Employee Counseling Lawyer in Birmingham, AL

Television and movies make it look like lawyers spend their entire workday in court, arguing for or against someone being required to pay millions of dollars or for finding someone innocent or guilty of a crime, but that is only a small part of what lawyers do. A lot of what lawyers do has nothing to do with disputes or arguing at all; in fact, many people hire lawyers in order to help them follow the law so that they will not get sued, get charged hefty fines, or be required to make costly changes to their plans. Alabama employment lawyers can help you create airtight employment contracts, avoid signing up for a thankless job, and protect yourself against employment discrimination. Some people hesitate to hire lawyers until they are in the midst of a messy dispute that has already cost them a fortune. It is much better to contact the Alabama employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP to help you resolve problems before they start.

Hiring an Alabama Employment Lawyer Does Not Always Mean Filing a Lawsuit

There is a reason that, once a company has more than a few hundred employees on its payroll, some of those employees are lawyers. Businesses need legal services, and the larger the company, the more help it needs from business lawyers. Small businesses often try to save money by accomplishing as many legal processes as possible on a “do it yourself” basis. \They often end up creating avoidable problems by printing out legal documents from free websites, even if they read them carefully, or by filing official forms with the state or county without having a lawyer review them first. Some of the language that appears on court forms or comes standard in contracts has implications that are only obvious to professionally trained lawyers, so hiring a lawyer to review your paperwork will save you more money in the long run than making a mistake and having to correct it. The Alabama employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you draft or review important documents, as well as resolving disputes.

How Alabama Employment Lawyers Can Help Business Owners

As a small business owner, you do not have the budget to keep attorneys on staff full time, but you still need legal services sometimes. Signing an employment agreement with a new employee without having an employment lawyer review it first is a mistake that you may have to spend many thousands of dollars trying to fix, especially if an employee sues you for breach of contract. These are some ways that the employment lawyers Alabama employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help employers avoid and resolve disputes:

• Reviewing employment contracts before they are signed to make sure that they are enforceable. Non-compete clauses, non-disclosure clauses, and arbitration clauses are frequent sources of dispute between employers and employees, and if the court decides that those clauses in the contract are not enforceable, the employee wins the case. An employment lawyer can reword those parts of your contract to make sure that they are not leaving you vulnerable in the event of a lawsuit by an employee.
• Finding potential loopholes in a proposed employment contract which would strengthen the employee’s position in a lawsuit in ways you didn’t expect, and revising the contract to close those loopholes.
• Helping you update your company’s policies to adapt to changes in employment laws when these changes happen.
• Defending you against frivolous or fraudulent claims by former employees.

Just a few sessions with an employment lawyer could help you prevent a costly employment dispute, thereby saving you tens of thousands of dollars or more.

How HKM Employment Attorneys LLP Can Help Employees

Alabama employment lawyers have seen it all before when it comes to the many ways that employers can mistreat employees and fail to respect the rights afforded to employees under federal and state law or under a specific employment contract. Employment discrimination is widespread, despite that it is against the law. If you perceive your employer’s behavior as discriminatory, it probably is, even though your employer might deny it. For example, denying a disability accommodation, retaliating against you for speaking up about discrimination against one of your co-workers, and giving you an unfairly negative evaluation all count as discrimination.

To add insult to injury, discrimination often gets worse when you draw your employer’s attention to it. There would be even more discrimination lawsuits if employers did not intimidate employees out of filing them. The best time to contact the Alabama employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP is when you first notice the discriminatory behavior by your employer. If the discrimination has been going on for a while, the time to contact a lawyer is now.

State Employment Laws in Alabama

For most aspects of labor law, Alabama follows the federal guidelines instead of implementing its own state laws. For example, it applies federal laws related to minimum wage, overtime pay, and breaks during a shift of work. Alabama law requires employers to provide unpaid leave for jury duty and for voting in elections. It does not require paid or unpaid leave in the event of illness, bereavement, or vacation. Under federal FMLA guidelines, employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave because of the employee’s illness or to care for a family member, including a newborn child. Employers may grant paid or unpaid leave at their discretion, and they may include provisions about this in employment contracts.

Contact an Alabama Employment Lawyer

Whether you are an employer or an employee, the Alabama employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help protect your rights and help you prevent disputes. From employment contracts to unlawful termination of employment to discrimination, your employment lawyer can help you get out of an untenable situation without suffering heavy financial losses. Do not wait until you are in a desperate situation before you get a lawyer involved in your employment dispute. Contact the Alabama employment discrimination lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP to set up a consultation.