Wrongful Termination

Wrongful termination, particularly in California, remains a heavily litigated area of law susceptible to unanticipated liability for employers in every industry. Litigation brought by purported whistleblowers and others asserting claims of retaliation also has intensified in recent years, particularly in the health care industry.

We provide extensive services to clients in all areas of equal employment opportunity law, including counseling to avoid or minimize the risk of liability, establishing affirmative action programs under Executive Order 11246, and formulating alternative dispute resolution procedures.

We also assist clients in drafting and modifying employee handbooks and personnel policies, drafting drug and alcohol testing programs, reviewing employment applications and pre-hire testing procedures, and evaluating workforce reduction programs for compliance with EEO requirements and other statutory obligations, such as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, COBRA, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

We have represented a wide range of clients in hundreds of suits by former employees challenging the rights of those companies to terminate their employment. Examples of our representation include the following cases:

• Oracle Corporation. Orrick represented Oracle’s founder in connection with an alleged wrongful termination of a senior executive who claimed entitlement to millions of dollars of stock options. After litigating the case for three months, Orrick lawyers obtained a dismissal of the case without the payment of any money to the plaintiff.
• Siebel Systems. Orrick represented Siebel Systems and its founder in a lawsuit brought by a former account executive who claimed wrongful termination and fraud. After a trial, the jury returned a defense verdict on all fraud and wrongful termination claims.
• Virgin Atlantic Airways. Orrick successfully defended Virgin in a trial against multiple plaintiffs alleging wrongful termination under the Railway Labor Act.