Question

Adam is an architect who has worked for Garfield=s company for the last six years. Adam earns $2,000.00 per week, but has a general bad working relationship with his employer, Garfield. Because of that bad relationship, Garfield has been awaiting an opportunity to terminate Adam. Last week Adam was thirty minutes late for work, three mornings in a row. That, and an error on a file that Adam made last week that cost his employer $4,000.00 resulted in Garfield firing Adam on Friday afternoon. At that time Garfield paid Adam all of his outstanding salary less the $4,000.00 error, and nothing further. Does Adam have any further claim against Garfield, and, if so, what would be the nature of any claims that he would have for further payment, including your estimate as to the amount, if any, that he would receive.

Answer 1

Adam has right to health insurance coverage from his employer. According to Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1986, terminated employees and their families have the right to continued healthcare coverage for a limited period. Under the law, an employer with 20 or more employees must offer the option of continued participation in the employer's health insurance plan.

Adam may also receive unemployment compensation, if applicable for the time while he is searching for a new job. The amount will be less than his regular salary and he may receive it for a time period of upto 26 weeks or an additional 20 weeks, if qualified for.

Finally, if Adam feels that he has been terminated wrongfully, then he has all rights to take his employer to court. There are strong chances that the case is in his favor, since being late and being responsible for a loss of $4,000 are not reasons strong enough to terminate an otherwise responsible employee. He could argue that he was late because of legitimate reasons, and the loss of $4,000 can be recovered from his salary.