Long Island Wrongful Termination Lawyer

Losing a job is difficult enough under ordinary circumstances. Losing one because an employer retaliated against you, discriminated against you, or pressured you to participate in something illegal is a different matter entirely, and New York law takes it seriously. A Long Island wrongful termination lawyer can help you determine whether what happened to you crosses the legal line from a poor management decision into actionable misconduct, and what your realistic options are for recovering what you lost.

New York is an at-will employment state, which means employers can generally end a working relationship for any reason or no reason at all. But that rule has significant exceptions, and those exceptions carry real legal weight. Terminations motivated by a protected characteristic, retaliatory discharge after a worker exercises a legal right, firings that violate an explicit or implied contract, and dismissals tied to whistleblowing activity all fall outside what the law permits. On Long Island, where industries from healthcare and finance to retail and construction employ hundreds of thousands of workers, these situations arise more often than most people realize.

Understanding whether your termination was wrongful requires an honest, detailed analysis of the circumstances surrounding your departure, your employer’s stated reason, and what was actually happening in the weeks or months before the firing. That analysis is where legal representation becomes essential, and where the difference between a documented claim and a dead end often lies.

Why Mark David Shirian P.C. Handles Long Island Wrongful Termination Cases

Founded in 2016 by Attorney Mark D. Shirian, the firm was built around a single objective: helping people who have been wronged. Employment law is one of the firm’s primary areas of focus, and wrongful termination sits at the center of that practice. Attorney Mark D. Shirian and Senior Associate Shawn D. Shirian bring a litigation-first mindset to every employment case, a posture that matters when dealing with employers who have in-house legal teams and institutional resources on their side.

Clients who have worked with the firm describe an attorney who pays close attention to detail, fights hard through the process, and keeps them informed at every stage. Those qualities matter particularly in wrongful termination matters, where the factual record is everything. The firm has recovered millions on behalf of clients across employment and personal injury cases, and approaches Long Island wrongful termination claims with the same analytical rigor it brings to complex civil litigation. If you are working through what happened to you and need a clear-eyed assessment of whether you have a claim, this firm gives you that conversation without pretense.

Wrongful Termination Claims Handled Across Long Island

• Discriminatory Discharge: Terminations motivated by race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, pregnancy, or sexual orientation violate federal and state law. New York State Human Rights Law extends protections further than federal minimums, and Nassau and Suffolk County employers are subject to those broader standards.
• Retaliation After Reporting Misconduct: Employees who report wage theft, workplace safety violations, harassment, or discrimination to HR or a government agency are protected from retaliation. A firing that closely follows a complaint is a significant red flag, and the timing alone can be important evidence.
• Whistleblower Retaliation: New York Labor Law protects workers who report employer activity they reasonably believe violates a law, rule, or regulation to a supervisor or government body. Healthcare workers on Long Island, in particular, face whistleblower situations involving billing fraud, patient safety, or regulatory violations.
• Implied Contract Violations: Even without a formal written employment contract, an employee handbook, longstanding company policy, or repeated oral assurances can create an implied agreement about how terminations are handled. When employers deviate from their own stated processes, a wrongful termination claim may be available.
• FMLA and Medical Leave Retaliation: Federal law protects employees who take qualifying medical leave from being fired for doing so. Long Island workers who request or return from FMLA leave and find themselves pushed out shortly after have grounds to investigate whether that timing was intentional.
• Constructive Discharge: Not all wrongful terminations involve a pink slip. When an employer deliberately makes working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign, the law may treat that resignation as a termination. Hostile work environments, demotions designed to humiliate, and sudden elimination of responsibilities can all factor into a constructive discharge analysis.
• Termination in Breach of a Written Contract: Executives, professionals, and union-represented workers on Long Island often have written employment agreements specifying the grounds and procedures for termination. When an employer ignores those terms, the breach gives rise to a separate category of claim independent of discrimination or retaliation law.

What New York Law Actually Gives You and How to Preserve It

New York State and federal law provide overlapping layers of protection for workers who have been wrongfully terminated, but those protections come with procedural requirements that have real consequences if missed. For claims under the New York State Human Rights Law, the statute of limitations is generally three years for claims filed directly in court. Federal claims under Title VII or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act require that you first file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, typically within 300 days of the discriminatory act, before you can sue in federal court. Missing that administrative filing deadline can extinguish an otherwise valid claim.

