Your Employer Says It Was “Performance.” Here’s How That Story Falls Apart.

Almost no employer admits to firing someone for an illegal reason. What they say instead is that the work slipped, the numbers were down, the attitude was a problem, or the role required someone stronger. Wrongful termination lawyers in Maryland hear a version of that same explanation in nearly every case, and it is not the end of the analysis. It is the beginning of one.

The legal question is not whether your performance was perfect. It is whether performance was the actual reason you were let go.

Does the employer’s stated reason end the case?

No. Under the burden-shifting framework courts use in discrimination and retaliation cases, the employer’s explanation is one step in a three-step process, not a conclusion.

That framework comes from McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973), and federal courts in Maryland apply it routinely. The employee first shows enough to raise an inference of discrimination or retaliation. The employer then states a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the termination, which is a low bar and almost always met. The burden shifts back to the employee to show that the reason given is pretext, meaning it is not the true reason.

The Supreme Court made clear in Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, 530 U.S. 133 (2000), that a jury may infer unlawful motive from evidence that the employer’s explanation is false, combined with the employee’s initial showing. Disproving the story can be enough. You do not always need a smoking gun.

What does pretext actually mean in a termination case?

Pretext means the stated reason is a cover, not that the decision was harsh or unfair. Courts do not sit as a super personnel department, and an employer is allowed to be wrong about your performance as long as it honestly believed what it said.

The distinction matters because it changes what you are trying to prove. Arguing that the criticism was inaccurate rarely wins on its own. Showing that the criticism appeared only after you requested medical leave, reported wage theft, or filed a complaint is a different argument entirely.

How do wrongful termination lawyers in Maryland prove pretext?

They look for inconsistency between what the employer said, when it said it, and how it treated everyone else.

Shifting explanations carry particular weight. The reason given in the termination meeting, the reason reported to the Maryland Division of Unemployment Insurance, and the reason stated in the employer’s position statement to the EEOC are three separate accounts created at three different times. When they do not match, the contradiction is documentary and hard to explain away. The EEOC will provide a charging party with a copy of the employer’s position statement on request, which makes that comparison possible before a lawsuit is ever filed.

Timing is the second thread. A performance narrative that materializes days or weeks after protected activity invites scrutiny. In Clark County School District v. Breeden, 532 U.S. 268 (2001), the Supreme Court indicated that temporal proximity standing alone must be very close to support an inference of retaliation, and noted with approval decisions finding gaps of three and four months insufficient. Short gaps help. Long ones require additional evidence.

Comparator evidence is the third. A similarly situated coworker is someone who reported to the same supervisor, was subject to the same standards, and engaged in comparable conduct. If two people missed the same quota and only one was terminated, the difference between them becomes the question.

Other patterns that undercut a performance defense:

• Positive reviews, raises, or bonuses in the months before the sudden decline
• A performance improvement plan issued immediately after a complaint, with targets no one could realistically meet
• Departure from the company’s own progressive discipline policy, especially skipped warnings
• Documentation created or backdated after the decision was already made
• A supervisor with a demonstrated bias who influenced the decision even without making it, an argument the Supreme Court recognized in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, 562 U.S. 411 (2011)

Can I record my boss or take documents to prove this?

Recording without consent is a crime in Maryland, and taking confidential company files can damage your case badly.

Maryland requires the consent of all parties to record a private conversation under the Maryland Wiretap Act, Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 10-402. A one-party recording that would be legal in Virginia or in federal court is not legal here.

Removing proprietary documents creates a separate problem. Under the after-acquired evidence doctrine recognized in McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., 513 U.S. 352 (1995), misconduct discovered later can sharply limit what an employee recovers. Safer ground includes your own emails and texts, documents you already possessed lawfully, a contemporaneous written timeline with dates and names, your personnel file, and pay records.

How long do I have to act?

Deadlines run quickly and they start on the date of the adverse action, not the date you realized something was wrong.

Because Maryland has a state enforcement agency, employees generally have 300 days to file a discrimination charge with the EEOC. Charges filed with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights are subject to shorter windows under Title 20 of the State Government Article, and separate rules govern when a civil action may be brought. Verify the deadline that applies to your specific claim early, because missing it forecloses the case regardless of its merits.

Test the story before you accept it

A clean performance explanation is designed to sound final. It rarely is. Reviews, emails, discipline records, and the employer’s own conflicting statements often tell a different story than the one delivered in the termination meeting, and that gap is where these cases are built.

If you were fired for reasons that do not match the record of your employment, speak with wrongful termination lawyers in Maryland while the documents are still available and the deadlines are still open. Bring your reviews, your timeline, and anything the company put in writing.