Charge of Discrimination Archives - The Poliquin Firm

Interview on Delmarva’s Talk Radio – Employment Law

Katherine Thomas — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 02:30:00 +0000

Ron Poliquin, talks with Delmarva's Talk Radio host Dan Gaffney on Delaware Employment Law and Discrimination. Ron shares some examples of cases where he represents employees fighting to protect their employee rights.

Feel free to leave us a comment and follow The Poliquin Firm on Facebook . We hope you find the interview helpful.

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Supreme Court Update

Katherine Thomas — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:22:25 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com, your Delaware Employment Lawyer.

This is a special Supreme Court update regarding the rights of gays and transgenders regarding discrimination employment. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided by a six-to-three vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title 7, bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Supreme Court decided that gays and transgenders, under this law cannot be discriminated against in their employment. That means hostile work environment harassment or discrimination. In addition, gays and transgender individuals cannot be retaliated against for complaining about discrimination based on their status as gays or transgenders. All individuals cannot be retaliated against for participating in an investigation involving complaints of discrimination for gays and transgenders.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, an employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of different sex. Basically, what happened in this case, which was consolidated in Bostock V. Clayton County Georgia, I am going to give a brief description of the facts and scenarios in those cases.

In the Bostock case, Clayton County fired Gerald Bostock for conduct unbecoming of a county employee after he began participating in a gay softball league. Another case that was part of the suit was Altitude Express Inc. versus Zarda, which Altitude Express fired Donald Zarda within a few days of him identifying as gay. R. G. Harris Funeral Homes versus EEOC, the funeral home fired Aimee Stephens, who when was hired presented as a male, but later told her employer of her pans to live and work full-time as a woman. All three employees had sued under the federal statute.

The Supreme Court stated sex plays a necessary and indistinguishable role in the decision, exactly what Title 7 forbids in regarding all these decisions. It is a but-for cause, meaning but-for them being gay that they would not have been discriminated against. So, what does this mean to Delaware employees? Well, it means that it backs up the state law, which the state law already prohibits discrimination for transgender and gays and also gives employee attorneys, like myself, an extra weapon to go to Federal Court where there will be no doubt anymore on prohibitions against discrimination on the federal level against gays and transgenders.

Be your own best advocate. If you need to get expert advice on this, come see a qualified employment attorney such as myself. DoverLawOffice.com

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Pregnancy Rights for Women and Men

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 06:37:09 +0000

Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com, Delaware Employment Lawyer. We are going to be talking about pregnancy rights for women and men under the law, specifically, under federal law Title 7 the big one. The Civil Rights Act of 1962 is the federal law that protects employees from discrimination based on sex.

Now when we first encountered this issue in 1976, General Electric actually fired a married employee because she was pregnant. This case went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court held that discrimination, because of pregnancy, was not discrimination over an employee’s sex. This may surprise us today, however predictable, there was a firestorm of public outcry over this opinion.

That led to what we know as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. The Act added pregnancy and everything that goes with pregnancy, including breastfeeding to Title 7. Meaning that individuals could not be discriminated based on pregnancy. The Act provides that pregnant workers be provided opportunities only based on their ability or inability.

Just recently there was a jury, here in Delaware in the last year, that ruled that a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee must pay a Delaware woman $1.5 million in damages as related to workplace discrimination because they made it ultimately impossible for her to breastfeed her child at work. She was allowed only one hour of breastfeeding per shift. In addition, other co-workers complained about her taking breaks because she was breastfeeding. That created a hostile work environment which the employer did not remedy. So, that led to a large jury award in an employment case as of this year.

Now the question, might be surprising, can men be protected under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act? The Supreme Court has said YES! In the Newport News Shipbuilding case, the EEOC, Newport News gave pregnancy benefits including maternity leave to female employees but not male employees. Ultimately the Supreme Court decided that was a violation of Title 7. You need to be assertive if you’re being discriminated against because of pregnancy gender or if you have another employment issue please feel free to contact my office. Go to DoverLawOffice.com, this is Ron Poliquin thank you for your time.