If you believe your termination was wrongful, the most useful thing you can do immediately is to gather and preserve documentation. Pull together any performance reviews you received, written communications from supervisors about your role or performance, emails or text messages that suggest the real reason for your firing, and any written policies or handbook provisions your employer cited or failed to follow. Do this before your company email access is cut off, if it has not been already, and before you sign any severance agreement.

Severance agreements deserve particular attention. Employers routinely offer separation pay in exchange for a release of all claims, including claims you may not yet realize you have. If you have been asked to sign one, you should have an attorney review it before you agree to anything. Under federal law, workers over 40 who are offered a severance agreement tied to a release of age discrimination claims have specific rights regarding the amount of time they must be given to consider the agreement, and those rights cannot be waived by an employer who does not honor them.

On Long Island, wrongful termination lawsuits involving state law claims are typically filed in Nassau County Supreme Court or Suffolk County Supreme Court, depending on where you worked. Federal claims go to the Eastern District of New York, which covers Long Island and has a courthouse in Central Islip. The EEOC’s New York District Office handles administrative charges for Long Island workers. Knowing which forum applies to your situation is part of the early strategic analysis a wrongful termination attorney in Nassau or Suffolk County will conduct with you.

What Employers Do After a Wrongful Termination Claim Is Filed

Once a claim is filed or an attorney sends a demand letter, employer behavior tends to follow recognizable patterns. The HR department and in-house or outside counsel will begin building the narrative that the termination was legitimate, typically assembling performance documentation, attendance records, or policy violation histories that may have been ignored for years before suddenly becoming relevant. Witnesses will be interviewed. Emails will be reviewed. The employer’s goal is to construct a paper trail that supports whatever reason was given for the firing.

This is precisely why the early factual investigation on the employee’s side matters so much. A wrongful termination attorney serving Long Island clients will work to identify the evidence that contradicts the employer’s narrative, including comparator employees who were treated differently, the suspicious timing of disciplinary actions relative to protected activity, inconsistencies between what was said at the time of termination and what the employer claims now, and any witnesses who observed relevant conduct. The employer will present a story. The goal is to show that the story does not hold together.

Many wrongful termination cases resolve through negotiated settlement before trial. The strength of the settlement depends heavily on the strength of the documented claim, the clarity of the liability theory, and the nature of the damages. Recoverable damages in New York wrongful termination cases can include back pay for wages lost from the date of termination, front pay for projected future lost earnings, emotional distress damages in discrimination and retaliation cases, and attorneys’ fees under certain statutes. Punitive damages are available in cases involving particularly egregious employer conduct under some federal claims.

Questions Long Island Workers Ask About Wrongful Termination

Does New York being an at-will state mean I have no case?

At-will employment means your employer does not need a good reason to fire you, but it does not mean every firing is legal. At-will employment is overridden by anti-discrimination statutes, retaliation protections, whistleblower laws, contract terms, and public policy exceptions. The question is not whether your employer had the general right to fire you, but whether the specific reason for your firing violated one of those legal limits.

My employer gave a legitimate-sounding reason. Does that end my case?

Not necessarily. Employers often provide what lawyers call a “pretext,” a stated reason that sounds acceptable but is not the actual motivation. Courts allow employees to challenge pretext by showing that the reason given was false, inconsistently applied, or that the real motivation was discriminatory or retaliatory. If the employer’s reason does not hold up to scrutiny, the case can survive even if they articulate something plausible at the outset.

What if I was already struggling with my performance before being fired?

Performance issues that predate protected activity or that apply equally to all employees do not automatically defeat a claim. The relevant analysis is whether the employer treated you differently than similarly situated employees, whether the performance issue was suddenly elevated in importance only after you engaged in protected activity, and whether the discipline or termination was proportionate to what actually occurred. Imperfect performance history is common in wrongful termination cases and does not necessarily end a viable claim.

Can I file a wrongful termination claim if I was a contractor, not a full employee?

It depends on the nature of the working relationship. Many workers classified as independent contractors are actually employees under the legal analysis courts and agencies apply, which looks at factors like the degree of control the company exercised over your work, whether you worked exclusively for that company, and who supplied your tools and equipment. If you were misclassified as a contractor, you may still have access to employee protections. Even workers who are genuinely classified as contractors retain certain rights in some contexts.

