Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Can I sue my former Utah employer for firing me?
Utah is an at-will employment state. (See e.g., Hansen et al. v. American Online, Inc. et al., 2004 UT 62, 96 P.3d 950 (Utah 2004)). “At will” means that, unless an employee is hired under a contract for a definite period of time, the employee may leave his or her employment at any time without providing a reason to the employer. Similarly, an employer may fire the employee at any time without providing a reason to the employee.
Often this arrangement is mutually beneficial, as both parties are free to seek the best use of their resources.
Obviously there is a down-side to this arrangement. Employers may experience frustration and lost productivity when an employee abruptly quits to pursue another opportunity. Conversely, employees frequently experience upheaval in their lives when their source of income abruptly disappears and bills still must be paid.
Employment courtesy still recommends that an employee give his or her employer sufficient notice before leaving so that the outgoing employee may tie up loose ends and prepare for his or her replacement. Ideally employers would also provide some notice before terminating an employee so the outgoing employee may have time to at least begin searching for alternative employment. However, these professional courtesies are not required by law.
An employee may be hired under a contract which can alter the at-will relationship. In Utah oral contracts are enforceable in many employment situations. Any violation of a contract that causes harm to either party may result in a legal claim for damages.
Unpaid Wages
In the current economy, many employees are terminated from their jobs because the employer cannot afford to pay wages at the current rate. Some employers fail to pay wages for weeks or even months before terminating an employee, or fail to pay an employee’s final paycheck. Additionally, some employers require employees to do some work off-the-clock and do not pay for that time.
Utah law requires that an employer pay its employees for all time that an employee works for an employer (any activity required to meet the employer’s expectation, express or implied, is work that you should be compensated for performing.)
Filing a Claim for Unpaid Wages
If your unpaid wages are small relative to the cost of hiring an attorney to represent your claims (i.e., under $10,000), you may file a wage claim form with the Utah Labor Commission, or you may represent your own claim in the Utah Small Claims Court.
NOTE: If you want to file a claim for unpaid wages with the Labor Commission, you will need to do this step first before taking any other court action. If the Labor Commission rejects your claim, you may then go to court. But if you decide to go to court first, you cannot later decide to file a claim with the Labor Commission.
Utah Labor Commission
The Utah Labor Commission website is helpful in walking employees through the information they need and questions you may have relative to filing a claim. Filing a claim is fairly simple—you simply fill out the Wage Claim Form and send it to the Wage Claim Division at the Utah Labor Commission.
Utah Small Claims Court
You may alternatively or subsequently file a claim in the small claims court. The Small Claims Court website will walk you through the steps required to initiate a small claims court action. The links for the necessary forms are located at the bottom of the web page:
With small claims court there will be a filing fee, and you will need to make sure that you serve the appropriate form (a copy of the filed affidavit) on your employer. There are links to the court rules and procedures. The rules of evidence are not as strict in small claims court as they are in the district courts, but you will still need to have copies of all your documentation for the work you did and at least your testimony regarding the circumstances leading up to and the amount of your unpaid wages. (You should bring to the small claims court proceeding three copies of your documentation – one for the judge, one for the opposing party, and one for you.)
At the small claims court hearing there are often mediators available; some judges recommend or even require mediation before you present your case to the judge in the hope that you will settle the case yourselves. But you still have the right to go before the judge if you do not like the results of the mediation. Often mediators will attempt to get both parties to move to some middle ground, so that neither party gets everything they want, but neither party has to risk losing everything before the judge.
Statute of Limitations
Either option, filing a wage claim with the Utah Labor Commission or filing a claim in Small Claims Court, has a statute of limitations, meaning that there is a deadline beyond which you can no longer file a claim for your unpaid wages.
posted by Michelle Bushman
Ford & Huff, LC
As a formal matter, we have not been retained as your attorneys. We have provided information that is publicly available, but nothing in this blog should be construed as legal advice. If you would like legal advice, we will be happy to assist you. Just choose from one of the options to contact us on the left side of this website.