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Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Ron Poliquin — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:24:11 +0000

Does Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex, does that include sexual orientation and gender identity? That is the issue coming up before our U.S. Supreme Court in three different cases.

The first case includes a funeral director who was fired after telling her employer that she was transitioning from a male to a female.

In the second case, a county employee was fired after his employer found out he was gay after it was discovered due to his participation in an LGBTQ softball league.

The third case is about a male skydiving instructor who lost his job after trying to reassure a female client that she didn’t need to worry about a tandem skydive with the instructor because he was gay.

Now it’s important to remember that under Delaware state law you are protected based on gender identity or sexual orientation. So, in Delaware even though we don’t know whether or not you are protected under federal law, we do know you are protected, and you’re entitled to sue under state law.

Previously we had employment attorneys representing plaintiffs’ employees. I’ve gotten around this somewhat because you can sue under Title 7 on sexual stereotypes. For instance, in the Price Waterhouse case and Hopkins, the employee was allegedly denied partnership because she did not fit the firm’s image of a proper woman. According to some partners, she was too masculine or not too feminine enough. The Supreme Court ruled that she had made out a claim under Title 7 because it was based on disparate treatment of men and women resulting from sexual stereotypes.

So, there were times when I filed claims on behalf of homosexuals, gays, and lesbians because they did not fit sexual stereotypes. But this is different in front of the Supreme Court now. This will decide once and for all, hopefully, whether or not you can discriminate under Title 7 based on gender identity or sexual orientation. In each of these cases, the lower courts received inconsistent conclusions.

Either way, there are protections currently under Delaware law and some protection under federal law for individuals that get discriminated against on based sexual orientation or gender identity.

If questions or have been discriminated on based on this or any other protected actions or need any questions answered, please come visit me Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com

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Take This Job and Shove it…Or Don’t

Ron Poliquin — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 18:43:05 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com

So, take this job and shove it. You want to quit your job, you are being harassed at work, it’s a terrible atmosphere, it is a hostile work environment, you are the victim of workplace bullying. You are sure something illegal is going on, so you just want to quit your job, and sue the pants off those guys. Put some breaks on okay, take a breather. Here are a couple of reasons you might want to do that or might want to consider other strategies.

1. You may not have a case. Here is a dirty little secret of employment law, most people cannot sue their employers. Because you can basically be terminated for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all as long as it is not for an illegal reason. To judge if it is an illegal reason or not, you have to see a lawyer.

2. Even if you have a case, you won’t see a result for a long time. Your lawyer is not going to pay your bills, in fact, he is prohibited from lending you money. So you have to think about the realities of life. Litigation takes a long time, it could take years before you see a penny from a case.

3. There may be some alternatives. If you are under a lot of stress and it is considered a medical condition, maybe you take FMLA, take some leave. Perhaps you get some disability insurance from your company. Perhaps you can take some time off.

4. See a lawyer before you do anything. You want to be able to strategize and see a lawyer, even if it takes a consultation fee for a couple of hundred bucks, it’s worth it to know your rights.

5. Staying at your company could actually help your case. I have had times when what I have done is have the employee complain to the CEO, the highest up, so no one can say they did not know about anything.

6. Did you go through your company’s mandatory reporting complaint procedure? If you don’t the employer could use this as a defense later on that they did not know the harassment or the discrimination was going on. Therefore the company did not have a chance to remedy that and should not be held liable because the company did not have a chance to remedy the situation. So, you want to look at your employee handbook and see what the reporting procedure is. Let’s say the procedure is to report it to your supervisor but your supervisor is the one doing the harassing, then they usually have an alternative reporting procedure. But you need to let someone higher up know before you leave.

