This page concerns unlawful termination settlement amounts in Mississippi. It is unusual for good claims to go to trial, for the reason that they mostly reach settlement out of the courtroom.
A lot of these court cases consist of mixed settlements, implying they implicated one, or a number of claims of wrongful firing caused by sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity discrimination, disability, whistleblower, constructive discharge, gender discrimination, race, color, national origin, religion discrimination, firing in violation of public policy, pregnancy or age discrimination.
The data directly below exhibits a summary of the different types of cases filed and their specific quantities in the state of MS in 2017.
| State | 2017 Total Charges | % of Total USA Charges | Race | Sex | Natl Origin | Religion | Color | Retaliation All Statutes | TVII Retaliation | Age | Disability | EPA | GINA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 1812 | 2.20% | 749 | 556 | 37 | 42 | 19 | 738 | 665 | 285 | 412 | 17 | 8 |
Source: https://www1.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/state_17.cfm
Wrongful discharge and discrimination cases & settlements in Mississippi
$ 100,000
8/18/2015
EEOC v Mississippi HomeCare
Kristy Sones worked for Mississippi HomeCare in Picayune. She suffered any epileptic seizure at work.
When she returned to work, she asked for accommodations to help her perform certain computer tasks, since she had to take seizure medication and they were having temporary side effects. The company did not provide the requested accommodations, and did not even discuss what could be done. Sones was fired 1 month later.
The Americans with Disabilities Act states that reasonable accommodations must be provided by the employer for a worker’s disability. Since the company did not do so, the EEOC filed a lawsuit on Sones’s behalf.
The wrongful termination lawsuit was initially dismissed, but on appeal, it was remanded. Following the remand, the company negotiated a settlement of $100,000 to be paid to Sones. Source
$ 100,000
9/13/2017
EEOC v Vicksburg Healthcare, LLC (River Region Medical Center)
Beatrice Chambers was a nurse for 36 years at River Region Medical Center.
She required shoulder surgery, and was approved for sick leave. During her recovery, her doctor suggested that she either extend her sick leave, or ask return to work on light duty temporarily. Chambers requested this reasonable accommodation, but the company refused her request and discharged her not long after.
She reported the events to the EEOC, who sued the company on her behalf. At this time, Chambers also applied for a disability insurance claim, citing “temporary total disability”. This is what makes this case interesting.
Her claim for total disability would mean that she was unable to perform her work, and the company was right in firing her. The district court cited this, and dismissed the case. On appeal, the Court of Appeals returned the case to the district court.
Instead of continuing with litigation, the company settled the case through a consent decree, and paid $100,000 to Chambers. Source
$ 300,000
10/8/2004
Anne Jordan v. University of Southern Mississippi
Anne Jordan started working for the University of Southern Mississippi to manage a federal
grant on drug and alcohol abuse. The program was set to last 5 years.
2 years into the program, she realized that her boss was mismanaging federal grant funds, and reported him. She was fired soon after in retaliation.
She sued the university for wrongful termination, and after a 9 year lawsuit, the jury awarded her $300,000. Source
$ 20,000
3/25/2014
EEOC v Jiji Inc (Holiday Inn)
Te’Shawn Harmon started working at a Holiday Inn location in Batesville, MS. One her 1st day of work, she informed her supervisor that she was pregnant. She was fired immediately, and replaced by a non-pregnant worker.
Such behavior constitutes pregnancy discrimination, which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The EEOC sued the company for wrongful termination, and settled the case through a consent decree. Harmon received $20,000. Source
$ 40,000
5/3/2010
EEOC v Poplar Springs Nursing Center, LLC
Gloria Carey, a 53-year-old black woman, applied for a social worker position at the nursing center. She had 27 years of relevant experience for the position.
Instead of hiring her, the company gave the job to a 34 year old white woman, who was obviously lesser qualified. This woman was the only candidate interviewed.
The law protects job applicants from wrongful discrimination. Carey filed a report with the EEOC, who sued the nursing home on her behalf for age and race discrimination. A consent decree was negotiated, and she received a settlement of $40,000. Source
$ 55,000
9/8/2009
EEOC v Knight Transportation
Eric Newton worked as a dispatcher at Knight Transportation’s facility in Olive Branch, MS. He was a night shift dispatch supervisor who responded to calls made by drivers.
One of the drivers made racial slurs which Newton found racially offensive. He reported the event to management. There was no investigation into the matter, and Newton was terminated not long after.
Alleging wrongful termination in retaliation for reporting race discrimination, he contacted the EEOC, who sued the company on behalf for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The case was settled with a consent decree, Newton received $55,000 in monetary relief. Source
A large percentage of court cases settle for between ten thousand to just a few hundred thousand dollars.
When considering this listing of unlawful firing settlements from Mississippi, remember that the large amounts of money are because of punitive damages, that are rewarded to dissuade businesses from taking part in the same kind of unjust behavior. Punitive damages are relatively rare.
This list of wrongful firing verdicts and settlements in MS was created for informational purposes. Even if you feel similarity to any of these cases, remember that every situation is unique.
Average wrongful discharge settlements in Mississippi
It is understandable that you want to find out the amount of money you could be given for your wrongful dismissal claim.
In the event that you reach settlement, the figure you receive is normally determined by these factors: lost benefits, reason of discharge, lost earnings, job search costs, emotional distress and medical expenses. Punitive damages could be granted in rare situations, if the workplace behaved egregiously.
As you can observe from the example claims above, presenting a standard settlement for unlawful discharge claims in MS is actually really difficult since each claim is unique.
The average wrongful termination settlement in Mississippi is between $6,000 and $100,000.
Attorneys can certainly be helpful when it comes to reaching a higher settlement.
The average court or jury awards are bigger, between $90,000 – $400,000. This is definitely a good reason companies like to reach settlement before going to court. Years of going to court, bearing the legal costs and perhaps losing the lawsuit in the end might be very expensive.
Filing a wrongful discharge or discrimination claim in Mississippi
If you think maybe you had been discharged for some kind of unlawful reason, here are tips on what you should do.
To start, you will want to speak with a wrongful termination law firm in Mississippi in order to discover if you have got a case worth going after.
Do not delay, because there are actually deadlines to reporting unlawful discharge claims in Mississippi.
2nd, you will probably need to submit a timely claim with the EEOC office in Jackson, MS.
Here are several suggestions on filing a wrongful termination lawsuit.
