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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Delaware Medical Marijuana Law in the Workplace

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 03:58:43 +0000

Delaware Attorney Ron Poliquin answers the question about Medical Marijuana users testing positive in the workplace and how that could affect someone who legally smokes marijuana in Delaware.

Delaware Medical Marijuana Law in the Workplace

Ron Poliquin here, Delaware Employment Attorney at DoverLawOffice.com

I've gotten a lot of questions regarding the medical marijuana card holders and their rights, as far as employment rights or whether or not they can be terminated. Whether or not they can have any kind of adverse effects by holding a medical marijuana card. Delaware Title 16 - 4905 is called the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act. That made it legal for, by doctor prescription, that if you got a medical marijuana card you could use medical marijuana. Part of that statute actually deals with employment rights, meaning your rights as an employee as it relates to medical marijuana. Can you have a medical marijuana card and be terminated for that reason? The answer that we have in the statute is no, you cannot be discriminated against because you are a medical marijuana card holder in the state of Delaware.

Under the statute it says, unless of failure to do so would cause the employer to lose a monetary or licensing related benefit under federal law or federal regulations, an employer, your boss, may not discriminate against a person in hiring, termination or any term or condition of employment. That would include pay raises, that could include promotions, that could include terms and conditions of employment. It is pretty broad, that includes the size of your office, job titles or otherwise penalize a person if the discrimination is based on the following:

The persons status as a cardholder.
A registered qualifying patients positive drug test for medical marijuana components or med tabulites, unless the patient use possessed or was impaired on the promises of the place of employment during the hours in point.

These are not specific but very broad protections meaning basically if I was an employee or employer. Look at it like obviously, alcohol is legal in this country, but you can't come to work drunk. You can't be impaired. If you come to work high, acting like Cheech and Chong or something like that then you can be terminated just for the mere fact that you have positive tests. This happens a lot in a pre-employment drug screening where marijuana obviously stays in your system a lot longer than other drugs. Just because marijuana is part of a test and you test positive for the pre-employment drug screen, doesn't mean you can be terminated. That's how I read it.

Based on all my interactions with a lot of employers, they read it broadly as well. There is no safety exception, meaning there's no exception for construction companies or anything. The only exception being if it involves monetary or licensing related benefit under federal law or federal regulations. A lot of times a common way to look as if the construction contract involved federal money, I have seen that occur.

What are terms of condition of employment, denial of employment, compensation and benefits, denial of disability, maternity leave, termination, loss of shifts or less desirable shift, suggestion of a preferred candidate on a job advertisement, denial of use of company facilities or benefits, or favoritism? Basically, you can't favor somebody that doesn't have medical marijuana card. Exclusion of candidates from hiring process. There have been no cases to my recollection in Delaware where an employee has sued based on the medical marijuana right statue. I'm confident that if you were not hired because of a drug screening where you were tested positive for marijuana and you had a valid medical marijuana card, that you have a good case my friend. Therefore, I would recommend you get a good employment attorney. So, the answer is the medical marijuana right statute protects your employment rights if you hold a medical marijuana card. OK that's Ron Poliquin for DoverLawOffices.com send me your questions or come see me for consultation if you want learn more about employment law.

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Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?