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What Is Sexual Harassment and What TO DO When You’ve Been Sexually Harassed AT Work

May 20th, 2022 Samuel

Even though the federal and state laws in the United States forbid sexual harassment in the workplace, many male and female employees still report experiencing this type of harassment in their workplace. If you find yourself in a similar situation, your employer has the legal obligation to stop the harassment. If they do not, it is essential that you contact sexual harassment in the workplace lawyer, use the existing laws, and take appropriate legal action to end the harassment.

Putting up with the offensive conduct is not advisable as the hostile intimidating environment it creates can negatively impact your morale, productivity, and, subsequently, even your career.

What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment is any sexually offensive, objectionable, and unwanted behavior that makes you feel harassed, threatened or intimidated. From a legal point of view, such conduct can sometimes be hard to prove. The perpetrators might claim that you miscontrued their intentions and that they were merely being friendly. However, if they have continued with their unwanted friendliness despite being repeatedly told to stop, the chances are strong that their behavior constitutes sexual harassment. It might be best to consult experienced sexual harassment in the workplace lawyer and find out about your legal options.

If you have experienced any of the following unpleasant behaviors from your employer or co-workers, you are looking at clear-cut sexual harassment:

• The subject you to lewd, suggestive, creepy comments, compliments, and jokes.

• They send you pornographic messages, images, or videos.

• They make persistent requests for dates and refuse to accept that you are not interested.

• They make aggressive advances and repeatedly get into your physical space.

• The subject you to unwanted touches, pats, embraces, grabs, or kisses.

• They demand sexual favors from you for a work assignment, promotion, or salary raise.

• They spread offensive and damaging rumors about your character and behavior.

• They photograph you without your knowledge or permission.

• They stare at you and your private parts obscenely.

• They sabotage your work because you turned them down.

• They threaten to harm you physically unless you agree to their sexual demands.

What to do when you have been sexually harassed at work?

You can do the following if you have been sexually harassed at work:

1. Make sure that you are not misconstruing the behavior, that it is indeed offensive, unpleasant, and intimidating and makes you feel unsafe in your workplace.

2. Maintain a detailed record of the harassment. For instance, when it started, what the person said or did, when, where, and who witnessed it.

3. Gather evidence of the harassment, such as offensive notes, emails, text messages, chats, photographs, images, and videos the perpetrator sent you.

4. Record yourself informing the perpetrator clearly in the presence of witnesses that you find their behavior objectionable and want them to stop it and stay away from you. Many harassers will back off when you confront them directly and let them know they cannot cross your boundaries. If they do not, you have proof that you asked them to stop, and they cannot claim you misconstrued their behavior.

5. If the harassment continues, inform your manager and file a formal complaint with the HR department. Depending on your company’s policy, you may need to do this within 180 or 300 days of experiencing the harassment. As per the law, employers with 15 or more employees have the legal obligation to investigate complaints of sexual harassment, check the evidence, and take appropriate action against the perpetrators. They may issue them warnings, transfer them, or fire them.

6. If the employer does not take appropriate action and the harassment continues, file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). They will investigate the matter and, based on the evidence, ask your employer to compensate you.

7. If EEOC fails to get a satisfactory resolution, consult sexual harassment in the workplace lawyer. The lawyer may first approach your employer and try to get an out-of-court settlement. If that does not work, he or she can file a lawsuit on your behalf against your employer for subjecting you to a hostile and unsafe work environment, represent you at the trial, and get you justice.

Five Ways Employees Can Deal with Wrongful Termination

April 11th, 2022 Samuel

Being terminated from your job can be a traumatic experience for most people. You may run through a gamut of emotions from disbelief to anger to disappointment to panic to despair. Even if your employer tries to couch your dismissal with civil phrases about restructuring, layoff period, or company issues, it does not change the fact that they are firing you from your job. It can be worse if it is not clear why your employer decided to let you go.

