Rhode Island wrongful termination settlements & cases

This page discusses unlawful termination settlements and verdicts in Rhode Island. It is very uncommon for great claims to go to trial, for the reason that they generally settle out of court.

The majority of these court cases contain mixed verdicts, meaning that they involved one, or perhaps a number of claims of wrongful firing as a consequence of sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity discrimination, race, color, national origin, religion discrimination, constructive discharge, whistleblower, breach of employment contract, workplace retaliation, pregnancy, firing in violation of public policy, age discrimination or gender discrimination.

The data which follows shows a snapshot of the various kinds of claims filed in conjunction with their respective numbers in RI 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
Rhode Island	37	0.00%	6	11	3	0	2	11	7	8	17	1	0

Source: https://www1.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/state_17.cfm

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the US in terms of size, and the 44th in terms of population. As such, wrongful termination and discrimination lawsuits in RI are relatively rare. The statistical data above illustrates this as well.

Wrongful discharge and discrimination cases & settlements in Rhode Island

$ 800,000

1/25/2018

Lori Franchina v. City of Providence

Lori Franchina was a firefighter working at the Providence Fire Department. She was lesbian.

She initially sued the city on 2 counts of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. She alleged that her colleagues discriminated against her both because she was a woman firefighter, and because she was lesbian. She filed complaints while working at the fire department, but was retaliated against for doing so.

The abuse got so bad that was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a permanent disability, meaning she could no longer work as a rescue lieutenant.

The jury awarded her $800,000 plus attorney’s fees, a decision which was affirmed by the court of appeals in 2018. Source

$ 220,000

5/7/2018

Jennifer McQuaide v Chariho Furniture Inc.

Jennifer McQuaide worked as a sales manager and interior consultant for the furniture store.

A co-owner of the company, Edward P. Smith, subjected her to sexual harassment and thus created a hostile work environment. She complained to management, but nothing was done to stop Smith from continuing with the harassment.

She was ultimately fired for rejecting his actions and advances.

She sued the company in 2002 and after a particularly long lawsuit, the jury awarded her $70,000 in compensatory and $150,000 in punitive damages in 2018. Source

As you look through our list of unlawful termination settlements from Rhode Island, remember the larger amounts are because of punitive compensation. Punitive damages are handed out to dissuade companies from taking part in the same sort of wrongful conduct. Punitive damages are quite infrequent. The majority of court cases will settle for approximately forty thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars.

Our selection of unlawful firing settlements and verdicts in RI was created for informational purposes. Despite the fact that you feel similarity to any of these lawsuits, remember that every situation is different.

The average wrongful discharge settlements in Rhode Island

It’s easy to understand that you would like to find out the amount of money you are likely to get for your wrongful discharge claim.

In the event that you reach settlement, the amount you are given is typically dependant on the following: reason of termination, mental anguish, benefits lost, job search costs, lost earnings and medical expenses. Punitive damages may also be awarded in rare situations, if the company acted egregiously.

As you can observe from the example cases above, presenting a median settlement for wrongful dismissal claims in RI is going to be very difficult since every case is unique.

The average wrongful termination settlement in Rhode Island is between $6,000 and $100,000. Legal professionals are usually beneficial when it comes to working out a higher settlement.

The typical courtroom awards are generally higher, approximately $110,000 to $350,000. This is one of the reasons employers like to reach settlement outside of court. Numerous years of litigation, bearing the legal costs and maybe losing the lawsuit in the end might end up being expensive.