If you are filing a lawsuit due to being treated unfairly, check out these 3 employment law tips. Call our Phoenix attorneys to get started.
1) Uneven Discipline
When an employee of a different race than other employees is treated differently and feels that their employer is not following the manual with discipline, this will often result in a cause of action under Title VII. It could be one of the other laws that are covered by the EEOC. Broadly speaking, when there is an employment manual, it must be followed. There should not be any difference or abatement of that policy, or difference in treatment concerning that policy as it relates to people who are outside of that protected group.
In other words, for example, I can’t take all of the Latinos and skip the steps to firing them. If they’re Latinos, they cannot go straight from a written warning to direct termination. Whereas, all the other employees, get a verbal warning, a written warning, a final written warning, a second final written warning, and then termination. Where there is inequity in the policy, there’s been disparate treatment there. If there is a policy in place, a progressive disciplinary policy that has been put in place by the employer, an experienced attorney would look at that policy, analyze that policy, and make sure that the application of that policy has been for lack of better words, even-handed, implemented on persons within your protected category, your protected race, and outside, and making sure that there was no difference in the application of this particular policy.
Causes of action often arise out of that implementing those policies in different ways. You will need to talk to a lawyer, so they can analyze the policy, get the necessary information. From the Freedom of Information Act, request the files from the employer. Look at all of the employees and determine that maybe you were treated differently. Again, that is the bedrock. It is that subjective treatment that is the bedrock of discriminatory action. Talk to a lawyer and express those concerns through a lawyer to the EEOC to make sure that those claims are addressed under the applicable law.
2) Constructive Discharge
If you have been placed in a situation where you feel like you’ve had no other choice but to quit, there could be some action under the law. If you are in that place and you have not quit yet, before you quit your job, contact an experienced employment lawyer because they can look at the law based on that environment and help guide you up the road concerning that. However, if you’re on the other side of that, you already made it, you couldn’t take anymore, you need to get on the phone and contact an experienced employment lawyer that can point you up the road and let you know what your rights are. Maybe there was some cause of action before that misstep by the employer. You’re quitting could be considered a constructive discharge.
There’s no one rule that’s a clear answer; it’s a case by case scenario as to whether or not you’re quitting your job would qualify as constructive discharge. There’s coverage for that under the law if that working environment has become so terse, so difficult, so intolerable that a reasonable person would no longer feel it wise to work there. You see a lot of that in sexual harassment cases, or cases where racial expletives have been used to the point where you’ve reported it several times and it’s continued. These are cases that fall within that framework of constructive discharge. You need to talk to a lawyer sooner than later because again, on the day that you quit, that’s when the clock starts ticking and the statute of limitations starts to run.
3) Recommendation Letters
I recently had a client contact me because they wanted an employment reference. They were applying for a position and the job that they were applying for, was trying to contact their former employer to find out information about whether or not they worked there, what their position was, and whether or not they were a good employee. They were upset that that employer didn’t provide those details.
One thing that I will tell you, as an employment lawyer, is that we often recommend that employers don’t provide all of those details. Employers are concerned that they could face defamation charges or something like that, if they provide too much information or negative information that could cause problems down the road for that employee.
Employers are not required to provide recommendation letters or other references. What most employers do, they will confirm the dates of employment and the position held, and sometimes they will confirm whether or not you’re eligible for re-hire. Other than that, most employers won’t provide more detail than that.
Contact our experienced Phoenix employment lawyers to learn more about these 3 employment law tips. We offer free confidential consultations and will fight to ensure your rights are fully protected under the law.
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