7. You need income. The employment case is not going to provide that and nor will your attorney.

8. Strategize with your lawyer. What is the next best move?

9. Even if you don’t have a case perhaps you can negotiate an exit. Giving some heads up as far as a couple of weeks notice. Maybe you get a good referral or at least not a bad referral. Maybe you can negotiate a severance package.

10. Look for a job while you have a job. A job is like dating, it is much easier to get a new girlfriend while you have a girlfriend than when you don’t have one. Looking for a job is a lot easier when you already have a job, you make yourself a more attractive candidate.

11. I realize I am repeating myself, but lawyer up. Talk to a lawyer, don’t cheap out on it. Spend a couple of hundred bucks on a consult. Know your rights and then you can make your next move from there.

This is Ron Poliquin saying, go to DoverLawOffice.com…exit out!

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Is It Discrimination For a Female Teacher To Be Terminated Over a Topless Photo?

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 21 May 2019 19:01:37 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

Today’s question, “Is it discrimination for a female teacher to be terminated over a topless photo that was found by a student?” That is what plaintiff Lauren Miranda is claiming. Miranda was fired after a teenage student ended up with a topless selfie of this public-school math teacher, but Miranda did not send the photo to the student. She sent it to another male teacher in the district that she recently had a relationship.

Apparently, the photo was passed around and somehow wound up in the student’s hands. Miranda is suing the school district, superintendent, and other administrators on the basis of gender discrimination, seeking $3 million dollars and to be reinstated at the school.

What she and her legal counsel are arguing, in a sense, is that if the nipples in the photo had belonged to a male teacher, if it was a topless photo of a male teacher, no action would have been taken. In fact, Miranda noted that there are male teachers on Facebook that have topless photos that are easily accessible on social media platforms and never to her knowledge has that been reprimanded let alone fired.

To me, Miranda is focused on the nipples and topless photo. I would ask her some questions as far as to see if this is, in fact, gender discrimination. How has the school handled prior cases of pictures of teachers? How did the picture get into the hands of the student? Did the school do any kind of investigation? A question we have to ask is this topless photo sexual in nature? I think it would be a more clear-cut case if it was a pornographic picture of someone having sex, but here you are talking about simply a topless photo.

It is a very difficult case; I think there is a good argument to make that a topless photo in and of itself does not make you a bad role model. It is not sexual in nature. I also think it obviously helps that she did not pass out the photo, it was passed on by someone else.

If I were a betting man, I would bet that the court would defer to the school, but I would still represent Miranda because I think it is a worthwhile cause to proceed with. What is obvious here is in this day and age with everyone’s private lives not being so private and being on the internet, employers are going to have to make some big adjustments to make sure men and women are treated equally in the workplace. Especially when it comes to issues like this.

If you feel like you have been discriminated against because of your gender, please contact DoverLawOffice.com or contact a qualified employment attorney. Thank you!

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Retaliation

Ron Poliquin — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 17:47:00 +0000

Ron Poliquin - DoverLawOffice.com,

Today’s word is Retaliation. Can your boss or employer come after you for filing a claim of discrimination? The short answer is no. If you file a complaint of discrimination against your, employer boss, whether valid or not valid, whether substantiated or not substantiated, your employer cannot retaliate against you. Retaliation can be a termination, demotion, it can be not getting a promotion, it can be discipline, it became paper in your file. All those little things that weren't such a big deal all of a sudden, they are big deal. It can be shunning being, shunned by the other office workers, being given the cold shoulder. It can be getting a reassignment, reducing hours, being left out of work activity, decisions, being relocated, being reassigned, online abuse, physical abuse.

Basically, any adverse action that is a result of you filing a complaint of discrimination. That discrimination can either be with the company itself complaining about harassment or discrimination or it can be filing a complaint with the charge discrimination with the EEOC or Department Labor.

