Florida Lifeguard Fired for Helping to Save Drowning Beachgoer

August 19, 2012

A lifeguard at a Florida beach was recently fired by his employer for helping save a drowning man. The lifeguard said that he was told a man was struggling in the water, so he left his post to help him. By the time he got to the section of beach where the man was, he had been pulled out of the water by other beachgoers. The lifeguard stayed with the man to help him until paramedics arrived.

After the man was rushed to the hospital, the lifeguard returned to his post and was immediately fired by his employer. The lifeguard's employer has a policy that forbids lifeguards from leaving their assigned area of the beach for any reason. Two additional employees were fired for supporting the terminated lifeguard and four others quit in protest of the company policy.

After the company did an investigation of the incident, it apologized to the lifeguard and offered to rehire all the affected employees.

While this situation may seem to many as a clear case of wrongful termination, employers often have a lot of flexibility when it comes to legally firing employees. Certain rules must, however, be followed.

Types of Wrongful Termination

Although most employees are considered "at will" employees -- meaning they can be fired by their employers at any time, for just about any reason -- that does not mean that companies have the carte blanche ability to fire workers. In some cases, firing an employee may result in a wrongful termination action by the employee against his or her. Following are examples of illegal termination:
- Discrimination: Employers cannot fire employees based on the employee's race, gender, religion, age (if the employee is over 40 years old) or disability. In addition, an employee cannot be fired for being pregnant or developing a medical condition.
- Public policy: Employers are prohibited from terminating employees when the firings would be a violation of public policy. Examples of this include firing workers for refusing to commit an illegal act at the request of the employer, firing employees for whistleblowing when the employer commits an illegal act or firing employees for doing something that they have the right to do -- such as taking family leave. Nor can employers terminate employees for complaining about Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations.
- Lie detectors: Under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, employees cannot be terminated for failing to take a lie detector test at the company's request.

If you believe you have been inappropriately fired from your job, consult with an experienced employment lawyer to determine if you have an actionable claim for wrongful termination.

Article provided by Feldman, Fox & Morgado, P.A.
Visit us at www.floridatrialattorneys.net/