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Union employees and wrongful termination claims

On Behalf of | Jul 3, 2019 | Wrongful Termination |

Working in a union in New Jersey comes with a lot of advantages. One of those advantages is that if the union employee is terminated from their employment, they can fight the termination with the help of a union representative. A non-union employee would not have the backing of a union representative. The process to fight wrongful termination as a union employee is a little different from non-union employees.

If you belong to a union and have lost your job in New Jersey, the union representative for your local will file a grievance over the firing on your behalf at your request. The grievance will be reviewed by your direct supervisor or forwarded to a higher member of the management team where you were employed for review.

In many union employment contracts, there is a clause that includes binding arbitration. If your dispute over being wrongfully terminated reaches the arbitration stage, there will be a hearing. The arbitrator will hear both sides of the case and then come to a decision. Whatever the decision is, it is binding, which means you cannot argue it any further and neither can your employer.

If you believe you were wrongfully terminated from your job, it’s best to speak with your union representative as soon as possible. With the requirement of binding arbitration, it is difficult for the employee who was terminated to move forward with litigation against the employer. Despite this, you should still have an experienced employment law attorney by your side if you are making a wrongful termination claim against your former employer.