For instance, basically what was required is you engaged in a protected activity. I am going to show you this, let's do it right here. We got Rocky and we got Clarance Mason. Clarence Mason is the boss. Okay, so let's say Rocky’s working at the meat plant with Clarance Mason. Hey yo' Clearance, you know, I feel like I'm being discriminated against. Okay, Rock, well I will check into that and I will do an investigation.

Alright, Rocky makes a complaint of discrimination. The next day, Rocky, you're being reassigned to our factory in North Dakota outside of Philadelphia. That's not a problem, is it? Hey yooh, I can't go to North Dakota it's cold there and everything. Is Clarence Mason retaliating against Rocky for filing a complaint of discrimination? I would say yes because there is temporal proximity, that is what it is called.

One day Rocky comes in & he's fine, he complains about discrimination, the next day all of a sudden, he is being relocated to North Dakota.

Rocky engaged in a protected activity complaining of discrimination.

Clarance Mason, the boss, acted against Rocky by relocating him to North Dakota. And there, I think we can find a causal link between the activity of Rocky’s complaint of discrimination and the retaliation.

So the question is, what should you do if you are retaliated against? Well if you are in the state of Delaware, yeah call me of course. Even if you cannot call me, call a qualified employment attorney. You are also going to need to file a separate charge of discrimination with the Department of Labor, or EEOC if you want to file a lawsuit later on.

This is Ron Poliquin talking about retaliation - DoverLawOffice.com. Remember if you don't stand up for your rights, who else will?

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Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 04:28:17 +0000

Delaware Employment Attorney, Ron Poliquin, often gets questioned about, why do most employment attorneys charge a consult fee? People get onslaught of commercials and ads and everything in the media, free consult, free consult and that usually pertains to personal injury and car accident cases. It is easy to see why people would be confused.

Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. I am your Delaware Employment Attorney.

What we are discussing today is a topic I often get questioned about, why do most employment attorneys charge a consult fee? People get onslaught of commercials and ads and everything in the media, free consult, free consult and that usually pertains to personal injury and car accident cases. It is easy to see why people would be confused. Here is what I'm doing, I'm trying to answer why experienced employment attorneys charge a consult fee.

First of all, employment law is different than personal injury law. Most of the time when a personal injury client is coming in to see an attorney, that attorney knows they are going to sign on that client. There is a high percentage of success that there will be a settlement of some kind, employment law is different. Employment law is harder law as far as employment lawyers need to be more particular about the type of clients and cases they bring on. It has a much lower rate of converting clients to successful cases. That is simply because if you get hit by a bus on the street, or you get a car accident, there's going to be injuries, there’s going to be a settlement, there is going to be insurance. Employment law whether it be sexual discrimination, unpaid wages, gender, race discrimination, whistle-blower act, a lot of times there's no insurance involved. You are not dealing with an insurance company. So, if I'm suing XYZ dry cleaner for the most part they are not going to have insurance to pay that out. That makes it more difficult for the attorney to get an early and easy settlement for the client.

Secondly employment law is a lot more personal. If you are working at somebody's factory and have a slip and fall or hurt your hand, there is nothing really personal about that. There is nothing where you are really attacking the employer and the employer usually as workers’ compensation insurance. If you are claiming somebody sexually harassed you or racially discriminated against you, you are kind of attacking that person's character and business. People that own small businesses, or medium businesses, they take that very personal. So, they are much more likely to fight and litigate an employment law case then they are a workers’ comp case. That is really out of their hands because workers’ comp insurance is completely a different kind of animal. For employment law I find it takes longer for lawyers get paid. To obtain a settlement, it's a lot more work. There is a whole process and I'll go through that in another video as far as the EEOC, Department of Labor charge process that you have to go through, priority healing and even filing a suit in an employment case.

Attorneys want someone invested in their case, so in a way, they charge consult fees to weed out some bad cases or people that really won't have any skin the game. To a certain extent, I understand it's a little unfair because if you just got fired, do you have money to pay a consult fee? There are sometimes when I will not charge a consult fee, depending on the circumstances. What I will say as far as the benefits to of paying the consult fee to the client, get the right information first even if you pay for it, $300 for peace of mind is worth it, as far as I'm concerned. Most of us can scrounge together $175 bucks to $300 to pay an attorney and get the right information first, whether than going to an attorney that maybe dabbles in employment law.

