Husband and Wife wrongfully terminated

[seabass]

My husband was employed by this company for almost nine years as a chief Engineer and I was employed for this company almost six years. I was promoted to General Manager in August of 2001. The previous GM was terminated at this time for insubordination to the owner of the company. As of yesterday, Dec 2, 2002, my husband and I were both terminated and the previous GM was brought back and given a percentage of the company to do so. I received a phone call yesterday at 11:20am from the owner and told that the previous GM should be on the property at any minute and that I was to leave. When I asked why I was being fired, I was told that the old Gm wanted his job back and that I was to go collect (unemployment). I asked what the reason was and he stated he didn't have any reason to just leave. At that moment the old GM walked into the lobby and was waiting to take my job. My husband then called the owner back and asked what was going on and at that moment he was told to leave as well. In a matter of minutes my husband and I were both out of jobs. My husband and I both had paid medical benefits and I have been told that since we no longer work for the owner he will not continue our health coverage. We have 4 children that we support. I have been fired for no reason from this job and my husband was fired only because he is my husband.

We were not under contract. Is there anything we can do?

 

[Beth3]

Unfortunately, no. You can be fired for any reason except an expressly prohibited one (such as due to your age, gender, race, religion, etc.) If the owner inexplicably wanted to rehire the GM he'd previously term'd for insubordination and terminate you and your husband, he can do that.

You both will be eligible for UC benefits. You should file immediately and of course put a job search into high gear.

Good luck. You both certainly got the short end of the stick here but the owner's actions weren't illegal.

 

[cbg]

You did not post your state but unless you live in Montana, no, there's nothing you can do. All states except Montana are at will states (and even Montana has some circumstances in which at-will applies), which means you can quit for any reason and you can be fired for any reason not prohibited by law, which this isn't. I understand how unfair it must seem to you, and probably is, but unfair is not illegal. Based on what you have posted, this does not qualify as a wrongful term.

As far as the medical benefits go, however, while they are under no legal obligation to continue to cover you at their expense, if the company has over 20 employees they MUST allow you to continue the benefits at your own expense. They have either 14 or 44 days (depending on whether they self-administer their COBRA plan or use a third party administrator) to notify you of this right and advise you how to do it. I warn you, it will NOT be cheap. If they fail to notify you within the time frame above you can file a complaint with the US DOL.