Layoffs are nothing new, but how we respond to them is changing. Instead of ex-employees feeling shame for the situation, more are open about it. They share their feelings online, especially when ham-fisted employers treat laid-off employees like unwanted inventory. Whether you feel your former employer treated you with respect and fairness or they coldly kicked you to the curb, they may have violated state or federal laws.

Social Media Allows These Private Dramas to be Broadcast Worldwide

You can easily find videos of people sharing their experiences before, during, and after being laid off, according to Axios. With more people working remotely and having fewer connections to co-workers, this has become a modern way to cope. It can also show the world how poorly many employers handle the situation. Some people learn through a Slack message or email because they are laid off because management feels it doesn’t even merit a phone or Zoom call.

Potentially, these videos could show an employer’s lack of empathy for someone who may have devoted years of their life to a company if not provide evidence of an employer’s illegal actions. These widespread videos harm an employer’s reputation, and their documented indifference to their workers may make it harder for them to recruit future employees.

What Makes a Layoff Illegal?

Ending someone’s employment is generally legal, but the devil is in the details. There could be any number of issues that could make your job termination illegal, including the following:

1. Discrimination

You belong to a protected class under civil rights laws. Your termination would be illegal if you were chosen because you are in a disfavored group due to your:

• Race or color
• Religion or creed, or you have no religion or creed
• National origin, nationality, or ancestry
• Sex, pregnancy, or the fact you’re breastfeeding
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity or expression
• Disability
• Marital or domestic partnership/civil union status
• Liability for military service
• Age
• Genetic information, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, or your refusal to submit to a genetic test or make test results available to your employer

These cases are fact-specific and require evidence to back up your claim. That could be:

• Past instances of discrimination
• Written or oral communications showing a bias against your protected group
• The underlying facts of your layoff show a discriminatory intent against people like you

Some employers are more sophisticated than others when hiding their true motivations in letting someone go, so the difficulty in proving these cases varies.

2. Violating a Contract

If you were bound by a contract while working, whether individually or as part of a unionized workforce, that contract may spell out under what conditions you could lose your job, how you would be chosen, and what severance package (if any) you would receive. You should read that contract to see if your ex-employer fulfilled their obligations.

3. In Retaliation for Prior, Lawful Conduct

Your employer may have used a drop in demand for their products or services as an excuse to get you out of the workplace. You may have done or said something you had every right to do or say, but that angered your employer and your layoff is their way to “get even.”

Your lawful acts or words could include the following:

• Seeking or receiving unemployment or workers’ compensation benefits, Family Medical Leave Act leave, unpaid wages, proper employment classification, or accommodations to a disability
• Discussing the terms and conditions of your employment (such as pay rates and benefits) with other employees
• Discussing with others possibly unionizing the workforce or actively working towards that goal
• Reporting to management or a government agency your employer’s illegal or unethical actions
• Reporting illegal discrimination internally, to a government agency or filing a lawsuit based on alleged discriminatory acts
• Acting as a witness to support another’s discrimination claim or participating in a discrimination investigation or lawsuit

The evidence needed to support these claims is similar to discrimination claims, but the difference is in what you did, not who you are.

Was Your Layoff Illegal?

The problem may not be why you were selected to lose your job but how you were laid off. Under New Jersey’s WARN Act:

• Employers with a hundred or more employees (including part-time workers) must give at least 90 days advance notice to affected employees before they lose their jobs as part of a mass layoff (50 or more job terminations) not caused by the closing or transferring of operations
• Employers must pay laid-off employees a severance of one week of pay for each full year of employment

If an employee can prove the law was violated, they may recover attorneys’ fees and up to twice the severance payment they recover.

How Would a Severance Package Impact My Ability to Pursue Legal Action?

Employers frequently offer money and extended benefits (like health insurance payments) to departing employees in exchange for them not disparaging them (saying anything negative about them, like posting a damaging layoff video online) and waiving any right to pursue legal action against them. This would cover legal issues about how your employer handled the layoff and anything else the employer did wrongfully while you worked there (within the relevant NJ Statute of Limitations).

Contact our office if you’re offered such benefits in exchange for signing a Separation or Severance Agreement. We can discuss the strength of any legal claims you may have and the payment amount before you sign. We may be able to improve their offer and make it worth settling.

Do You Expect to be Laid Off, Has it Already Happened, and What do You Need to Learn About Your Legal Rights? Kingston Law Group Could Help You.

Our Employment Law Team protect employees’ rights and helps them hold employers accountable for illegal behavior and unlawful policies of any stripe. If you have questions about your layoff rights, email or call us at 609-683-7400 to arrange a near-term and reduced rate legal consultation at our Princeton area law offices. You will be glad you did!