San Diego Employment Law Attorney

Most of us spend a large part of our week working hard so we can provide for our families. We shouldn’t have to be at the whim of an employer with no regard for the law – a boss who discriminates or who refuses to pay us what we are owed.

Your employer doesn’t have all the power. You have rights, and among them is the right to have an attorney advocate on your behalf if you have been wronged in the workplace.

Harlan Law is committed to making sure that all workers receive fair treatment. No one should have to work for an employer who violates the law. No employer should be able to mistreat workers without consequence.

Harlan Law PC offers a free consultation if you believe you have not been properly paid, were wrongly terminated or passed for a promotion, or have been the victim of workplace discrimination. Call us today at (619) 870-0802 to speak to an attorney.

Fighting Workplace Discrimination

We all have a right to work in an environment free of discrimination. The law requires that our employers judge us on our job performance, not on what we look like or how we chose to live our lives.

These are some common forms of discrimination that unfortunately show their ugly face in the workplace:

• Race discrimination
• Sex discrimination
• Religious discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Disability discrimination

What constitutes discrimination? It can involve many aspects of your employment. Under the law, your age, gender, religion, disability, etc., must have no bearing on your employer’s actions involving:

• Hiring
• Termination
• Promotion
• Job duties
• Pay raises

If you’ve been fired, demoted, unpaid or otherwise mistreated because of who you are and not your ability to work, you should not be silent. The law is there to protect you.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Violations

Employers can also be taken to task for not allowing you time off to which you are entitled under the law. This can include violations of the Family Medical Leave Act, which was created to allow employees time off to deal with:

• The birth or adoption of a child
• The employee’s own serious health condition
• The serious health condition of a loved one
• Certain situations arising from a loved one serving in the military

California has a state law known as the California Family Rights Act, or CFRA, which grants similar protections. These laws, however, do not apply to every employee, and not every employee in a company governed by the act is covered. You may need the help of an attorney to examine your case and see if your rights were violated.

Workplace Harassment

If a coworker or superior is harassing you, the first thing you need to do is report it. Companies are obligated to investigate harassment complaints. If they fail to do so, they can be held accountable, even if the person you reported it to did not harass you directly.

Harassment doesn’t have to come from your boss. It can come from anyone at your workplace. Workplace harassment leads to stress that can affect one’s job performance, and that isn’t fair.

Let’s say that Donna is hired to work alongside Tom. Their bosses have heard that Tom has a habit of making sexually suggestive comments to women at work. When Tom begins to make Donna uncomfortable, she asks him to stop. When he doesn’t, she tells their bosses, who do little or nothing about it. Tom keeps pressing Donna for sex, and the stress leads her to miss deadlines at work, and her bosses fire her for underperforming.

Now Donna is out of work — but it wasn’t her fault. It was the company’s fault for what it allowed to happen instead of doing the responsible thing and taking action. Donna may have a case to bring against her employer.

Wage and Hour Claims

Everyone deserves to be paid for the work they perform. But the sad truth is that some employers will misclassify your employment status or duties to avoid paying you overtime. Unpaid overtime is a common cause for a wage and hour claim.

Here’s an example. You work in retail, and your bosses classify you as a “manager” – an exempt employee on salary who cannot collect overtime. You work hard, in excess of 40 hours a week, yet the bulk of your shifts are spent on the floor doing the same job as those you are “managing.” This is an example of your employer taking advantage of you and the language of the law. They are misclassifying your job title to save money so they can deny you the pay to which you are legally entitled – while still getting as much work out of you as possible.

Why You Need An Employment Law Attorney

Regardless of your profession, the law is intended to protect you in the workplace. Unfortunately, it may take an attorney working your case to get you what you are owed.

Not every action by an employer that seems unfair is a violation of the law. Even when it is, it can be very difficult to prove. This is why it’s important that you speak with an attorney experienced with employment law about your situation if you feel your rights as an employee have been violated.

Your employer cannot retaliate against you if you file a claim asserting your rights under the law.

Contact Harlan Law PC

At Harlan Law, we offer free, confidential consultations to people who believe that have been mistreated at work. If we become your employment law attorney, we will go to work building the strongest case possible against your employer. You can trust that we will seek the fullest possible compensation for you.

Call us today at (619) 870-0802 or fill out the form on this page to learn more about your rights and what an attorney can do to protect them.