically form the cornerstone of a wrongful termination lawsuit. These could include a range of losses such as lost wages, further split into back pay and front pay. Back pay refers to the earnings you lost due to wrongful termination, calculated from the date of unlawful dismissal until the commencement of the trial. This generally covers lost salary, bonuses, benefits, and overtime pay.
However, to limit your back pay damages, you’re required to seek new employment comparable to your previous position. The earnings from this new job would offset the back pay damages awarded. Front pay, a distinct form of compensation, pertains to the period between the court verdict and the employee’s return to work, or if reinstatement isn’t feasible, in lieu of it.
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages aim to make good any losses you incurred due to the unlawful termination. These could span a spectrum of potential losses such as costs associated with job search, emotional distress, and medical expenses.
Punitive Damages
Furthermore, employers guilty of severe or negligent discriminatory acts might be liable to pay punitive damages. However, this is not common. To be eligible for punitive damages, you need to establish one of two conditions: either your employer discriminated or retaliated against you knowingly contravening the law, or your employer indulged in outrageous misconduct implying malice or reckless indifference.
Punitive damages are capped based on the size of the employer, with a maximum of $50,000 for employers with fewer than 100 employees and up to $300,000 for employers with more than 500 employees.
If you believe that you were wrongfully terminated, you might have a valid case against your employer. Our legal team at PLBH is ready to assist you. Reach out to us at (800) 435-7542 for help.