Urgent!!Where do I find a good lawyer who specializes in employee discrimination and/or wrongful termination?

Question

I have a friend who was recently terminated from his job. The reason they gave was excessive use of force. He filed for unemployment. The unemployment investigated the situation and ruled in favor of my friend. It was declared that he was "wrongfully terminated". . . "without just cause". Not only was he wrongfully terminated but the employer did not follow the proper procedures that are supposed to occur prior to a person being fired such as a hearing and being informed about an investigation. He is seeking a lawyer to plead his case in court as far as them marring his employment history and for not allowing him to attend the training academy. Had he at least been able to attend the academy he would have no problem in obtaining a job in his chosen field. The kicker is that the job claimed that one week prior to my friend's unemployment hearing they tried to contact him to give him his job back. Seems like they knew they made a terrible mistake! By the way, this is not the first time this has happened to an employee at this agency. Please help!!

Answer 1

First of all he needs to file a claim for wrongful termination with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and go through that system to get a ruling from them. He can take an attorney with him through that process but it's not necessary. The claim is free to file and is the first step in the process for filing a lawsuit for wrongful termination. Once they rule in his favor and give him a "right to sue" letter he will have firmer grounds to file suit and move on. A labor law attorney will have more ground to work with once that is done.

Answer 2

There are a couple of things that your friend needs to understand about this situation.  The agency that issues unemployment benefits has zero connection with the agency (EEOC, state human rights dept) that determines if a termination is discriminatory.  He legally was NOT considered "wrongfully terminated" by the unemployment benefits agency, impossibility.  What was determined was that according to the laws that the unemployment benefits agency follows he was qualified to receive benefits.  More specifically he was not disqualified due to legal misconduct (legal term, not common use meaning) nor did he quit the job.  

If he files a Complaint of Discrimination with the EEOC, the decision from the unemployment benefits office will NOT be used in determining if there was any discrimination.  

Proper procedures, as listed in an employee's handbook, do not have the strength of law behind them.  That is an employer can terminate an employee without following the procedures that are listed as employment policy.  If your friend files a Complaint of Discrimination with the EEOC, the employer not following procedures for him may or may not be used to prove that the employer discriminated against him.  An example would be all people of one race were given the full benefit of an investigation before a termination, those of another race were merely terminated without an investigation.

As for going into court on the "marring his employment history" I think you mean defamation of character and in most states there are certain actions that must happen in order for that to be a valid lawsuit.  Merely terminating an employee is usually not sufficient.   Also the EEOC does not care what happened to other employees unless they also file a Complaint of Discrimination.

Since the employer claimed that they wanted him back why doesn't he just take them up on their offer?   Lawsuits in the employment law area are NOT million dollar winners.  They are very expensive and take years to slowly go through the court system.