Does your employer have the right to fire you for any reason at any time? In most cases, the answer is yes, and as an employee, you do not have to give a reason for suddenly vacating your position for another job. However, your employer must follow a law passed in New Hampshire that makes it illegal for an employer to terminate a worker based on discrimination or retaliation.
If you lost your job, one of the wrongful termination laws in New Hampshire can protect you from financial losses, as well as help you get your job back.
What is the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination?
Workplace discrimination represents the most common reason why American employers wrongfully terminate workers. Virtually every state has passed a discrimination law that bans the practice of firing employees based on one or more demographic factors. In the Granite State, that law is called the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination. Your employer cannot fire you based on several demographic factors that include age, sex, color, and marital status. Other demographic factors that receive protection under the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination include national origin and sexual orientation.
Private sector employers with at least six workers must comply with the wrongful termination laws in New Hampshire.
Are There Other Laws That Protect New Hampshire Workers From Wrongful Termination?
As with many other states, New Hampshire labor law is based on the legal doctrine called employment at-will. The employment at-will doctrine establishes a working relationship in which both employer and employees have the right to end an employment arrangement at any time, for any legal reason. “Legal” is the key word, as employers cannot fire workers for discrimination and/or retaliation reasons.
The modification to the employment at-will doctrine came about after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII of the prominent legislation makes it illegal for employers to fire workers based on factors like sex, color, ancestry, and sexual orientation. The United States Congress has since protected additional demographic groups, such as pregnant women that must take a leave of absence from their jobs. Employers also cannot fire workers based on age.
Who Oversees Wrongful Termination Claims in New Hampshire?
If your employer has violated one of the wrongful termination laws in New Hampshire, you have two options when it comes to filing a formal complaint. The first option for filing a wrongful termination complaint is the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights. You can download the employment discrimination intake questionnaire and mail it to the commission’s website at humanrights@hrd.nh.gov. If you have any questions concerning your complaint, call 603-271-2767 to speak with an intake investigator.
You also can file a wrongful termination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC and the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights have set up an information sharing agreement, which means submitting a wrongful termination complaint to one agency automatically gets your complaint sent to the other agency
Get a Free Case Evaluation Today
Although getting fired from a job might seem like the worst day of your life, you have a couple of legal options to fight back against an act of wrongful termination. You can submit a wrongful termination claim to either the EEOC or the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights.
Be proactive by completing a free case evaluation with a New Hampshire-licensed employment attorney.
