4 Reasons You Want an Employment Lawyer
Life doesn’t require a lawyer at every turn, but a few good reasons for hiring an employment lawyer top the list. When you are a part of a legally protected class and suspect discrimination based on your class, you may have a case under the law. Wading into legal waters is good reason to contact a lawyer.
4 Reasons You Want an Employment Lawyer
The law comes with its own set of rules that lawyers have been studying for years if not decades. When your goal is to fight for your rights, you’ll want a lawyer to speed up the process and ensure no detail is missed.
Quick List of Reasons to Hire a Lawyer
- Threats of a lawsuit
- Demands to sign a non-compete or employment agreement
- Accusation of committing a crime
- Suspicion of employer law violation
- Retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint
- Nonpayment of wages
- Misclassification for overtime wages
If you are facing any of the above situations, you should consult with a lawyer immediately. A lawyer will listen to the circumstances around your case and determine whether or not it is a viable case under the law.
4 Practical Reasons You Want an Employment Lawyer
Beyond the simple need to have a legal expert on hand for your case, practicality makes a lawyer a good decision.
Deadlines
In the legal world, deadlines are a bit like trying to find a job out of college—entry level but must have experience. Deadlines are often based on other requirements. Missing a deadline can be detrimental to your case and a favorable ruling.
Claims
Most people don’t understand the extent of the law and confuse common sayings as actual law. Before pursuing legal action, you need to know what types of claims you may or may not have. You don’t want to waste your time or money when no actual law supports your belief that you’ve suffered wrong doing in your workplace.
Employer Interaction
Sometimes employers won’t take an employer seriously until they have legal representation. You might spend weeks trying to make a change occur in the workplace by navigating the company policy handbook suggestions but nothing. A lawyer grabs the attention of your employer.
Advocacy
Negotiating a better employment agreement or severance package for yourself can be intimidating and frustrating. Having a lawyer take on the responsibility for you often results in better opportunities and benefits for you while cutting out the stress. After all, lawyers know what they can push for legally.
5 Specific Things an Employment Lawyer Can Do for You
As you might guess, an employment lawyer can handle many workplace issues. But sometimes it’s helpful to have a specific idea of what an employment lawyer can help you with when it comes to your job.
Most employment lawyers are willing to provide expert answers to your questions, but here are five specific things an employment lawyer can do for you.
Review your Employment Agreement
An employment lawyer can catch non-compete clauses in your contract and inform you of what these types of phrases could mean for your career. When you are gearing up for a high net worth job switch, you should always have a lawyer evaluate your employment agreements and help you renegotiate when needed.
Save yourself future hassle by having a lawyer check out an employment contract before you sign it.
File an EEOC Discrimination Complaint
180 Days. After a legitimate discriminatory situation at your workplace, you have only 180 days to file a complaint with the EEOC. And the complaint must be detailed. A lawyer knows exactly what information should be included to expedite the process.
With years of experience and understanding, a lawyer can guide you through the process to ensure nothing important is left out, possibly losing your case.
Receive Legal Representation throughout the Legal System
This is not the time to do it yourself. Every complaint has a different journey through the legal system, whether ending up in a mediation or a courtroom. Due to the etiquette of the legal process, representing yourself might be fatal to your case. If your case wins, your attorney costs will usually be paid for by the opposing party.
Do the best for your case and hire a lawyer.
Negotiate Case Settlements
Usually, when an employment issue travels through the legal system, it takes quite a bit of time, which further complicates the relationship between you and your employer. Emotions bubble under the surface, threatening a volcanic negotiation.
When your lawyer steps in on your behalf to negotiate the settlement, they’ll be able to coolly argue for your best interests.
Determine the Legality of Your Work Situation
As we’ve already gone over, some work circumstances are not illegal despite being frustrating. You don’t want to waste your time and money on seeking legal resolution only to discover that the action you were suing about is actually legal.
Save your effort by consulting a lawyer about the workplace situation and determining what your best options are for a response.
4 Practical Questions to Ask Before Contacting a Lawyer
Whether you jump in feet first or like to do your research before taking the plunge, you can ask yourself a few questions. Your time is valuable. Therefore, you want to be sure that you have a real situation on your hands, and if you do, you need to move fast because the government places a deadline on most situations for filing a lawsuit.
1. What is the Level of Bad in your Work Situation?
While some situations might just be annoying, others might be absolutely illegal. Therefore, you should consider where your bad situation falls on the scale of annoying to illegal. For example, sexual harassment or safety violations are illegal. However, a supervisor who plays favorites in a setting with no diversity or a mean coworker is just bad and not illegal.
If you recognize discrimination or safety violations, you should take step immediately to correct the problem, starting with company policy and then contact a lawyer.
2. Is the Workplace Issue Illegal under the Law?
As you know, annoying situations are not usually illegal, but to be able to pursue a lawsuit against your employer, the workplace issue must be wrong based on the law. While most would agree that favoritism is not right, in and of itself, it’s not illegal. It becomes illegal when a boss shows favoritism to your white, male colleague and has a track record of treating people of other races differently.
It’s not illegal for your boss to discriminate against you due to your political opinions. In fact, they are legally allowed to fire you for your politics. But employment discrimination due to race, nationality, sex, religion, or age is illegal.
3. Have You Filed a Complaint within the Company and How Has Your Employer Responded?
Here’s the key. In most situations, it’s vital to your possible lawsuit to ensure that you’ve taken every step within your company according to the employee handbook to resolve the problem. This means speaking with your supervisor or HR representative and also submitting a complaint in writing via a time-stamped medium such as email.
Following company policy might take time, but if you do end up filing a complaint with a government agency, it will be to your credit that you already tried to resolve the issue with your employer. Your employer should try to initiate a conversation about how to correct the problem. If they don’t do anything, it’s time to file a complaint with the government and contact a lawyer.
4. What Do You Want?
Once you’ve named the workplace issue and are taking steps to raise attention about it, you need to be clear on what you want. A vague answer will not end well for anyone. Do you want an apology? Do you want to receive money for the damages you’ve suffered by being overlooked for a promotion due to your legally protected status?
Know what you want when you decide to pursue legal action against your employer.
Employment lawyers are a fantastic resource for managing difficult workplace situations. Whether you need help with a job contract or an end-of-employment-relationship situation, consult an employment lawyer.
Chat with an employment attorney: (412) 626-5626 or lawyer@lawkm.com.
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