Practice Group(s): Discrimination and Harassment
Sanford Heisler Sharp Partner Qiaojing Ella Zheng answers an important question many employees have during this time of crisis: What laws are there to protect workers’ rights from termination due to COVID-19? For more information, contact the employment lawyers at Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP at sanfordheisler.com.
Key Moments:
1. 02:12
2. 03:20
3. 03:13
4. 04:12
00:00:08 –> 00:00:38
Hi, everyone. My name is Ella Zhang. I’m a Senior Counsel at Semper Heisler Sharp. Today, I’m going to answer a question, and the question is: What laws are there to protect employees who were terminated during this pandemic? My answer is, it really depends on the nature and the circumstances of the termination. One of the most common types of termination we’ve seen during this pandemic is when an employee refuses to violate the shelter-in-place order or stay-at-home order, and refuse to follow the
00:00:38 –> 00:01:08
employer’s directive on reporting to work, and as a result, suffered a termination. Federal laws do not typically provide employees with the right to walk off of a job because of unsafe workplace conditions. The employee must seek to address and correct the workplace condition with the employer, and then through OSHA or other comparable public agencies. However, because of the severity of the coronavirus, an exception might apply here. Moreover, some jurisdictions such as
00:01:08 –> 00:01:38
California, New York, and New Jersey provide a greater protection than federal laws. In these states, employers are prohibited from retaliating against the employees for refusing to violate laws or regulations. In other words, in these states, if employees are terminated because they refuse to violate government orders, including the social distancing orders, they will likely have retaliation or wrongful termination claims against their employers.
00:01:38 –> 00:02:08
Another common type of termination we’ve seen during this pandemic is based on the employee’s protected status, such as race, national origin, disability status, and caregiver status. This type of termination happen very frequently in the immigrant, immigrant workers’ community and minority workers’ community. In this type of termination, the employee would be protected under federal and the state antidiscrimination laws such as
00:02:08 –> 00:02:42
Title Seven, California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and so on. If the termination is a layoff, obviously the employee would be able to collect unemployment insurance and other social benefits. In sum, if you are terminated during this pandemic, my advice would be to consult an experienced employment lawyer as soon as possible so that you don’t lose out any benefits or legal protection you have.
