Qualification

• The employee who wishes to use META as a defense against a wrongful termination must meet certain requirements established by META.Three office workers image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com
  
  Not every employee is protected by the Model Employment Termination Act. For example, an employer who has five employees or fewer is not required to follow META. If the employer has more than five employees working for the business, the employee must still meet certain qualifications to be protected by META. The employee must be employed for a significant amount of time, such as more than one year. The employee must work for a minimum of 520 hours for the 26 weeks before being terminated. If these qualifications are met, the employee is protected by META and the employer must have “good cause” for the termination of employment.
  
  

Good Cause

• Good cause includes behavior, job performance and downsizing of a business.man in suit 3 image by Christopher Hall from Fotolia.com
  
  META provides two definitions for “good cause.” First, the employee must either act inappropriately in the workplace or provide inadequate work product. Second, the employer is planning on reorganizing or restructuring the business to help stabilize the economic status of the company. If the second definition is used for the “good cause” standard, the employer must act in good faith and honestly need to perform layoffs due to any downturn or low revenue.
  
  

Remedies

• An employee can seek certain remedies for wrongful termination under META.gavel image by Cora Reed from Fotolia.com
  
  If an employee who qualifies under the protection of META is terminated without “good cause,” the employee may file suit seeking certain remedies such as reinstatement, lost benefits, or back-pay. However, an employee seeking remedy for wrongful termination cannot recover for fraud, punitive damages, or emotional distress. Suit under META is done by arbitration and judicial review will be made to determine any remedies. In order to give the employee opportunity to file suit for wrongful termination, the employee’s attorney fees and court fees are recoverable. This ensures that the employee will have the ability to assert his rights under META no matter his financial situation.
  
  

Timeframe

• Wrongful termination suits under META are determined by an arbitration.old calendar image by Allyson Ricketts from Fotolia.com
  
  META requires a terminated employee seeking remedy under META to present a written statement that provides the reason(s) for the wrongful termination in 10 days or less. The employee then has 180 days to request arbitration in which case the employer has 21 days after the request for arbitration has been made to respond to the allegations made in the employee’s complaint. The employee has the burden of proof, which means he must show why the termination was wrongful, or without “good cause.” The arbitrator’s decision is considered to be the final judgment concerning the case.
  
  

Specific Agreements

• Specific agreements are an exception to META’s “good cause” standard.Finger pointing to the words in agreement image by Dmitry Goygel-Sokol from Fotolia.com
  
  Some employees who meet the requirements under META may still be unable to recover for a termination if there was a specific agreement between the employer and the employee. An example of a specific agreement is an employment contract that is only for a certain amount of time in accordance with the specific project or assignment. If the employee is terminated because the project or assignment is complete, the employer has the right to terminate the employment relationship and does not have to show “good cause.”