Wrongful-Discharge Action Law and Legal Definition
Wrongful-discharge action means a lawsuit instituted against an employer by his/her ex-employee alleging that the termination of the employment was illegal and it violated the terms of the contract. Generally most of the states allow an at-will employee to proceed with a wrongful discharge action based on public policy. It is also termed as wrongful termination action.
In Hicks v. Robeson County, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18364 (D.N.C. 1998), the court observed that “Only an employer has the ability to discharge an employee. Consequently, to bring a wrongful discharge action, a plaintiff must show that an employer-employee relationship existed between himself and the defendants.”
