When your employer has violated your rights, then you deserve to work with a respectful and experienced employment lawyer who is dependable, assertive, and, most importantly, is compassionate to how traumatic your whole situation may be. Some victims have even been made to be the villain after returning from challenging experiences such as beating cancer, caring for a sick family member, recovering from surgery, delivering a child, or other conditions that required hospital stays. Others have been able to retain their dignity with the help of an employment lawyer after their employer humiliated them and insulted their religious beliefs, gender identity, or their age. An experienced employment lawyer understands what is on the line for their clients and focuses on the weaknesses of the defendant’s arguments to prove their claims.
It is very much worth it to hire an employment lawyer, and there are numerous reasons why. First of all, your workplace is a business that is focused on making money. They are not as concerned with their employees as they say, mostly because they know that an employee can be replaced. Even if you do have a good relationship with your supervisors, their goal is to protect the business interests of the company, including its reputation.
Protecting Your Rights
An employment attorney can educate you on the numerous laws in place that protect your rights as an employee. Among them include:
- The Occupational Health and Safety Act
- The Equal Pay Act
- The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
- The Americans With Disabilities Act
- The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
- The Affordable Care Act
- The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
- The Fair Credit Reporting Act
- The Fair Labor Standards Act
- The Family and Medical Leave Act
- The National Labor Relations Act
- Child labor laws
- Retaliation and whistleblower laws
- Title VII (race, nationality, religion, and sex discrimination)
- Wage and hour laws
The Areas of Practice in Employment Law
An employment law firm that represents workers can specialize in specific practice areas, including:
- Wrongful termination
- Age discrimination
- Race discrimination
- Pregnancy discrimination
- Employment accommodation
- Disability discrimination, including FMLA protections and pregnancy disability leave
- Wage and hour issues, including disputes regarding exempt versus non-exempt employees or unpaid overtime
- Whistleblower concerns
- Gender discrimination
- Religion discrimination
- Cancer discrimination
- Sexual-harassment,
- Disputes over contracts and agreements
An employment lawyer may also specialize in helping individuals in specific injury distress industries such as nurses, techs, and physicians, or workers in the entertainment industry.
Documents To Provide To Your Employment Lawyer
Now that you understand how important it is to reach out to an employment lawyer in Los Angeles, you should begin to gather helpful documents to bring to your initial consultation. Among them include:
- The company’s employee handbook
- Your performance reviews
- Your personnel file
- Your past pay stubs
- A list of witnesses who have seen the discriminatory or harassing behavior or comments directed towards you or others
- There is evidence of discrimination or harassment, such as emails, postings on kiosks or workplace break rooms, etc.
- Your mental health or medical records that demonstrate the physical and psychological toll the discrimination and harassment has taken on you, such as anxiety, depression, or high blood pressure
Most employment lawyers offer a free consultation, so there is no risk to you in seeking out the advice of an attorney.
Featured Image by LEANDRO AGUILAR on Pixabay