Let’s put it this way if you’re with an attorney and you are telling him about your case and all the sudden they gotta pause, run up and take a break somewhere, they are probably Googling up with Google what information they are trying to get. Go to an experienced employment lawyer who knows the law and knows how to handle a particular case from A to Z. There are a lot of specific issues that go along with how to handle a case. Get peace of mind, go to an experienced employment lawyer. I know it's a little bit of a bite to pay that consult fee. But I'll tell you what, if you mentioned that you watched the video, I will wave a first time consult fee for you. Okay great talking to you, I hope that helps a little bit. Remember fight for your rights, you have rights, get peace of mind. Ron Poliquin, out. Thanks!

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Statute of Limitations Charge of Discrimination

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 04:21:43 +0000

Delaware Employment Attorney, Ron Poliquin of the Poliquin Firm in Dover, Delaware discusses the statute of limitations charge of discrimination.

Statute of Limitations Charge of Discrimination

Ron Poliquin, your Delaware Employment Attorney, DoverLawOffice.com,

I am here to answer another question regarding employment law. Our topic today is, I just filed a charge of discrimination with the Department of Labor (DOL) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Now what?

OK prior to suing anybody, prior to even stepping into court in regard to discrimination cases, for the most part we're talking about Title VII and it is the federal statute. There are also state statutes that mirror it. We are talking about race discrimination, disability discrimination, gender discrimination, hostile work environment, anything that deals with the protected class. Prior to suing based on your employment you got to file a charge of discrimination with the part Delaware Department of Labor (DOL) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

You have to do that within 300 days of the last discriminatory act. There are all sorts of caveats that I got to tell you about. That I can't explain it in a 3-minute video you'll have to talk to an experienced employment attorney but that's a statute of limitations 300 days. Just think about it breach of contract 3 years, personal injury 2 years, now you have employment discrimination you got 300 days, not a long time by the way.

There are a lot of times people come to me and they are just SOL, which can stand for something else rather than statue limitations for them. You have to jump on these issues early. You have to see an attorney early. What happens is you have to visit the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and see if they can do dual charges. Meaning they can file charges in both for a federal cause of action and a state action with either the Delaware Department of Labor (DOL) office of anti-discrimination or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). I usually go with advising my clients to file with the Delaware Department of Labor (DOL) office of anti-discrimination and there's a dual charge, so you file on both so that you are covered for both the state cause of action and the federal cause of action. I feel like I'm saying cause of action way too much.

Alright but anyways, you're being discriminated against. What you do is, you call the Department of Labor (DOL) office of anti-discrimination. They are going to make you fill out a questionnaire something like this. It is going to be a bunch of pages based depending on what your claim is. Whether it's racial discrimination, gender discrimination, there's different forms to fill out so first you got to call them to set up an appointment. You got to fill out the intake sheet and then they'll set up an appointment. Now the Department of Labor (DOL) quite frankly is very backlogged, very understaffed and so it's going to take some time for that to happen. You are going to want to schedule that appointment right away because that is when they can back date the charge of discrimination.

So, you are going to want to:

Call the Department of Labor (DOL).
Fill out the intake sheet.
Get an interview to file a charge of discrimination.

