Displine or firing

An employer can terminate an at will employee with a reason, for cause, or just because the employer has the ability and authority to terminate an employee's position at anytime.

If you're terminated you'd have no legal grounds upon which you could recover.

There is no right to employment anywhere in the USA.

In fact, an employer isn't required to warn you, rehabilitate you, or listen to your explanations.

 

Even IF a person is a member of certain protected classes, she can still be fired.

Termination isn't automatically barred because a person is in the protected class.

Employers don't have to treat all employees the same.

Bubba can be fired for being tardy to work, but that doesn't mean Jethro's tardiness can't be ignored, especially if Jethro's is sleeping with the boss, Luigi.

Treating one person better than the other isn't discrimination per se.

 

If you are fired because the employer got a complaint over how a call was handled that is not a wrongful termination as that term is used in the law. It may be unfair that the real cause of the problem with the call was the phone equipment, but firing you because of it is not illegal. The employer doesn't have to have a good reason to fire you. All that matters is that the reason the employer fired you was not among the relatively few reasons that the law says an employer cannot use to fire you. The prohibited reasons include firing you because:

• of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or genetic test information under federal law (some states/localities add a few more categories like sexual orientation);
• you make certain kinds of reports about the employer to the government or in limited circumstances to specified persons in the employing company itself (known as whistle-blower protection laws);
• you participate in union organizing activities;
• you use a right or benefit the law guarantees you (e.g. using leave under FMLA);
• you filed a bankruptcy petition;
• your pay was garnished by a single creditor; and
• you took time off work to attend jury duty (in most states).

The exact list of prohibited reasons will vary by state. But in no state is it illegal to fire you because of a bad call with a customer, even if the problems were due to equipment and not your performance. It sucks to be fired over something that wasn't your fault, and it's stupid for the employer to do it, but the law doesn't penalize the employer for being stupid.

 

Legal action for what? Nothing has happened to you.

That said, even if you get fired over this, you would have no basis for any legal action other than seeking unemployment. Unless you're a civil service/government employee or a member of a labor union that has a collective bargaining agreement with your employer or have a written employment contract, you can be fired for any reason other than things that aren't expressly illegal (e.g., discrimination based on religion, gender, etc.). An employer may legally fire an employee for a host of dumb reasons.

 

Don't count on it. HR exists to protect the employer not the employee.

You got that right. Start making subtle hints about a discrimination action (for which I see no basis) and they'll find a way to get rid of you eventually.

You haven't been terminated. I suggest you back off for now. Maybe seek employment elsewhere if you don't like how this deal was handled.

 

You would need some kind of evidence, and I mean evidence that would hold up in a court of law, that your race, etc. was a factor before you would have any valid discrimination claim. Do you have any?