Litigation: Woman accuses employer of wrongful termination

On Behalf of | Nov 14, 2017 | business torts

The vast majority of people in California work hard to fulfill their workplace responsibilities. For some people, this may include asking difficult questions and informing supervisors of acts of others who may have violated federal law. Those put in such a position should be able to do so without fear of retaliation. Unfortunately, a former employer of Sig Sauer, a gun manufacturer, has turned to litigation after claiming she was fired for investigating an incident involving a manual change made to a shipping address.

The woman claims that she was hired as the director of import/export compliance in Sept. 2015. During her period of employment, she states in court papers that she received performance-based pay increases and was not the subject of any disciplinary action. However, in June 2017, her status with the company changed after she noticed that an employee had altered an automatically-generated mailing label with one manually created.

The sales person claims that he changed the label to indicate the “Indonesian way of spelling Ministry of Defense” but had no answer when questioned about the change of address. Another employee indicated that they had received instructions to do so in an email but could not produce the email. She began an investigation after consulting with her supervisor but was told her position had become redundant due to restructuring just days into the investigation.

The woman, in a federal whistleblower lawsuit, claims that she was fired as a result of malice and retaliation. She is asking for lost wages and attorney’s fees among other compensation. Unfortunately, many people in California also face such treatment for doing nothing other than what their jobs require them to do by law. Often, litigation may be the only option to hold responsible parties accountable for their actions.

Source: fosters.com, “Woman’s lawsuit: Sig Sauer fired me for reporting illegal gun shipment,” Elizabeth Dinan, Oct. 29, 2017