A charge of discrimination is going to look something like this. It is going to be a form. I always like to help my clients feel this charge of discrimination out because it's very important. It is going to limit you later, on what you can sue about. You can file a lawsuit about race, color, sex, religion, you got to put the right check the right boxes here. It is really important and sometimes the intake worker for the Department of Labor (DOL) is not going to know exactly what you are looking to do. So, whether it is continuing an action and then you put the jurisdiction and there is going to be a brief statement of allegations. I like to draft this up myself for my client so there's no confusion later on where the defendant, because I represent workers for the most part, employees can say well you did not put that in your charge of discrimination therefore you cannot bring it up in court later on. This is a very important document. It is signed under penalty of perjury, but the confusion comes when you have a client or an individual that's being discriminated against. If this is somebody that's not sophisticated and the Department of Labor (DOL) intake worker doesn't quite know parts of the story. Maybe there not communicating it right and they screw up the charge of discrimination it can really screw the case up.

Okay so you do the interview then you finally get a stamped charge of discrimination. What happens after you get a filed charge of discrimination is, the employer will get that charge of discrimination.

They will be invited to:

20 days to answer the charge of discrimination. A lot of times they will ask for extensions on that.
They can seek mediation.

An answer is basically saying everything in here is untrue because of this, this and this. They are going to respond to the charge. Okay you say you were sexually harassed by boss X. They say that's not the case they deny it basically or they have the option to be invited to mediation. One thing I will guarantee, if your pro se litigant and you go to mediation with an employer do not expect to get much out of the employer. Simply because there's not a lot on the line yet. There's been no lawsuit filed and quite frankly even if you have an attorney during that mediation, a lot of times the employer will try to lowball you. They don't have any incentive at that point. They really have not lost anything. They might have paid an attorney. So, the mediation in my experience has been of limited success. But it's always good to explore mediation and see if there's any opportunity to resolve the case early on. There is a lot of benefit to that.

Okay, let's say they answer it, or you do it in mediation that wasn't successful. After that there will be an investigation by Department of Labor (DOL). How intense the investigation is…I don't know? It depends on how much interest your worker at Department of Labor is interested in investigating the case. It depends how backlogged they are. A lot of times what will happen is the investigator can come to a couple findings. They can do a cause finding, which yes, they find that there's been discrimination or there's been some kind of retaliation against the employee. They will say yes, we find that there has been discrimination. Two, no funding of discrimination or they can say there's no cause. So even after that, what happens after that? There are really no enforcement mechanisms unless the Department of Labor (DOL) takes the case, which they rarely do. You can’t take it to court and do anything with it. It is just a determination. Maybe it puts a little pressure on the employee if there's a cause finding but maybe it doesn’t. I have seen sometimes were it doesn't.

After there's a cause finding or no cause funding or there's going to suit to make. You can request a right to sue letter. The right to sue letter is very important because after you receive a right to sue letter you get 90 days to file suit. Alright so if you get a right to sue letter from Department of Labor (DOL) you are also going to have to request from the Employee Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) if you want the right to sue letter in federal court. A lot of stuff going on here, I realize it's complicated, but you got to realize if you don't take anything out of this video the most important thing is you only have 90 days to file suit after a right to sue letter. If early on in this process you think that this investigation by the Employee Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or Department of Labor (DOL) is not going to do you any good, you can request a right to sue letter early prior to the investigation or you can ask them right away if the investigation is going to take more than 180 days. I believe that's the number and almost every investigation is going to take more than 180 days.

A lot of times what I'll do in my cases is request the right to sue letter right away, so the case doesn't drag on. If it doesn't seem like the Department of Labor (DOL) or the Employee Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is going to really do anything about the case, then I'll request a right to sue letter. After you get that right to sue letter that's when you can file a lawsuit in court.

So just to recap:

You got to file charge of discrimination for dual charge with the Department of Labor (DOL) and Employee Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
You got to get a right to sue letter prior to filing a complaint in either state or federal court.

There are all sorts of nuances. Reach out to an experienced employment attorney, stand up for your rights. I hope that helps. Thanks!

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When Should You See An Attorney?

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 16:53:25 +0000

Delaware Employment Attorney discusses, when should you see an attorney? How soon? The short answer is, as soon as possible regarding employment cases whether it be discrimination, whistle-blower or wage an hour.

When Should You See An Attorney?

