Short answer: The evidence that supports a wrongful termination case includes documented complaints, text messages, emails, and other communications between you and your employer. Performance reviews, performance improvement plans (PIPs), and write ups can seriously hurt a case, so write a rebuttal any time you receive discipline you disagree with. Start saving emails, Teams messages, and texts before a termination happens, since you’ll likely lose access to them once you’re let go. California is an at-will employment state, yet your employer still can’t fire you in violation of public policy, and an employment attorney can help you understand whether you have a claim.
Losing your job is painful, and the weeks leading up to a termination can feel even harder. Many employees who come to our office describe a slow, unsettling shift at work: write ups that suddenly appear out of nowhere, a manager who seems to be watching every move, and a growing sense of being pushed toward the door. While you’re living through that, figuring out what to save is probably the last thing on your mind. Still, the evidence you preserve now can shape your ability to hold your employer accountable later. Knowing what helps a case and what can hurt one gives you a way to protect yourself during a time that feels uncertain.
What Evidence Supports a Wrongful Termination Case
The evidence that builds a wrongful termination case includes documented complaints, text messages, and communications between you and your employer that support your position that you were wrongfully terminated. Some documentation can break a case, too. Text messages or communications showing that an employee was actually engaging in misconduct, along with write ups, performance deficiencies, and PIPs, can support an employer’s argument that terminating the employee was a legitimate business decision.
Performance reviews, PIPs, write ups, and counseling are the records employees most often misunderstand. Many people don’t realize these documents can destroy a case. The employer will come forward, say the termination was justified, and point to a paper trail to prove it. Many employees also don’t think to save emails, Teams messages, and other internal workplace communications. Once you’ve been terminated, you usually won’t have access to those records anymore, which is why preserving them while you’re still employed makes such a difference.
Subtle Signs You May Be Forced Out
Terminations rarely come without warning. Subtle signs often show up first, and they deserve to be taken seriously. You might suddenly face excessive scrutiny, or maybe you get written up for things that don’t make sense. You may notice exclusion, isolation, or intimidation, or simply feel that the employment relationship has shifted. These changes carry extra weight when they follow something you recently reported, such as a workplace injury, a medical condition, a complaint of harassment, unsafe working conditions, unpaid wages, or wage and hour violations.
Many employees look back with regret because they didn’t save their documentation before the termination. When you sense you’re being forced out, that’s the time to get serious about protecting yourself. Start preserving emails, text messages, internal Teams messages, and other communications so you’ll have the support you need to pursue a claim of retaliation or wrongful termination after you’ve been let go.
Why Rebuttals and Written Records Carry So Much Weight
The biggest mistake an employee can make regarding evidence is failing to preserve it, save it, or put it in writing. Verbal complaints are easy for an employer to deny, and many employers will simply say they never knew about the complaint. Discipline works the same way. When you disagree with a write up and don’t respond in writing, your side of the story hasn’t been preserved.
A rebuttal is your opportunity to put your narrative on paper. When you’re facing unwarranted disciplinary action or write ups that don’t make sense, a written rebuttal lets you explain why the write up is inaccurate, how you’re being treated differently than other similarly situated employees, and why you feel targeted or retaliated against. “Take control of the narrative by creating a rebuttal,” says attorney Nancyrose Hernandez.
Beyond rebuttals, document everything, even in simple notes or a diary. Write about what’s happening to you in real time. These records show what you experienced and how your employer treated you, and they give our office something concrete to work with when we evaluate your case.
A Client Story: Targeted After a Workplace Injury
One case our office was passionate about pursuing involved an employee who was performing exceptionally well. He’d never received a write up, a performance deficiency, or a PIP, and he met expectations on all of his performance reviews. Then he was seriously injured at work. He reported the injury, took a medical leave of absence to recuperate, and eventually returned to his job.
His employer didn’t terminate him right away. Instead, the employer made his work life a living nightmare. He was suddenly written up for the most minor incidents, things other employees weren’t being written up for. He was under a microscope, and a PIP, counseling, and a last and final warning soon followed. The entire employment relationship had changed after his injury and medical leave, and eventually he was terminated.
He first suspected something was wrong when he started getting written up for strange, minor things while his counterparts weren’t. That excessive scrutiny and unwarranted discipline hadn’t existed before his injury, and he sensed a termination might be coming. He kept a copy of every write up he received, wrote rebuttals, and kept those rebuttals too. That documentation stayed in his possession and supported his side of the story.
The key evidence in his case included his medical documentation, the reported and documented workplace injury, his leave of absence, and his rebuttals to the PIPs, performance evaluations, and write ups. His rebuttals helped show these weren’t legitimate write ups. The employer was papering his file to make it look like he was performing poorly when he really wasn’t, and there was a causal connection between his injury, his medical leave, and his termination.
Losing his job left him emotionally distraught, and he still had to go out and find new employment. The silver lining is that he stood up for himself. He pursued his claims and gave a voice to his story, which empowered him and gave him the courage to speak up about what happened. What other employees can learn from his experience is that documentation is key. Writing rebuttals to performance evaluations, unwarranted write ups, and PIPs preserves your side of the story, and an employment law attorney can use that record to support claims of wrongful termination or discrimination.
Why Standing Up for Yourself Matters
An employee who reports unlawful employment practices or engages in protected activity, such as reporting a workplace injury, is entitled to keep their position. Nobody should be terminated for speaking up. A wrongful termination can leave you facing lost wages, medical expenses, out of pocket expenses, and attorney fees, and you deserve to be compensated for those damages.
“Although California is an at-will employment state, it doesn’t mean that an employer can fire you when it violates public policy,” Hernandez explains. Despite at-will status, you’re still protected from wrongful termination in violation of public policy, and speaking with an employment law attorney after you’ve been fired can help you see whether you have a potential claim.
“Preserving evidence is the most important thing an employee can do when they feel like there are subtle signs that they’re being forced out of their employment,” Hernandez says. When you’ve kept your emails, messages, rebuttals, and notes, our office has what we need to pursue your claims and fight for the outcome you deserve.
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different. Consult with a qualified employment law attorney to discuss the details of your case.
Request a Free Consultation
You don’t have to figure this out on your own. Request a Free Consultation with the Law Office of Nancyrose Hernandez, serving employees throughout Southern California including Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Corona, Riverside, as well as San Diego and Los Angeles counties.