Friend fired just before retirement and committed suicide - Can his wife sue the company?

I’m not positive, but if there was any way for her to prove that he was fired just because he was close to receiving retirement benefits, she may very well have a case against them.

That’s a terrible story. I’m so sorry for your loss. I don’t know the legal grounds but I would think they would have to show direct causation which would probably be hard to do.

@DrasticDreamer How could you prove that?

@janbb Yes, it sems hard to show direct causation but without some way to protect an employee against this, it seems anyone could be treated like this.

Well, I hope he had life insurance.

How tragic! My immediate kneejerk reaction is to sue the sh** out of them. But attorneys on both sides would get ALL the info about what was really going on here and the ‘verdict’ could be quite different than all the emotion invested in this right now. The devil is in the details, .... my best to you and your friends family!

@ChazMaz He did but I don’t think it applies in the case of suicide.

If you have life insurance. You cant kill yourself for the first two years of the policy. After that you can.

@dunkin_donutz Most companies have to have a reason for firing someone, on paper. As janbb pointed out, it’s causation. They can’t just walk up to someone and say “you’re fired” for no reason – most of the time. Some companies can get away with it, but not most of them.

She can start by calling the company and asking what their reason for firing him was. However, she may want to hire a lawyer first and actually have the lawyer contact the company to find out. Just a lawyer’s presence in the situation will freak them out.

And yes, janbb is right – she needs to get her hands on the contract to see what kind of rules and stipulations were in it. Again, before she does that, it would probably be good for her to already have a lawyer.

I would start by looking up his employemnt contract and see if there are any termination conditions. You might be able to sue for wrongful termination if certain conditions haven’t been met. I am not a lawyer, though.

@DrasticDreamer Actually the reason was layoff. A few guys, all of whom happened to have worked there a long time and were close to retirement, were laid off at the same time.

@dunkin_donutz I think she probably has a case, and I urge you to strongly recommend a lawyer. Companies should not be able to get away with things like this.

I think the best chance of getting some payback is probably to contact the press. I don’t know how to get in touch with the New York Times or the Daily News, but maybe they would find this story “interesting”.

@DrasticDreamer Agreed on both counts. Thanks.

@ChazMaz how can they not allow you to kill yourself?

@dunkin_donutz Have her get a lawyer before any press is contacted. After that, here is a starting point – how to contact the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html

@iRemy_y Actually I think ChazMas is correct – I heard that before sometime but forgot about it.

@DrasticDreamer Awesome. Thanks.

I’m sorry for your loss, if your friend was fired without any well documented cause against him (any tipe of wrongdoing within the parameters of his position description), his wife can sue, and win…

and yes, she needs to find a big-shot lawyer, this sounds like news and any big firm will love to go along the ride with her

@iRemy_y – You can kill yourself at any time. But if you do it in the first 2 years it will not pay off.

The reason behind it is to prevent you of intentionally doing to for the insurance.

The only way I would sue in this case is on contingency. Otherwise, it’s just an expensive and heart rending brew ha-ha (or however you spell that) where the lawyers end up with everything. And on top of the grieving, the family has to deal with the stress of a lawsuit that may lose them much money.

I am so sorry to hear about your friend. But I think the wife probably does not have much of a case. This is a terrible tragedy, but I do not think there is any way, ethically or legally, to hold the company responsible.

Many states have “at will” termination policies—meaning you can be let go at any time, for any reason. (The only exceptions to this are things like protected groups—e.g., you can’t be fired for being black.) This is in fact legal.

But it sounds like you’re not asking about suing for wrongful termination. It sounds like you think his wife should sue the company because he killed himself. And I cannot imagine any situation in which this would hold up in court. Again, this is tragic, but it is not the company’s fault that he chose to kill himself. They could not have known that would happen, they could not have prevented it, and even if they could, it seems unreasonable to require employers to keep employees on because they’re afraid of what the employee would do if let go.

Ah, yeah. Hmm. I’ve been talking about suing for possible wrongful termination the entire time. If for any other reason, I don’t suggest suing at all. But, try to get your hands on the contract, just to make sure they don’t have something like being able to terminate people at will. They may or may not have it, but it’s worth it to check. The fact that they only fired people close to retirement makes it look suspicious.

I don’t think a business is legally responsible for an employee that decides to take their own life.

I am sorry for your loss.

I’m sorry for your friend. New York is not an “employment at-will” state, so they’ll need to give a reason why he was let go if they are asked about it. Your friend should go to her lawyer immediately. The company’s already on it, to be sure.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the chances are very high that she’ll get anything out of them, aside from any pension plan that’s in place and Social Security.

Lawyers do not usually charge a fee for the initial consultation. Pick a few lawyers either by recommendations or personal effort and discuss the case with them. You will never be able to sue without an attorney’s involvement either way.