Yes Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com, your Delaware Employment Attorney

Today’s subject is going to be, when should you see an attorney? How soon? The short answer is, as soon as possible regarding employment cases whether it be discrimination, whistle-blower or wage an hour. First of all, there is really harsh time restrictions, 300-days to file a charge of discrimination.

Secondly, the best time is to start early. The consultation is always confidential. Meaning just because you see an attorney and get information on the case, doesn’t mean that you’re going to take action. But once you wanna have the knowledge, you want to know what your rights are, know what you can do, once you get that knowledge, once know your rights, then you can decide whether to act on it or not. It is your decision, not the attorneys. I always tell people it’s your life, it’s your job, if you want me involved I’ll get involved. If you just want to know your rights that’s the best way to go. You don’t always have to act. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something. That is one of the parts of my job where I talk with my client about strategic moves regarding their employment.

Another issue that comes out is, how do you navigate employment law? The worse situation is when somebody comes to me too late, meaning if they have ducked taking action or not taken actions, which have jeopardized their rights under the law. I would equate it to a similar tool, you got a surgeon that comes in on a botched surgery and there trying to fix it, or somebody tried to put stitches on their own face. It is much easier for me to be in from the beginning and device a strategy and plan of action with that client then to come afterwards, after everything’s already been done and try to fix things.

Just on a legal sense, there are very specific defenses that an employer can raise later on if you did not go through the proper steps. A lot of companies have employment manuals. That employment manual usually has some kind of procedure on how to report discrimination or retaliation and what steps to take. If you do not go through those steps and you have been discriminated against, one of the defenses they may raise later on and probably will raise, is that we didn’t know about it. Okay, we just didn’t know about. I don’t care if you say, hey everybody in this company knows about it. It was common knowledge. If you do not go through their proper process, it could dismiss your case. It could be a major issue in your case.

So from the start, it’s important for you to strategize with an attorney on how do we notify the employer? How do we protect your rights? How do we not jeopardize your status in a company? How do we make sure that everyone is on notice of what’s going on without hurting you as an employment? I know as well as anyone that it is a sticky situation. It is a highly precarious situation when you are in an adverse situation, an adverse setting with your boss especially if it’s a small company. A small company you have a few employees, that is not that is not a predicament people want to be in. So, we have to take all that into account in how we set up your case from the beginning while trying to protect your job at the same time. You are going to need someone to help you navigate that maze of employment law.

Another issue is, there’s going to be the HR people. Are the HR people really looking out for your best interest or they just protecting the company? Especially if the harasser or the bad actor, the person that has discriminated against you is the head of the company or your boss. Who is really HR going to be looking out for? They have got somebody being paid $35,000 a year in HR, what kind of background do these people have? Do you just have one HR person? Is there just some secretary handling the HR? A lot of times this happens in the small homegrown companies. You have really no real HR Department and nobody looking out for your rights. Even in larger companies, who is HR looking out for?

You need to have an advocate for you, as an attorney somebody in the background that you can trust wholeheartedly. The only communications that are confidential are you and your attorney. Your communications with HR, your statements with HR, are not confidential. HR is great, but we have to make sure we take the proper steps, so the company remedies the situation and knows about it but also a lot of times, let’s not be naive, that doesn’t happen. I kind of touched on it before but you also want to give the company an opportunity to fix the situation. Maybe you’re in a hostile work environment, maybe there’s a way to notify the company have them address it properly and then you go on and prosper in that company. A lot of times that’s not possible but it does happen. Maybe they do the right thing. Maybe a company or your employer does the right thing and they should be given the opportunity to do that.

The issue here is that when you do not go see a qualified attorney early, you’re really jeopardizing yourself in the future on what you want, if you don’t know what you don’t know. I’m not saying an attorney is essential for everything. But certainly, go see an attorney to have a consultation, at least know what your rights are. Then you can take the proper steps from there. Thanks for the time, I’m Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. Thank you!

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