Wrongful Termination and the Law of Contract

In the event that your employment is terminated by your employer, your ability to claim compensation for financial loss will, as an executive, depend primarily on your common-law contractual rights.

Statutory Rights

However, before examining your common law position, you should note that it is possible that you may also have statutory rights. These could either be based on State or Federal equal opportunity legislation, unlawful termination, the Federal Trade Practices Act or unfair dismissal rights under the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009.

These statutory remedies, particularly those relating to the Federal Trade Practices Act, may be particularly valuable.

These alternative/additional causes of action would need to be examined on a case-by-case basis and are briefly reviewed elsewhere on this website. See The Fair Work Act 2009 – Unfair Dismissal and Implications for Executives.

 

Common-Law Rights

Some of the most important employment law rights and remedies are based on the law of contract. Our legal system has continued to recognise the right of a person whose contract has been wrongfully terminated to commence civil proceedings for compensation. This remains the case.

more on Common-Law Rights

 

10 BASIC RULES TO FOLLOW TO SURVIVE A WORK-RELATED CRISIS

To summarise, you should adhere to the following rules:

1. Do not resign without taking prior legal advice.
2. Do not slacken off or create any further issues that could be used against you in the context of termination. In addition, always remain scrupulously honest when it comes to handling Company property and money, especially your Company credit card.
3. Do not reveal that you are taking legal advice.
4. Do not sign any documents that relate to your contract without obtaining prior legal advice.
5. By all means provide explanations for your conduct, but don’t make unnecessary admissions.
6. Do not agree to unilateral changes in your contract of employment.
7. Keep a diary.
8. Keep a copy of all relevant documents off-site.
9. Trust no-one in the office.
10. Do not use the office e-mail system to correspond with your lawyer.

 

Please note that we cannot stress enough the importance of obtaining early advice. It is very easy to compromise your claim and, once the damage is done, it may be impossible to retrieve your case.

If you wish to instruct Executive Rights Employment Lawyers as your solicitors, please follow this link to a list of documents that we would need in order to properly evaluate your case. (click here)