This page focuses on unlawful discharge settlements in the state of Ohio. It is really unusual for great claims to go to trial, because they typically reach settlement out of trial. However, when they don’t reach settlement, there might be a lawsuit, where the defendant or the plaintiff will prevail.
Almost all of these cases incorporate mixed settlements, meaning they implicated one particular, or a number of claims of wrongful termination caused by firing in violation of public policy, race, color, national origin, religion discrimination, sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity discrimination, breach of employment contract, age discrimination, workplace retaliation or disability.
The data listed below exhibits a snapshot of the various types of claims filed and additionally their respective quantities in the state of OH 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 2392 | 2.80% | 825 | 672 | 164 | 90 | 82 | 1083 | 810 | 624 | 836 | 28 | 11 |
Source: https://www1.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/state_17.cfm
Wrongful discharge and discrimination cases & settlements in Ohio
$ 650,000
1/21/2010
Perlean Griffin & Dwayne Moorehead & Gary Daugherty v Toledo City
In this racial discrimination case, the 3 plaintiffs claimed that they were wrongfully terminated from their Toledo City public service jobs due to their African-American race.
Perlean Griffin was offered a $150,000 settlement and Dwayne Moorehead a $300,000 settlement without going to trial. Gary Daugherty was not offered a settlement, and his case was thrown out of court. After appeal, a 3 judge panel reversed the decision, and he was cleared for a new trial. Instead of bearing the cost and burden of further litigation, the city chose to offer him a $200,000 settlement as well. Source
$ 363,419
3/25/2014
EEOC v Wal-Mart
Jamie Wells was an intellectually disabled female employee at Walmart’s store in Akron, OH. She had worked at Wal-Mart for more than 10 years, but her disability made her vulnerable to sexual harassment.
She was fired in retaliation for reporting a colleague, who had sexually harassed her. The harassment had continued for years, even though her managers were aware of it.
The EEOC sued Wal-Mart for retaliatory wrongful termination and sex discrimination. Wal-Mart settled the case through a consent decree, Wells received $295,000 in compensatory damages. Source
$ 490,000
7/11/2005
Russell Rich v McDonald’s
Russell Rich worked for McDonald’s since he was a teenager. He worked for the company for 2 decades, eventually rising to the position of restaurant manager.
He contracted HIV in the 1990’s, which is when he started feeling that he was being discriminated against. His job responsibilities were gradually taken away, even though he was cleared for work by his doctor, who stated that he could not transmit the disease to McDondald’s customers. After the company wanted to reassign him to another location, he resigned.
Alleging discrimination and wrongful termination through constructive discharge, he sued the company. After 3 years of litigation, the jury returned a verdict of $5,000,000 in damages, which was overturned on appeal. After another 4 years of litigation, another jury awarded him $490,000 in damages. Details, source
$ 72,500
5/29/2014
EEOC v Lifecare Medical Services, Inc.
Lifecare Medical Services is a medical transportation company based in Akron.
John Adair worked for the company as an EMT-paramedic. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and requested additional leave as a reasonable accommodation to treat his illness. Instead of accommodating his request, he was disciplined for missing extra days, and eventually fired for the absences.
The Americans with Disabilities Act states that the employer must provide reasonable accommodation to a disabled worker, if the accommodation doesn’t cause undue hardship on the company.
The EEOC sued Lifecare Medical Services for violating the ADA and wrongful termination. The case was settled through a consent decree, the company paid $72,500 to Adair as monetary relief. Source
$ 650,000
7/27/2010
EEOC v Area Temps Inc.
Area Temps is one of the biggest temporary staffing agency in Cleveland. Based on the request of it’s business customers, it profiled job applicants based on age, race, sex, age and national origin, and made employment decisions based on these factors.
This, of course, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Two employees spoke up about the discriminatory practices of the company, and they were fired in retaliation. A third employee was also fired for cooperating with the EEOC’s investigation.
The company settled the case brought by the EEOC on behalf of the fired workers through a consent decree. The ex-employees received $650,000. Source
$ 2,430,000
1/22/2009
EEOC v Pitt Ohio
Pitt Ohio is a major trucking and transportation company based in Ohio.
The EEOC sued the company for sex discrimination, since it received reports that women were never hired by the company for trucking and dock work. Pitt Ohio only hired men for these jobs, even though women would have been qualified as well.
Title VII’s anti discrimination rules protect not just existing employees, but job applicants as well. Following the EEOC’s lawsuit, the company decided to settle the case through a consent decree and pay $2.43 million to the women it didn’t hire because of sex discrimination, and offere a job to the women. Source
When thinking about this catalog of wrongful termination verdicts from Ohio, do not forget that the larger sums are caused by punitive damages. Punitive damages are rewarded to discourage organizations from engaging in the same type of wrongful act. Punitive damages are relatively infrequent. A good number of lawsuits settle for approximately $50,000 to just a few hundred thousand dollars.
This list of unlawful firing settlements in OH is meant for informative purposes. Even though you may feel resemblance to any of these lawsuits, keep in mind that each and every single case is unique.
The average wrongful discharge settlements in Ohio
If you believe you were wrongfully terminated, it’s understandable that you might want to determine approximately how much money you could receive for your unlawful discharge claim. In the event that you reach settlement (or prevail in court), the amount of money you are given is basically dependant on these factors: benefits lost, reason of discharge, mental anguish, medical expenses, costs of finding a new job and lost earnings. Punitive damages might also be awarded in rare situations, in the event the company acted egregiously.
As you can observe from the example lawsuits above, giving a median settlement for unlawful dismissal cases in OH is actually tricky because each case is different.
The average wrongful termination settlement in Ohio is between $4,000 and $80,000.
Lawyers can be helpful when reaching a higher settlement.
The majority of court or jury awards are generally higher, between $100,000 to $300,000. This is definitely one reason why organizations like to accept a settlement out of court.
Filing a wrongful discharge or discrimination claim in Ohio
If you believe you had been terminated for an unlawful cause, here is what to do.
First of all, you will need to speak to a wrongful termination lawyer in Ohio to see whether or not there is a case worth pursuing.
Ensure that you don’t run out of time to submit the claim, read the Ohio statutes of limitations on wrongful discharge.
2nd, you will probably need to file a timely claim with the local EEOC’s Cincinnati Area Office.
These are the steps you’ll want to take to file a wrongful discharge lawsuit.
