The Poliquin Firm

Interview with Mike Bradley on WGMD-The Talk of Delmarva

Katherine Thomas — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:45:01 +0000

Ron Poliquin gives a radio interview with Mike Bradley on The Talk of Delmarva - WGMD Click here for details are shared by Ron Poliquin, Attorney for Former Delaware State Auditor Kathy McGuiness.
08/16/2023 - Julia Hardy

If you have questions about your rights, we would love to hear from you. Leave us a comment here or find us on Facebook. If you us our contact us page, someone will get back to you!

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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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COVID Employee Alert

Katherine Thomas — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

This is a COVID employee alert on unpaid wages and overtime. There has been an uptick, extreme uptick, in the number of unpaid wage claims since the pandemic. There are many employers out there who are closed for various reasons, who are expecting employees to go weeks and sometimes months without pay and using the pandemic as an excuse.

This is not only wrong; it is illegal, and employees have remedies to solve these problems. Employees should not be expected to work without pay or work beyond 40-hours a week without getting paid overtime pay. The government has put in place many programs for businesses such as the Paycheck Protection Program to help employers get through this trying time. That does not mean that employees need to be sacrificing their pay for employers.

Another thing that has happened is that employers are asking employees to switch from salary to hourly. Now the whole point of going from hourly to salary is that you don’t have to work 40-hours a week. You are basically paid for your time and they are not keeping hours. But, because of the pandemic there are some employers who are asking or unilaterally switching employees pay from salary to hourly, so be careful of that. Don’t be a sucker, don’t let emotions, don’t let employers manipulate you.

There are many employees who are sacrificing their pay, their time with their family because they believe that they owe some loyalty to these employers or their boss. It is great to have loyalty but one of the principles of this country is that you should get paid for what you do and paid for your work. So, make sure you are getting paid if you have any issues you come see me, Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com, or see an otherwise qualified employment attorney and make sure you assert your rights. Be you own best advocate.

Thank you!

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Five things you need to know about medical malpractice

Katherine Thomas — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:03:31 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

I am here to talk about five things you need to know about medical malpractice claims. In my capacity as a civil rights lawyer, I have been able to successfully handle millions of dollars’ worth of medical malpractice claims. What is medical malpractice? Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor, healthcare profession, or some other agency to a negligent act omission causes an injury to a patient. The negligence might be the result of misdiagnosis, failure diagnosis, failure to treat, aftercare, or health care management. Just because there is an unfavorable outcome by itself does not mean there’s malpractice. There are five things you need to know about medical malpractice.

One – Do not be afraid to seek out a claim. Doctors screw up all the time just like everybody else. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death. Do not feel guilty about consulting with a medical malpractice attorney if you think something went wrong, that’s why that doctors' have insurance. Because doctors screw up and who should be left holding the bag? It certainly should not be the patient or the patient’s family.

Two – Two things need to be proven in a medical malpractice claim. One, the doctors deviated from the standard of care, meaning in the standard of care that is agreed to by the medical professional community and two, that there was a deviation actually caused the injuries.

Three – Get the right attorney, not all attorneys practice medical malpractice cases. The reason I got involved in medical malpractice areas is through my cross over into civil rights. Medical malpractice cases require a different type of expertise. They require a different type of statutory requirement than a typical auto injury case. So, don’t just assume just because somebody takes auto injury cases or personal injury cases that they take medical malpractice cases, that is not entirely the case.

Four - The statute of limitations always runs in a medical malpractice case. A medical malpractice case means a statute of limitations, that is how much time you have to file a lawsuit. If you have run out of the statute of limitations, and you can file after that time period, you will be out of luck. Claims against health care providers must be brought within two years of the date that the injury occurred. Now, if the injury was unknown and could not have been discovered within a two-year period, that action may be brought within three years. But in no event after the expiration of three years. That means that time goes fast.
In a lot of cases when our loved one is experiencing a medical emergency we are not thinking about lawsuits. We are just thinking about getting that person treated and we are thinking of getting that person healthy. So, remember that clock is ticking at the time you discover that there could have been a mistake.

