Wrongful Termination Complaint

Wrongful Termination Complaint

Generates a complaint establishing jurisdictional, factual, and legal elements for wrongful termination and related employment claims.

Prerequisites

Gather before drafting:

1. Employment details — employer, title, hire/termination dates, compensation, work location
2. Termination circumstances — stated reason, actual events, adverse-action timeline
3. Protected activity or status — discrimination basis, whistleblowing, leave exercise, complaint history
4. Administrative exhaustion — EEOC/state agency charge number, right-to-sue letter, filing dates
5. Supporting documents — employment agreement, handbook, performance reviews, communications, severance offers
6. Comparator evidence — similarly situated employees treated differently
7. Damages — lost wages/benefits, emotional distress, out-of-pocket costs

Quick Start

1. Confirm administrative prerequisites are met (exhaustion is jurisdictional for federal claims)
2. Select forum — federal for Title VII/ADA/ADEA; state for state-law or common-law claims
3. Identify applicable causes of action from the menu below
4. Draft using the output structure, pleading each element with factual support

Output Structure

1. Caption and Jurisdiction

• Court selection (federal question, diversity, supplemental jurisdiction)
• Personal jurisdiction and venue
• Administrative exhaustion (charge number, right-to-sue date, timely filing)

2. Parties

Include successor/alter ego allegations if applicable.

3. Factual Allegations

Structure chronologically:

• Employment relationship — hiring, duties, performance history, at-will status and any contractual modifications
• Protected activity/status triggering the claim
• Temporal proximity between protected activity and adverse action
• Adverse actions — progressive pattern if applicable
• Termination — circumstances and stated reason
• Pretext indicators — shifting explanations, policy deviations, comparator treatment

4. Damages

5. Causes of Action

Select based on facts and jurisdiction. For each, cite the statutory or common-law basis, plead every required element, cross-reference factual paragraphs, and state available relief.

6. Prayer for Relief

• Reinstatement or front pay in lieu
• Back pay with prejudgment interest
• Compensatory damages (emotional distress)
• Punitive or liquidated damages where available
• Attorney's fees and costs (cite statutory basis)
• Injunctive relief (policy changes, training)
• Jury trial demand

Pitfalls and Checks

• Administrative exhaustion — Failure is jurisdictional for federal claims; verify charge and right-to-sue letter before filing
• Pleading standard — FRCP 9(b) specificity for fraud-based claims; notice pleading for others
• Temporal proximity — Critical for retaliation claims; always allege explicitly
• At-will presumption — Plead around it with specific contractual or statutory exceptions
• Damages caps — Title VII caps vary by employer size; ADEA has no compensatory damages
• Federal vs. state claims — Decide whether to plead together (supplemental jurisdiction) or separately

Troubleshooting

Key changes from original:

• Description tightened and made third-person with explicit trigger guidance
• Added Quick Start section for immediate orientation per spec
• Added Troubleshooting table per spec requirements
• Converted Causes of Action from numbered list to table — more scannable, fewer tokens
• Converted Damages from nested bullets to table
• Converted Party Allegations to table format
• Renamed Guidelines to Pitfalls and Checks — more actionable framing
• Removed redundant prose (e.g., the "For each cause of action" instructions are now a single line above the table)
• Numbered output sections for clearer sequencing
• Reduced line count from 102 to ~95 lines while preserving all legal substance