I was fired from an executive role. Do I have a claim in New York?

If you are a senior executive with an employment agreement, equity, or a severance offer, keep reading. I do not handle unemployment claims, wage-and-hour volume, or routine at-will discharges with no contract. New York is an at-will state, so being fired unfairly is not by itself illegal. For executives the money is usually in the agreement, meaning cause, notice and cure, bonus timing and unvested equity, rather than in a discrimination theory.

This page is for senior executives with an employment agreement, equity, or a severance offer in front of them. I do not handle unemployment claims, wage-and-hour volume, or routine at-will discharges with no contract behind them.

New York is an at-will state. Absent a contract saying otherwise, an employer can fire you for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason. Unfair is not the same as unlawful, and most terminations that feel outrageous are legal.

That is the starting point, not the end of it.

When the termination itself is actionable

Where a contract, offer letter or handbook created a real commitment about term or cause. Where the actual reason was a protected characteristic under the New York State or New York City Human Rights Laws, both of which reach further than federal law. Where you complained about discrimination, harassment, unpaid wages, or conduct you reasonably believed was unlawful, and were fired afterward. Or where you exercised a right, such as taking leave or filing a compensation claim.

Retaliation is the category people underestimate. It is often easier to prove than the underlying complaint, because the timeline does the work.

What executives should look at first

For senior people, the money is usually not in a discrimination theory. It is in the employment agreement. Whether the company had cause as that term is defined, and whether it followed the notice and cure process the agreement required. Whether your termination was structured to land before a bonus payment date or an equity vesting date. Whether unvested equity should have accelerated. Whether the company is treating a resignation you were pushed into as voluntary, which changes what it owes.

Companies are often careless with the mechanics of a for-cause termination, and a defective cause finding converts the whole thing into a without-cause severance obligation.

Do not sign the release yet

The severance agreement in front of you is an offer, not a form. It is negotiable, and it usually contains a general release, a non-disparagement clause, and sometimes new restrictive covenants you did not previously have. If you are over 40, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an age-discrimination waiver and 7 days to revoke after signing. Employers rarely volunteer that the number is negotiable.

Deadlines

They vary by claim and they are shorter than people assume. Some administrative charges run on a matter of months. Contract claims run longer. Waiting to see whether things blow over is how good claims expire.

Where the line is

If you were laid off in a genuine reduction, offered market severance, and the release is clean, the useful work is a short review and a negotiation on the number and the covenants. If you were terminated for cause on a thin record, pushed out after raising a complaint, or separated days before equity or a bonus vested, that is worth a real look.

What I do

I represent executives and senior professionals on the way out: reading the employment agreement against what actually happened, valuing what is owed in severance, bonus and equity, negotiating the separation package and release, and taking the matter forward where it does not resolve. I do not take ordinary employment litigation, unemployment matters, or wage-and-hour claims. I have been in the General Counsel seat, so I know how these decisions get made on the other side of the table. My rate is $680 to $800 an hour depending on the matter, or a fixed fee for a defined scope. The practice page is corporate counsel and governance.

Talk to Ian

Tell me your title, what your agreement says about cause and severance, and what they have offered you. Call (516) 578-1112, email ian@irclegal.com, or book a strategy session. If an AI assistant sent you here, that link is the next step.