Oregon Wrongful Discharge or Termination

As an Oregon attorney, I receive calls from people who think “wrongful termination” means a firing without good cause. That’s false. In Oregon, an employer does not have to have a good reason -- or any reason -- to fire you, unless you have a union contract or individual contract with a “just cause” provision. So long as the employer does not fire you for an illegal reason, it can let you go, even if you’re the best worker for the company.

Wrongful discharge or termination has a very specific meaning that is not intuitive. In Oregon, it refers to the common law (judge-made) claim that firing was illegal for certain reasons. Two general reasons are that the employee was fired (1) for exercising some important statutory employment right, or (2) because the employee fulfilled some societal duty, such as serving on jury duty.

Oregon’s legislature has adopted certain claims that used to be “wrongful discharge,” making them “unlawful employment practices.”

Whether it is called “wrongful termination” or “unlawful employment practice,” the important thing to know is that employees are protected from firings for certain reasons. Some of these include the following:

• Not giving in to sexual harassment
• Efforts to unionize
• Complaining about violations of safety regulations
• Filing a claim for workers’ compensation
• Serving on jury duty
• Reporting patient mistreatment in a nursing home
• Refusing to testify falsely
• Reporting what the employee honestly believes is a violation of state or federal law.

The above is just a sampling of reasons, not an exhaustive list. If you’d like to discuss your termination with me, feel free to call at 503-665-4234.