I believe I was fired for discrimination, how do I proceed?
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I believe I was fired for discrimination, how do I proceed?
For the past year I had been working for a woman who owns a restaurant. Recently, she suspected someone was a stealing food from her cooler. She accused me. I denied any knowledge of the missing food and I was fired by text message effective immediately. She claims I was fired for being late. However, I have never received one write-up for anything, yet she claims to have a write-up for me. This woman has very strong pro-democrat political beliefs and is very politically active. Since she found out I voted for our current president, I have been ridiculed, yelled at, called crazy and uninformed. She discusses politics at our workplace every single day and if you disagree with her, she becomes very persistent to try and tries to change your mind. Her husband and her son have both yelled at me in my face in political discussions, even though I beg them not to discuss politics at work. I believe that I was fired and discriminated against because of my political beliefs and it made it a very hostile workplace.
Asked on March 17, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Michigan
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
The fact is that not all employees need be treated the same or even fairly. That is unless their treatment constitutes some form of legally actionable discrimination. In other words, if it is based o their race, religion, disability, age (over 40), letc. Unfortunately, political affiliation does not count. Therefore, unless your termination violated the terms of an employment agreement or union/collective bargaining agreement, it was legal. The fact is that most work relationships are "at will" which means that an employer can set the conditions of the workplace much as it sees fit. Accordingly, an employee can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all, with or without notice.
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