I was wrongfully terminated two weeks ago, and I'm filing a law-suit. This termination really racked me emotionally. I had diarrhea for 3 days, and could hardly eat. I wept incessantly, had little patience with my children, and now my mouth is full of canker sores, and my jaw locks up at night (I guess I'm grinding my teeth and clenching uncontrolably).
I want to sue for emotional and physical distress. But how do I prove this? Do you just go see a doctor and say "here are my symptoms, and they were all because of the stress I suffered because I got fired. Can you put it in writing and sign it so I can use it in a lawsuit?"
Any help on this one?
Answers:
The type of suit that you are talking about is very complex and will depend on state/federal laws. You will need an attorney to help you through this one, if you want to win.
What probably will happen is that you/your attorney will file a sexual harassment/discrimination COMPLAINT with the EEOC. Go to www.eeoc.gov to learn about this phase. Yes, you most first go through the EEOC. Do not file your own complaint or let the clerks at EEOC do the wording for you. Any facts/items/charges that are left out of the complaint CANNOT be brought up in the lawsuit. Get an attorney.
Once the Complaint has been accepted by the the EEOC, your attorney will then contact the EEOC and ask for a 'Letter For Right To Sue". The attorney will then create the documents to file a Federal lawsuit in the closest Federal District court. Word of caution here --- this is NOT a do it yourself project. You must have an attorney and yes most will ask for money upfront (a retainer). It is rare to find an attorney who takes employment cases on contingency (lawyer does not get paid if no win). These cases are expensive just to file the documents.
As for the TORT of intentional infliction of emotional and physical distress. You may or MAY NOT be able to include this in the Federal lawsuit. You will need to go under a doctor's care for this, the doctor will be expected to testify that your condition is a direct result of an intentional action on the part of your former employer. This is Extremely tough to prove.
You need to find an employment law attorney now, before you make any mistakes on this case. Good luck.
Get over it and get another job!!
Oh My God you can't even prove it was your employers fault. America is full of sue happy idiots that don't want to work. Get a life.
Most companies have fired US citizens using At-Will Employment. Part of your attempt requires seeing a psychologist but some feel that this is fraudulent.
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If you have documentation it may help.
The best bet is to see a mental health professional
If have have witnesses it help otherwise it is hard.
You would have to convince a doctor that this was the circumstance and he would have to prescribe medication based on this and also be willing to testify to the fact. then you have a suit.
You can claim emotional %26 physical distress, but in order to recover from these alleged injuries you are best off providing objective evidence in the form of testimony or a written declaration from a physician and/or therapist. There needs to be confirmation of the injury. The same thing goes for your lawsuit in general. Right now, based on what you've stated, this is nothing more than he said, she said. It is a weak case. Is there testimony from others? did anyone see/hear your boss make coments or act inappropriately? How long has it happened?
Is at-will employment, the law of your State?
A lawsuit like this becomes a war of experts, the plaintiff brings experts and the defendant brings experts, their testimony competes. All cost money, medical doctors and psychiatrists cost a lot of money. Do you have a lot of money to spend pursueing a very long drawn out lawsuit of this type? If so, why care whether you are working or not? If you do care contact a lawyer in your area, I am sure he would appreciate some of your money as well.
Sexual harassment and wronful termination is another matter, but you need witnesses, including others who may have experienced the same. Again this is expensive, you need to do some cost benefit analysis here.
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