When is a company allowed to lay off employees under the guise of a reduction in force>
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: California Already Tried: looking at the California labor laws code 1402
Hello there
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A company can pretty much lay people off at any time and call it a reduction in force if they lay a few people off at one time. Do you have a specific question or concern about the layoff? Do you believe the company may be using a layoff as a means to discriminate against a certain race or class of employees?
MARY
they are laying off only one position and have recently hired another. Not looking like there is really a reduction on force going on. Suspicion it is to use RIF to keep from saying the real reason.
Hello again
That depends upon what the real reason is. The fact of the matter is that every employee in the US is an employee "at will" and can be hired, fired, promoted or demoted by any employer for any reason or no reason and unless you have union protection (where you can file a grievance) then there is very little a person can do about getting terminated from a job UNLESS the person can show that the real reason they were terminated is because the company was discriminating against them due to race, gender, age (over 40), disability, religion or sexual orientation. If the laid off employee was terminated as a disguise for this discrimination then the employee can file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and if the EEOC investigates and finds for the employee then the employee can sue and get a nice settlement for this type of discrimination. However, if the real reason is that they do not like the person or for any other reason and the company is calling it a "reduction in force" then that designation may be kinder to the terminated employee because then that ex employee should be able to collect unemployment benefits (if the company reports that the employee was terminated then the employee will have a hard time getting unemployment benefits). So, if the underlying reason is actually discriminatory then the employee should file with the EEOC, but if it was not then the employee will most likely be able to collect unemployment benefits while searching for another job but will not have any other legal remedy against the employer for the layoff.
Experience: 13 years experience in employment law, unions, contracts, workers comp law