Employment Practices

Practice Areas: Employment Practices

There are a veritable alphabet soup of laws which provide protection to employees against improper hiring, management, and firing. The ADA, ADEA, EPA, FWA, FCRA, USERRA, and Title VII all serve to prohibit employers from discriminating against protected classes of employees. Collectively, the laws prohibit the kind of behavior that most of us were taught was wrong in grade school. An employer cannot base their hiring, firing, or treatment of an employee based upon their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, military service, physical disability, or age. An employer is also responsible for preventing its employees from creating a hostile work environment based upon any of these protection classes; cannot retaliate against an employee who exercises a protected behavior, such as taking FMLA leave, making a worker’s compensation claim, or reporting illegal activity to the authorities; and must make reasonable accommodations for protected conditions.

Most of us know that it’s not uncommon for an employee to feel like they have been improperly discriminated against. However, a feeling cannot support a legal case, which requires evidence. Most employment discrimination claims are won or lost based on the fact investigation that is done. In order to develop the case, you need an attorney who knows how to interview and depose witnesses. The attorney also needs to be willing to dig into the paper work which may either prove or disprove the true motivation behind the employer’s actions.

Most employers are ethical and would never dream of discriminating against an employee because they took FMLA time off or are from another country. However, there are bad apples and there are bad employees whom an employer fails to control. When that happens, it’s only right for the employee to speak up for herself and others who may have previously been affected or may be affected in the future. Doing so both makes the victim as whole as possible and also protects future employees from abuse. If you are an employee who has been improperly discriminated against by your employer, or an employer who has been unfairly accused of discriminating against an employee, Bear Legal Solutions would be happy to help you bring the truth to the forefront and right the wrong.