Q: Can an employee sue me for letting him go buisness is slow because of covid 19 and i cant afford to pay him
i have a small buisness and cant afford to pay my employee and hes telling me that if i let him go hes going to sue me. he is an illegal immgarnt
A: New York is an employment at will state, meaning that an employer can fire an employee without any notice at any time for any reason or even no reason at all. There are some exceptions to this rule, the details of which I recommend you discuss with an attorney as they can be very fact specific.
A: Unless you are breaking a contract of employment or discriminating against him there is no basis for a suit. He should recover unemployment benefits which can be as high as $1104 a week through July due to the extra $600 federal unemployment benefit as long as he qualifies under state law which it sounds like he will. He should be glad you are letting him go at this time since he may be collecting more money than if you kept him working?
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