Does it matter if I resigned instead of being formally fired?

If the resignation was not truly voluntary because the working conditions had been deliberately made intolerable, a constructive discharge theory may apply. Courts look at whether a reasonable person in your position would have felt compelled to resign and whether the employer intended to force that outcome. The bar for constructive discharge is higher than for a direct termination claim, but it is not insurmountable, particularly where there is documented evidence of a pattern of targeted mistreatment.

I signed a severance agreement. Can I still file a claim?

Potentially, depending on the circumstances. If the severance agreement contains a valid release of claims and you accepted the consideration, you may have waived the right to sue. However, releases can be challenged on several grounds, including whether you were given adequate time to consider the agreement, whether it was signed under duress, whether the employer failed to disclose information you were entitled to, and whether it complied with age discrimination requirements for workers over 40. An attorney can review the specific agreement to assess whether it is enforceable.

How long do wrongful termination cases typically take in Nassau or Suffolk County?

The timeline varies significantly depending on whether the case is resolved through settlement negotiations, mediation, or litigation. Some cases are resolved within several months through direct negotiation after a demand letter. Cases that require an EEOC charge before proceeding to federal court add an administrative phase that typically takes additional months before a right-to-sue letter is issued. Cases that go through full discovery and trial in Nassau or Suffolk County Supreme Court or in federal court in Central Islip can take considerably longer. Early resolution is possible when liability is clear and the employer has reason to settle.

What if the person who fired me no longer works for the company?

The liability attaches to the employer, not to the individual decision-maker, in most wrongful termination claims. Even if the manager or executive who initiated your termination has since left, the company remains responsible for the conduct of its employees and agents. The former decision-maker may still be a relevant witness, and documents from their tenure are generally discoverable.

Are there wrongful termination protections specific to Long Island industries I should know about?

Long Island’s healthcare sector, which includes major medical centers and hospital systems, generates a significant number of whistleblower and FMLA retaliation claims. Workers in construction, a major Long Island industry, sometimes face retaliation for reporting OSHA violations or workers’ compensation claims. Retail and service sector workers, many of them protected by additional New York City-area local ordinances depending on their specific employment location, face scheduling and leave-related termination claims with some frequency. The industry context often shapes which legal theories and which agencies are most relevant to a given claim.

Is there any reason not to file a claim even if I think I have a strong one?

The main practical consideration is time. Because both state and federal laws impose deadlines that begin running from the date of the adverse action, delay in consulting an attorney is the most common way that otherwise strong claims become legally unavailable. Beyond that, early consultation allows you to preserve documentation and witness availability before memories fade and records become harder to obtain. The analysis of whether to pursue a claim is best made with full information, not in avoidance of it.

Serving Workers Across Long Island and Greater New York

Mark David Shirian P.C. represents workers throughout Long Island, including clients in Hempstead, Garden City, Mineola, Great Neck, and Manhasset in Nassau County, as well as clients in Hicksville, Levittown, and Valley Stream. Across Suffolk County, the firm serves workers in communities including Huntington, Babylon, Brentwood, Bay Shore, Islip, Hauppauge, Ronkonkoma, Smithtown, Commack, Copiague, Lindenhurst, and Patchogue. The firm also represents Long Island workers employed in firms with offices in or near Queens and Brooklyn, and handles cases that involve employers headquartered in Manhattan but with Long Island-based employees. Whether you work in a professional services environment in a Nassau County office park or in a healthcare facility in central Suffolk, the firm’s representation extends across the region. As a New York City-based firm, Mark David Shirian P.C. is positioned to handle claims filed in both the state and federal courts that serve Long Island’s workforce.

Speak with a Long Island Wrongful Termination Attorney

If you were fired under circumstances that felt wrong, or were pushed toward a resignation you did not want to make, speaking with a Long Island wrongful termination attorney is the most productive next step you can take. The law provides real protections, but those protections run on deadlines and require evidence that is best gathered sooner rather than later. Mark David Shirian P.C. offers confidential case evaluations for workers across Long Island who want an honest assessment of their situation. Call the firm or contact us online to schedule yours.