Being an employee, you must know your basic rights and if those rights are violated by your employer or by any other co-worker, you must know what actions to take and when to ring up the attorney. Since no one expects you to understand the terminologies and titles of the employment law, it is recommended that when it comes to that hiring an employment attorney would help in understand the intricacies of your case. If you are looking Glendale employment lawyer, then be sure that whatever issues you are facing at your workplace will be resolved through a simplified process.
When you hire an employment lawyer, then he acts as a conduit between you and your employer, but before you proceed and call up the lawyer, you must know the causes behind it. So, here is a quick look for you as to when you should think of hiring a Glendale employment attorney.
#1 Wrongful termination
If your employer has fired you from the job, then it is undoubtedly going to result in mental and financial losses as your career is going to be at stake. But if you think that your termination was wrongful, then you have all the right to go ahead and hire an employment attorney. For instance, if your company has a termination process in the company policy or company handbook and the employer does not follow those procedures and terminates the employee then it becomes a wrongful termination. And in this case, the employee can claim wrongful termination.
#2 Discrimination at the workplace
According to Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, there should be no discrimination based on race, gender, caste, religion, and origin. And if you are confident that you have been discriminated against at your workplace by your employer or co-worker, then consulting an experienced employment attorney would be of great help. For example, your employer might have promoted a male employee because of his gender, and since you are a female employee, he preferred to keep your position as is whereas you deserved promotion. And this is completely a case of gender discrimination. Hiring an attorney would help you to determine the course of action you need to take and to decide the claim.
#3 Refusing to pay minimum wages
According to the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or state wage and hour laws, every employee is entitled to get minimum wages for the job, and if the employer refuses to pay, then you have all the right to hire an attorney to take care of the mess. Being an employee, you must be paid minimum wages and for overtime work, work from home, etc. If you are employer has not paid you any of this, then it is a case of exploitation and an attorney would be able to analyze how much your employer has violated FLSA.
#4 Whistleblower protection
If you have retaliated against your employer because of illegal activity and reported it to any law enforcement agency, then legally, your employer cannot fire you as you have the protection under the whistleblowing laws. Be responsible and call up an employment attorney right away so that you can recover all the damages before any delay. The employment attorney would analyze and review the employee handbooks and provide you all the guidance regarding protecting your rights and how they have been violated.
Therefore, if you suspect that an illegal or unfair practice has taken place at your workplace and has disturbed the safe working environment, then you must hire an employment attorney who would make you understand your situation through a legal framework and what steps you must take. The attorney would ask you for the necessary documents if you have already collected to help the case, or if you have signed any paper that violates your basic right, you must understand the whole scenario.
Being an employee, you should understand that your company or the employer is going to have their own attorney who would represent and favor the employer, and in that case, it is in your best interest that you have an employment attorney by your side to keep things correct.