Discrimination against disabled individuals comes in many different forms. Florida employees who have certain types of disabling medical conditions have the right to seek reasonable accommodations in order to do their jobs. Unless these adjustments will cause undue financial loss or cause a significant negative impact on operations, employers must provide them for the employee. One form of discrimination is termination of an employee because of his or her disability.
There are state and federal laws that protect employees from being unfairly fired from their jobs. If an employer does attempt to fire an employee, there must be clear and valid grounds to do so. Even in an at-will employment state like Florida, employers cannot fire someone for illegal or unreasonable reasons. Disability is not a valid reason to terminate someone’s employment, nor is race, gender, religious practices and other reasons.
While discrimination is a common reason for wrongful termination, there are other types of firings that may not be legal. For example, an employer cannot fire someone because he or she reported illegal activities in his or her workplace. Termination cannot be motivated by retaliation or any type of discrimination. If this happens, the fired employee has the right to pursue legal action against his or her former employer.
Victims of wrongful termination in Florida do not have to remain silent. It may be appropriate to file a lawsuit against an employer, a process that allows the victim to seek damages and compensation. It is helpful to start with an assessment of the individual situation to determine if there was anything illegal about the firing of the employee.