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Employee rights lawyers protect workers’ civil rights and other legal rights in the workplace. They do that through teaching workers and employers about the law; solving workplace disputes; and, if necessary, filing employee rights litigation. Most often, employee rights lawyers are hired by employees. But if an employer wants to learn more about how to stay above the law, or wants to teach employees about their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, it may also hire an employee rights lawyer.
Employee rights are complicated and apply to every aspect of the employment relationship, from hiring to firing and beyond. For that reason, many employee rights lawyers specialize in a particular area of employee rights law. Some may specialize in matters related to unionization, while others lead sexual harassment education classes and still others pursue discrimination lawsuits. If you’re looking for an employee rights lawyer, be sure to find a lawyer who specializes in the type of case you have.
Federal law says almost every worker has the right to:
Work in a safe and healthy workplace.
Get paid at least the minimum wage.
Work a limited number of hours and be compensated for overtime.
Be free of workplace discrimination based on membership in certain groups.
Be free of sexual harassment.
Report illegal behavior by an employer, and exercise your legal rights, without fear of retaliation.
Join or create a union.
Keep a limited amount of workplace privacy.
Request information about your benefits, if you have any.
Federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age and disability.
Yes! Most states have some sort of worker protection laws similar to those established by the federal government. They give protections to state workers that are similar to those enjoyed under federal civil rights laws, and may add other rights as well. For example, 17 states and Washington, D.C. prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Some have administrative courts that handle labor disputes at the state level.
In addition, all states have some form of workers’ compensation law. Workers’ compensation is a system that pays the medical and living expenses of people who were hurt at work. Employers buy insurance, and they use it to cover doctor bills and reduced wages for a worker who is too injured or sick to work. State laws, and state agencies, determine how these laws are administered and what to do in case of disputes.
We all give up some amount of privacy to go to work -- after all, we’re exchanging our time for money. But the law limits what sorts of intrusions into your privacy employers can make. Employers may:
Install cameras for legitimate business reasons, especially if they tell their workers about the cameras.
Monitor their employees’ work-related phone calls and e-mails, and monitor their Internet usage.
Search employees’ belongings for a reasonable purpose.
Ask job applicants to take a drug test.
Ask workers to take medical tests related to their work.
Employers may not legally:
Install cameras in changing areas, bathrooms and other places where you can reasonably expect privacy.
Listen in on personal phone calls or read personal mail.
Search employees’ belongings, clothing or persons without a good reason.
Run a background check on applicants without written permission.
Prohibit you from practicing the religion of your choice (except when you’re employed in a religious capacity, as with a priest).
Interfere with your political activities outside work.
In almost all states, your employer can fire or discipline you for a wide variety of legal behaviors, like smoking or patronizing a competing business, even if you do them on your own time. One exception is Montana, where you can’t be fired unless the employer has “good cause.” If you think your employer is unreasonably violating your privacy, talk to an employee rights lawyer.
Almost all federal civil rights laws apply to the hiring process as well as the employer-employee relationship. That means that an employer may not refuse to hire you based solely on race, color, sex, national origin and religion. It may not refuse to hire a disabled person whose disability doesn’t affect the job, and it may not refuse to hire an older person simply because he or she is older.
If the employer wants to run a background check on you, you have the right to know. You also must give permission in writing when the employer checks on your medical records, education or military service. And you have the right to refuse psychological testing for most types of jobs.
Yes. States give a business the right to refuse service to anyone, as long as the refusal is not based solely on that person’s membership in a protected group like a racial minority. However, you may be bound by your employer’s preferences.
You also have the right to be free of sexual harassment by customers. If a customer harasses an employee so repeatedly that it creates a hostile work environment, and the employer knows but fails to take action, the employer may be liable under sexual harassment laws.
If it’s possible, you should always start by talking to your employer. If you think your supervisor is part of the problem or won’t listen, you can go to your supervisor’s supervisor or to the human resources department. Tell them about the problem as calmly as possible, and bring copies (not originals) of any physical evidence, like papers, to show that you’re telling the truth.
If the employer doesn’t take action on your complaint, or retaliates against you for making it, you’ll have to go outside of the workplace for help. If your complaint is based on a federal civil rights law, you can go to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an agency that helps people whose rights have been violated. You can file a complaint with the EEOC, and the agency will investigate it. If they think you have a strong case, they will negotiate for you with the employer and try to reach a settlement. If that doesn’t work, they may file a lawsuit. Some states have agencies similar to the EEOC that can handle some labor disputes.
If you can’t use the EEOC, or if they decide not to take your case, you should go to an employee rights lawyer. If the lawyer believes you have a case, he or she will file an employee rights lawsuit. This lawsuit is intended to stop the employer’s illegal behavior. It will also help you recover the wages, benefits and other money you lost because of the employer’s illegal behavior.
Employee rights lawyers usually work for a contingency fee, a type of fee that is paid only at the end of the case. Rather than taking hourly payment, contingency fee lawyers receive a percentage of the money their clients win in a jury verdict or settlement. That percentage should be agreed on before you agree to hire the lawyer. If you don’t win, the employee rights lawyer does not get paid at all. This allows people without a lot of extra money to hire an employee rights lawyer, and many people believe it also motivates the employee rights lawyer to work hard and be efficient.
Some employee rights lawyers may work for an hourly fee. Again, you should be able to learn about this fee before hiring the lawyer. Almost all employee rights lawyers offer free consultations, meetings where you can discuss this and other aspects of your potential case.
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