Fired After Reporting Hostile Work Environment

Location: Missouri (remote employee) Employer: Based in another state in the U.S. Industry: IT / healthcare Position: Senior Director (female/Asian)

I’m trying to understand whether I have any legal grounds around retaliation, failure to investigate, or leverage to request a voluntary resignation instead of a termination.

Summary:

I was recruited into a leadership role to oversee several major initiatives. For about a year and a half, another internal department repeatedly undermined my team, withheld cooperation, and created obstacles that made doing my job and my team’s job extremely difficult. My leadership was aware but did not address the issue despite months of documentation. HR was also aware of a major “conflict” between our two departments and also did nothing to ensure the conflict was resolved.

Eventually, Employee Relations (ER) contacted me with two complaints—one was inaccurate, and the other involved an employee I documented thoroughly. When ER suggested there was a “pattern” against me, I became upset and told them I had been dealing with: 1) a hostile working environment, 2) ongoing obstruction from another department, and 3) a complete lack of leadership support despite repeated requests for help.

After this conversation with ER, I spoke with my leader. She acknowledged my challenges and was supportive of my leaving and said she’d talk to HR about the possibility of severance.

However within an hour, my leader and ER called back and placed me on suspension with pay.

Two days later ER interviewed me again. I asked how to formally submit my concerns about the obstruction and hostile behavior; ER said my prior report “didn’t count.” I never received any form or process to submit it.

So I emailed a formal complaint to ER leadership documenting my concerns.

The next morning, I was terminated. They gave no explanation other than that my “conduct didn’t align with leadership standards,” and clarified that the original complaints had no bearing on their decision. They did not investigate anything I reported.

I had no prior warnings, write-ups, or performance issues.

My legal questions: 1) Could this be considered retaliation? I was fired immediately after formally reporting hostile behavior and obstruction, with no investigation into my claims. 2) Is HR/ER allowed to ignore an employee’s report entirely? They investigated the complaints against me, but completely declined to investigate anything I raised. 3) Even if this doesn’t rise to a lawsuit, do I have leverage (alone or attorney-assisted) to request that the termination be reclassified as a voluntary resignation? My concern is how a “termination” will look to future employers. I would be satisfied if they simply changed the separation classification.

I understand at-will employment limits a lot, and I’m not claiming discrimination (even though my boss happened to fire 4 protected class individuals before me). I’m just trying to understand whether the timing, lack of investigation, and sudden termination following a protected complaint create any leverage or legal standing.

Two local employment law firms told me they’re not taking new clients due to workload, so I’m hoping for guidance on how to proceed.