Five – Don’t be afraid to get a second opinion regarding doctors and don’t be afraid to find a new doctor if you don’t feel that you are receiving proper medical care. A lot of top medical malpractice cases are discovered through second opinions by doctors. Your health is too important to place in the hands of a provider who has not earned your confidence, isn’t answering your questions, or is not giving you adequate time and attention.

Now, in medical malpractice cases, here is my last bit of advice, be your own best advocate. Seek out a qualified professional attorney to review the case and qualified experts serving in your case.

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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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2019 Federalists Society National Lawyers Convention

Katherine Thomas — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 23:11:22 +0000

This is Ron Poliquin from DoverLawOffice.com,

I am reporting here from the Federalist Society National Convention. This is an organization debating society dedicated to originalism and promoting the rural law protecting the Constitution.

I’m here with about three-thousand other attorneys. As you can see this place is a madhouse and we’re having some great forums, great debates. The one issue that’s come up, that’s currently being debated is whether or not the Supreme Court is going to take Title 7. Title 7 is the federal statute that protects discrimination based on gender, based on sex or will they expand that to sexual orientation.

Now just let you know; I will give you a little brief background of the law as it is. Right now, homosexual harassment and in the 1 Cal case was deemed a violation of Title 7.

There’s also been deemed a break if you’re a violation if you discriminate based on gender stereotypes. So that’s another way that homosexuals are people of different sexual orientation can be protected under federal law. Now, of course, this doesn’t include many state law protections that have been coming out such as in Delaware which actually does protect transgender, LGBTQ, and other forms of sexual orientation discrimination.

The question right now will be whether or not the Supreme Court will expand Title 7 to deem sexual orientation discrimination not just by gender stereotypes or harassment as a violation of federal law, which gets you into federal court and get you all the punitive damages, compensatory damages, and attorney fees that are allowed under the Title 7 case.

Anyways, Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com, coming from DC at the Federal Society National Lawyers Convention. Thank You!

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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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Are You Owed Overtime Pay?

Ron Poliquin — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:23:32 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. The Fair Labor Standards Act entitles you to time and a half if you work over 40 hours a week unless you’re an exempt employee. It’s probably one of the most abused and violated employment laws in the country.

We’re going to go over some misclassifications as far as who’s likely to be owed overtime and you’re not getting paid overtime. So, in the tradition of Jeff Foxworthy, he tells those ‘you might be a redneck joke’, well we’re going to tell a listing of ‘you might be paid overtime’. So instead of it might be a redneck, you might be owed overtime.

If you’re a manager but you don’t manage anything, you do everything everyone else does you are probably owed overtime. These fake manager exemptions say they classify employees as managers or assistant managers when their job duties are essentially the same as the employees who supposedly work for them. Always be careful of the title shift supervisor, that’s always a red flag for somebody that is basically in charge of nothing and it’s probably owed overtime.

If you get paid a salary of less than four hundred fifty-five dollars a week, per the Fair Labor Standards Act ad you work over forty hours a week you’re probably owed overtime. If you’re required or expected to work off the clock, meaning you’re working 15 minutes before you clock or 15 minutes after you clock out sometimes this becomes part of the work culture, you’re probably owed overtime.

If you’re required or expected to work through unpaid rest or meal breaks, you’re probably owed overtime. If you’re required or expected to do extra work at home, like you bring a bunch of work home and you’re not compensated, you’re probably owed overtime.

If you take a lot of time to put on and take off protective gear and clothing at the worksite and aren’t paid for it, you are probably owed overtime. If you’re required to report to a particular location, like you’re transported or you drive to work and then you’re transported to another worksite and you’re not paid for that time, you’re probably owed overtime. If you’re not paid for training and other mandatory activities, you’re probably owed overtime.

These are mandatory laws you are owed the time that you work, and you are owed time and a half if you work over 40 hours a week and you’re not listed under the exemptions. So be educated and find out what you need to find out. If you are under this list be sure to look further to see if you’re owed overtime.

DoverLawOffice.com, Thank you!

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