Rather than let sadness overwhelm you about the wrongful termination, it might be more beneficial if you contact one of the best wrongful termination lawyers in Los Angeles and explore your options to deal with the situation.

Five ways employees can deal with wrongful termination

1. Check the company’s employee handbook

In California, employment is on an at-will basis. That means your employer has the legal right to terminate your employment at any time and for any reason. However, there can be exceptions to that. If you have a work contract that defines the conditions of job termination or if the company’s employee handbook states these in detail, the employer has to abide by them. If they violate these terms, you may have a case for wrongful termination.

You can discuss the matter with your company’s HR manager and see if they are willing to reinstate you in your position. If they are not willing to do so, you can get in touch with one of the best wrongful termination lawyers in Los Angeles and get competent legal advice.

2. Determine if your termination was wrongful

There are various reasons for dismissal that may constitute wrongful termination. Review your contract and check if the employer promised you a job after passing their probationary period. If you cleared it and they still refuse to provide the job security they offered in the contract, it is wrongful termination.

Other examples of wrongful dismissal include losing your job because you took maternity or paternity leave, speaking out against business malpractices, or protesting about the lack of safety issues. It is also wrongful termination if your employer fired you for resisting sexual harassment or because you do not meet the employer’s preferences about gender, race, religion, or age. Some employers may also fire you to prevent you from getting a deserved promotion or receiving benefits.

3. Talk to an employment lawyer

Discussing your situation with one of the best wrongful termination lawyers in Los Angeles may enable you to explore the legal options available to you. Many lawyers offer a free initial consultation during which they will assess your situation and determine if it has legal validity. If you have a case, they will advise you on the legal steps you can take against your employer. You must ask them about the possible outcome and compensation you can expect if you take your employer to court. It is advisable to also ask about their legal fees.

Some lawyers take on cases on a contingency basis, which means they only get paid if they win the case for you, and then they will take a certain percentage of the compensation. However, there can be other legal expenses that you will have to foot.

4. File a wrongful termination claim

In California, you can file a wrongful termination claim with a regulatory agency like the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within six months to three years of being dismissed from your job. You must provide details of your dispute in your petition. That can include information about why you think the employer dismissed you, the work contract provisions your employer violated, any discriminatory incidents that led to your dismissal, and evidence proving wrongful termination.

While you can file a wrongful termination claim on your own, it is advisable to have one of the best wrongful termination lawyers in Los Angeles review your case beforehand and offer necessary legal assistance.

5. Consider exploring other job options

While getting over being unfairly dismissed is difficult, your former employer’s poor policies need not influence your life. Instead, use your compensation to build a better future. Reassess your career goals, pick up new skills, and find better work opportunities.

Three Things Most People Don’t Know About Unpaid Wages

January 14th, 2022 Samuel

When you work for an employer, it is reasonable for you to expect fair compensation in return. As per the employment laws in California, it is also a legal requirement. However, many employees may still find themselves grappling with issues related to unpaid wages. That may happen because either the employer does not understand wage laws or is being deliberately devious in payment matters. If you are in a situation where you are not being paid adequate wages for your work, you may need to consult an unpaid wages attorney to resolve it.

Three things most people don’t know about unpaid wages

The reason for many wage-related problems is that employees and employers do not have adequate knowledge about the wage requirements in California. Here are three things that most people do not know and need to know:

1. Your exempt or non-exempt status determines your wages

Exempt and non-exempt employees in California have different wage requirements as per the state employment laws. If you are a full-time employee and receive a monthly salary that is double the minimum wage for working the same hours in a month, you come within the definition of an exempt employee. You can consider yourself a non-exempt employee if you work on an hourly wage basis and your work hours are eight hours every day or 40 hours per week. By law, you must be paid for every single hour that you work. If you are not, it becomes an unpaid wages situation.

2. Non-exempt employees must receive a minimum hourly wage

As per the employment laws in California, employers with up to 25 non-exempt employees have to pay the employees minimum hourly of $13, and employers with 26 and more non-exempt employees must pay them a minimum hourly wage of $14. If you are a non-exempt worker, that can give you an idea of the hourly rate you are legally entitled to receive. Your employer can be subject to hefty fines if they ignore the minimum hourly rate law.

