An attorney for employee rights assists employees in receiving compensation or other forms of redress for violations at work. This is especially true if you were fired due to discrimination, you owe a sizable amount in unpaid wages, or your workplace issue involves a murky or complex area of the law.
Employee rights lawyers collaborate with their clients to analyze, counsel, and litigate legal issues involving the workplace. Continue reading to find out more about the duties and potential assistance of an employee rights attorney.
Let’s take a quick look at the situations where an employee rights lawyer can help and resolve all issues.
Illegal Termination
Most employees can be fired for any reason the employer sees fit, as long as it doesn't conflict with local, state, or federal employment laws.
A few frequent instances of wrongful terminations are those that are based on:
- Race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, or any other class that the law deems to be protected by an individual's employment
- Request for a disability accommodation from a disabled employee
- Taking action against a worker who spoke out against illegal discrimination
- Retaliation against a worker who assisted in a discrimination inquiry
- Retaliation against a worker who resisted, declined, or objected to unwanted sexual approaches made by a manager or coworker
- The employee informing a regulatory body of the employer's misbehavior
- Refusal of the employee to break the law
Unpaid wages and compensation
Employees can recover unpaid wages with the aid of employment attorneys. Claims for unpaid wages may be made for final earnings that were not paid on the day when employment ended, unpaid overtime, and failure to pay earned commissions or bonuses. It is illegal to fail to pay earned remuneration in accordance with the state's wage regulations.
Unpaid overtime is a problem that can arise for a number of reasons. Employees may be mistakenly labeled as independent contractors when the law considers them to be employees or as exempt when they fail to meet California's severe exemption requirements. Employees may also be entitled to compensation if they are fired before earning the commission or bonus they were due under the conditions of their employment.
Unequal Pay and wage discrimination
Some workers continue to face wage discrimination despite regulations that forbid companies from paying an employee less money because of the employee's membership in a protected class. An employee may be allowed to file a claim for pay discrimination if they are paid less than other workers in the same protected class who perform the same job and have the same seniority, training, and work experience.
In California, legislation has been put into effect requiring firms to pay similarly situated workers who do equivalent work equally, regardless of their gender. Although the law is complicated, a Los Angeles employment lawyer can assist workers who are concerned about receiving unfair pay in determining whether they may be covered by the law.
Therefore, now that you know the situations where an employee rights lawyer is necessary, get in touch with one immediately.
