Were you fired or punished after speaking up at work?
Losing your job for speaking up, reporting misconduct, or exercising a legal right isn't just unfair, it can be unlawful. The firm represents employees across California, Washington, Texas, Nevada and Colorado whose employers retaliated instead of listening.
- Fired, demoted, scheduled less, or disciplined after reporting a workplace issue
- Punished after requesting leave or an accommodation
- Fired for refusing unlawful conduct
- Terminated for a reason protected by state or federal law
Retaliation is its own claim. Even when the thing you reported is never proven, the law can protect you for reporting it, and for taking leave, filing a complaint, or refusing to break the law. If you were fired, demoted, cut, or pushed out soon after, the timing itself can be evidence. It costs nothing to find out where you stand, and the first conversation is private.
What we handle.
Retaliation wears many faces, and wrongful termination is often the last one. The firm handles the whole pattern, from the first complaint to the day they let you go.
Retaliation for reporting harassment or discrimination
Fired, demoted, or frozen out after you complained about harassment or bias, or after you backed up a coworker who did.
Fired for reportingWhistleblower retaliation
Punished for reporting illegal activity, fraud, unsafe conditions, or a refusal to do something unlawful, internally or to a government agency.
Ask about your caseWrongful termination in violation of public policy
Let go for a reason the law forbids, reporting a violation, serving on a jury, or exercising a right the state protects.
Ask about your caseRetaliation for taking protected leave
Written up or replaced after taking medical, family, pregnancy, or disability leave you were entitled to.
Ask about your caseRetaliation for a wage or safety complaint
Hours cut, shifts pulled, or a firing after you raised unpaid wages, missed breaks, or an unsafe workplace.
Wage complaintsConstructive discharge
Not fired outright, but pushed until conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person would have had to quit.
Ask about your caseWhat may be available.
What a claim can recover depends on the facts, the specific claim, the employer, and the state, and only after a covered claim is proven. When a claim succeeds, relief may include:
The wages and benefits you lost, back pay from the day of the adverse action, and, where available, front pay or reinstatement going forward.
Compensation for the emotional harm the retaliation caused, and, where the law allows and the conduct was egregious, additional damages, subject to limits that vary by state.
Retaliation and wrongful-termination claims have filing deadlines, and some are short. The sooner you ask, the more of your options stay open. See deadlines by state →
A firm that tries these cases.
Ackermann & Tilajef has represented workers fired and punished for speaking up, retaliation and wrongful termination alongside the harassment, discrimination and wage claims that so often trigger them, through settlement, trial and appeal.
See the recordRetaliation & wrongful termination laws by state.
Deadlines, enforceability, remedies, and the correct filing forum change at the state line. A licensed attorney of the firm leads each state's matters, including Brian Denlinger, admitted in Colorado and Washington.
Common questions.
The thing I reported turned out not to be illegal. Am I still protected?
Often yes. Retaliation law generally protects you when you reasonably and in good faith believed the conduct you opposed was unlawful and communicated that opposition in a reasonable way, even if the underlying problem is never proven. Participating in an agency investigation or charge is protected under a separate, broader rule. The retaliation claim can stand on its own.
My employer says I was let go for performance. Does that end it?
No. Employers rarely admit an unlawful reason, so the stated reason is the starting point, not the finish line. What matters is whether the real reason was your protected activity, and evidence like timing, shifting explanations, better-treated coworkers, and a clean prior record can show the stated reason was a pretext. That is exactly what a review evaluates.
How soon after I complained does the firing have to happen?
There's no fixed rule, but closeness in time is strong evidence, an adverse action that lands days or weeks after your report is more suggestive than one months later. Timing is not the only proof, though; a documented pattern of hostility after your complaint can carry a case even when the gap is longer.
Is the review really free?
Yes. The initial review has no cost or obligation. The firm will review what you share and contact you about possible options and next steps. Bring what you have, your complaint, the timeline, messages, reviews, names of witnesses.