3. Employers must pay an hourly rate for overtime and double-time work

By law, your employer needs to pay you for every hour of work you do for them, and that includes paying you for overtime and double-time work. The overtime pay you receive has to be one and a half times your regular hourly fee. The double-time wage has to be double that of your usual minimum wage.

So, if you work for your regular eight hours a day and then do four hours of overtime work and your minimum hourly wage is $14, you must receive $14 x 8 = $112 for the eight hours and $14 x 1.5 x 4 = $84 in overtime pay. If you work four hours more after the 12 hours, it comes under double-time work, and you should receive $14 x 2 x 4 = $112 in double-time wages. To reiterate, you will receive $112 for eight hours of regular work, $84 for four hours of overtime work, and $112 for four hours of double-time work.

What to do if you have an unpaid wages claim?

If you have an unpaid wages claim, the first thing you need to do is assemble a record of the wages you received. It should show how many works you have worked in a given period, at what time you came to work, how many rests breaks you took and for how long, and when you left the workplace. You will need to have these details and any related documentation to take things further.

After assembling the wage records, you can discuss the issue with your employer and attempt to resolve the matter amicably. Some employers may have been genuinely ignorant of the law and will rectify the oversight on their part once they understand it. However, some employers may remain recalcitrant, and then you may need to consult an unpaid wages attorney. The attorney will assist you with filing a claim with the Labor Commissioner’s office, which is something you must do within three years of realizing that your employer owes you unpaid wages. The unpaid wages attorney will also represent you in court and attempt to get justice.

How to Sue an Employer for Wrongful Termination

December 24th, 2021 Samuel

Wrongful termination can be emotionally, mentally, and of course financially harrowing. It can take a toll on the strongest of individuals. But you needn’t go through the trauma alone. In fact, you needn’t go through the trauma at all. There is a legal way to fight for the injustice meted out to you. Here’s how you can sue an employer for wrongful termination.

Find a good employment lawyer.

The first step towards suing your employer is to find a lawyer. A good employment lawyer will file the case for you and do all that is necessary to get you the settlement you deserve.

Use location-based searches to find a good lawyer. For instance, use wrongful termination attorney Los Angeles or a similar search term. It will help you find websites of employment lawyers in your city. Not every employment lawyer deals with wrongful termination. So, using a precise keyword will get you very specific results.

Check the websites to know more about the lawyers. Read about their credentials and experience. Check if they take wrongful termination cases. If they do; check what has been their experience so far. You may or may not find the information pertaining to their experience on the websites. Feel free to call their office and inquire about it.

Schedule consulting sessions with the lawyers.

Choose 2-3 lawyers with good experience with wrongful termination cases. Schedule a consulting session with them. Professional lawyers always offer free consultations to evaluate cases with potential clients.

Utilize these sessions to discuss your case with the lawyers. Assess how each lawyer listens to you and addresses your concerns. If they are willing to take on your case, do you feel good about it. Do you feel comfortable with your choice of lawyer?

Take a few days (if you need them) to finalize your hiring decision.

Hire the right lawyer.

If you don’t like any of the lawyers at first, don’t get disheartened. You can renew your search. It just takes a few minutes to search online and find details about lawyers and their firms. Use good location-based keywords such as wrongful termination attorney Los Angeles in order to hire the right lawyer.

Don’t be shy to ask questions to the lawyers during the evaluation sessions. Also, be open and discuss your case freely with the lawyers. The clearer you are about what really happened with you; the better your chances of hiring the right lawyer and winning your settlement.

Ensure that your schedule consulting sessions in a span of a few days. It is ideal to not delay suing your employer.

Follow the legal steps.

