I own 40% of a small company in Kansas. I was fired with no warning and no severance with "for the good of the company" as his reason. I was with the company for 34 years and held the vice presidency for 25 years without a single infraction or wrong doing. The president brought in his son to posture for my job. Any chance of getting my severance? How about the 40% share of the company? Could age discrimination be a possible approach? Can I sue for him to buy my shares? The president of the company is a madman, very unpredictable and paranoid. HELP!

Depending on the corporatoin paperwork you are still a shareholder so you should have had some type of employment contract. Or have it in there that you can't be fired as part owner.

But you are free to sell your shares to anyone, you need an attorney to look over the corporatons incorporation, the bylaws and the mintues to see what your rights are.

You have been discriminated against due to your age as the other guy brought in sonny. Contact an attorney. I think you have a good chance of winning an age discrimination suit against that jerk.

Hello Sweet:

I have more questions than answers at this point.

How is the "small company" structured? Are you incorporated? Are you an association? What was your title? What DID you do? Do you have a board of directors? Is there a buy and sell agreement? Is there ANY agreement between you? Do you own any of the patents? Do you own any of the proprietary products or software? Did you design any of the manufacturing techniques you use? Do you own the logo or the company name? Did you draw up any company documents? Did you design them and then NOT register/copywrite them? What did you bring to the table to get 40% of the company? Cash? Ideas? Products? Contacts?

When you speak of "your" severance, is there some agreement that specifies that you have severance? Or is it just something you wish for?

Yes, it appears that you have been discriminated against, but if you sue and win, you'll be paying yourself 40% of the award.

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excon

I agree with excon, that, right now, there are more questions than answers. If you have some sort of contract that specifies you own 40% of this company then firing you from your salaried position has NO effect on that ownership. Without knowing what form the ownership is its hard to answer any further on that score.

As to the age discrimination, that's going to be much harder to prove. It sounds more like a conflict between owners and since he owns a controlling interest he can fire at will. You would have to prove the sole reason for termination was age. He might be guilty of nepotism, but age discrimination will be harder to prove.