When you go on a road trip through Alabama, you see many billboards for law firms, interspersed with signs advertising roadside tourist attractions and notifying you which restaurants are at the upcoming exit to give you enough time to decide whether to stop at the nearby Waffle House or keep driving until you find an exit with a Cracker Barrel. The billboards give you the idea that courtroom battles make up a big portion of lawyers’ work. Personal injury lawyers promise to sue the parties responsible for your accident for huge sums of money, and criminal defense lawyers promise to persuade all 12 jurors that you are innocent.
If you enter a law school classroom knowing only the view of the legal profession that you get from movies and TV series, you will be sorely disappointed; the same will happen if you enter a law office as a prospective client attending a consultation with a lawyer who might represent you in a legal claim.
Employment lawyers spend much of their time helping their clients resolve conflicts so that a judge will not have to intervene to decide the outcome. Especially in employment law, they also prevent conflicts before they begin by writing legally binding agreements with detailed descriptions of the obligations of each party, plus dispute resolution procedures. The Huntsville employee counseling lawyers at HKM Attorneys LLP can advise you in all troublesome situations related to your rights as an employee.
Employment Lawyer Resolves Disputes Without Going to Court
Employment lawyers can help you understand your rights under any of the federal and state laws related to employment. Your lawyer can help you figure out whether your employer’s actions are legal and what you can request if you file a formal claim. These are some common sources of disputes between employers and employees:
- Disputes over how much the employer was supposed to pay the employee, including disputes about overtime pay rates, unpaid wages, and minimum wage
- Employers treating workers as independent contractors when they do the work of employees
- Employment discrimination claims
- Whistleblower claims about safety violations or financial misconduct
Another way in which our Huntsville employee counseling lawyers help is with employment contracts. Getting hired with an employment contract is a rare privilege. Before you sign the employment contract that your employer has offered you, you should read it thoroughly with a lawyer.
Our lawyer can help you decide which points to negotiate for stronger protections on and can point out ambiguities in the contract that could cause trouble in the event of a dispute. Likewise, you need an employment lawyer if your employer has breached the terms of your employment contract or is accusing you of breach of contract. By working with our lawyers as soon as problems arise, you are in a better position to ensure that you have followed the contract’s guidelines for dispute resolution and for repairing breaches of contract before you resort to litigation.
Understanding Employment Discrimination Claims Process
Employment discrimination laws are more complex than they at first seem. First, there are more types of discrimination than most people realize. For example, it is discrimination if your employer excludes you from multiple opportunities that would be beneficial to your career if the employer does this because of a protected characteristic of yours, even if your employer does not fire you or demote you, and even if your employer denies that its actions are related to your protected characteristic. Hostile work environment, also known as bullying or harassment, is discrimination, even in the absence of other adverse actions, if the targeted employee’s protected characteristic is the focus of the harassment.
Likewise, there are many more types of protected characteristics. It is common knowledge that you cannot discriminate based on race, gender, or religion, but these are not the only legally protected characteristics. For example, discrimination against employees over 40 based on their age is against the law, and this protection lasts indefinitely as long as the employee remains in the workforce, even if he or she is past the age at which most people retire. Some plaintiffs in age discrimination cases have prevailed even if they were in their late 70s when they filed the claim.
Sex discrimination is not just about men discriminating against women. For example, “mean girl” behavior can be discrimination if a female manager is excessively critical of a female employee while being perfectly collegial with the male employees in her department. Likewise, it is illegal for your employer to discriminate against you because you are a parent or because of your marital status.
The protected characteristic of disability is also the focus of many discrimination complaints and misunderstandings. There are more kinds of disabilities than a statute could possibly list. Furthermore, there is no one-size-fits-all definition regarding what counts as a reasonable accommodation. It depends on what you need and what your employer can provide, and negotiation is the rule rather than the exception.
Huntsville Employment Lawyer to Represent You with the EEOC
You have the right to sue your employer for discrimination, but only if you fulfill the legal prerequisites for filing your lawsuit in court. You can only file an employment discrimination lawsuit after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has investigated your complaint and authorized you to proceed with the lawsuit. The deadline for contacting the EEOC is 45 days after the discriminatory action occurred. It is a good idea to meet with an employment lawyer before you contact the EEOC so that you can present the strongest case that will help the EEOC uncover the discrimination going on at your workplace.
Contact HKM About Employee Counseling
The employment counseling lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LL,P can give you advice about a variety of employment law matters. Contact our local lawyers in Huntsville, Alabam,a to set up a consultation.