Once you hire a lawyer, follow the steps they lay out in front of you. They know best how to get you justice. So, don’t be afraid if they ask you to collect evidence from the office or record certain statements made by your employer. Anything that is legally right needs to be done for the sake of justice.

Your co-workers may not side with you. You may not find anyone to testify in court if needed. Even if a co-worker is aware about your wrongful termination, they may not feel safe or comfortable to come forward. They may fear losing their jobs. So, you need all the help you can get. Trusting your lawyer can help you greatly. A good lawyer will be able to get you the right compensation and also safeguard your reputation.

Fight until you get justice.

In many cases, the settlement may not come about in your favor in the first instance. If your employer is powerful, they can threaten other employees and ask them not to testify on your behalf. They may sully your reputation and make it difficult for you to get a new job. They may not agree to a settlement thinking they are powerful enough to get away with the wrong they did to you.

Employees have been fired unjustly because they threatened to file complaints about sexual harassment or discrimination. It may take more than one attempt to get you justice. But with the right lawyer, you can win. You can reject the unfair or no settlement and fight the case in court.

What Type of Lawyer Helps with Employment Issues?

November 21st, 2021 Samuel

Have you been dealing with certain issues at work? If you think that these issues are not going to be resolved unless some serious action is being taken, you should consider talking to an attorney right away. Now, in a situation where things are going wrong at work, you might be thinking about which the right lawyer is to choose. Well, in a situation such as yours at work, only an employment lawyer is going to be able to help you out resolving the problem.

You can firstly start by searching “Employment Rights Attorney Near Me” on your search engine and you will be able to find a handful of results in your area. You should be aware that when you seek advice from an employment lawyer, he tells you about your certain workplace rights and makes you understand how to protect them. Therefore, if you have been dealing with workplace issues such as wrongful termination, discrimination, etc here’s how an employment lawyer can help you.

Explaining the employee rights

Employment law is a specialized area and the lawyers working in that field have tremendous knowledge about it. That is why, when you talk to an employment lawyer, he helps you understand your rights as an employee and how you can deal with them when you are about to enter any legal case. That is why it is always recommended to seek advice from an employment lawyer to understand your case and scenario. Also, when you work with an employment lawyer, your chances of winning the case increases.

The employment lawyer remains compliant with the law

Every experienced employment lawyer has the right amount of resources to help their clients by keeping themselves in compliance with the law. Your lawyer will know how to follow all the federal and state laws relating to discrimination and so on.

Negotiation

When it comes to any kind of legal matters, we all know how time-consuming they can get because of the procedures to be followed. And when it comes to employment-related matters, the complications can be too much to handle. But with an employment lawyer by your side, the negotiation becomes easy as these lawyers are aware of the terms required to negotiate for the settlement of the case. The employment lawyer always negotiates on your behalf and finds a solution that works in your best interest.

Analyzing and evaluating employment contract

If you are someone who is just about to start a new job, there are certain parameters that you should be aware of. The employment contract is one of those and if you have been renegotiating terms of the contracts with the employer and have become unsuccessful, then an employment lawyer can do that for you. He can evaluate the contract for you, pick out the clauses and arbitration agreements that seem noncompatible, and can guide you to negotiate the terms with the employer before you join.

Representing you in the court

If by any chance your case proceeds to the court of law and is put forth before the jury, then know that the entire process is going to take a lot of time. In that case, if you decide to represent yourself as that will save you money, then it is going to be extremely difficult for you. That is why by hiring an employment lawyer who can represent you in the court and efficiently handle the arbitration and mediation, you will be all fine by the time it ends. The lawyer will communicate the status of the case after every hearing and do all the paperwork related to the case.

Tell whether your case is valid and worth pursuing

Court matters are equal to pouring in a lot of money. That is why talking to an employment lawyer before you proceed with the case will clear out whether your case is worth pursuing or not. Even though your winning claim is not there, an employment lawyer will tell you about the best available options for you.

Overall, whenever you face any kind of issue at the workplace, your best bet is going to be the advice from the employment lawyer, and should always consider taking it.

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