East Los Angeles Employment Lawyer

First, an employment lawyer takes care of their clients. Many people seeking the aid of an employment lawyer may not be totally aware of their rights under California’s labor laws. When you don’t know your rights, you can’t defend yourself when they are violated.

An employment lawyer helps their clients understand their rights as a California worker. A skilled and experienced attorney can work to resolve any disputes that may arise between them and their employer. Their detailed understanding of employment law enables them to protect their clients from adverse actions by their employers.

California has strict labor laws that protect employees from discrimination, unfair hiring practices, exploitative treatment, retaliation, and even harassment. It is vital to a healthy work environment that you notice when your employer’s treatment of you may not be as noble as you might expect. Here are some of the important situations that an employment lawyer can resolve, either through settlement negotiations or a court trial if it comes to that:

• Workplace Discrimination: It is illegal to discriminate against anybody in the workplace because of their protected class. This includes race, age, skin color, gender, sexual identity, national origin, religion, disability, ancestry, or pregnancy. If you may have been discriminated against in the workplace due to your inclusion in one of these protected classes, or you have witnessed discrimination of that kind, an employment lawyer can help.
• Meal and Rest Breaks: California state law prohibits employers from denying their employees the opportunity to take breaks during their shifts. It is illegal to employ somebody for more than five hours and not give them an unpaid meal period of at least 30 minutes. If your employer is denying you a lunch break or even just a rest period, you may have grounds to pursue legal action with the assistance of an employment lawyer.
• Overtime Violations: California state law requires that every employee who is non-exempt is entitled to collect overtime pay at 1.5 times their hourly rate for every hour they work beyond their standard eight-hour shift. If your employer refuses to honor your overtime, you may have grounds to seek legal action, and you should speak with an employment lawyer.
• Disability Discrimination: It is illegal to discriminate against an employee based on their disability. If you have a documented disability, your employer has to provide you with reasonable accommodations that can help make the performance of your job duties easier. This could include a modified work schedule, additional training, flexible break times, and additional equipment. If your employer doesn’t honor these requests, you may have a case.
• Ethics Investigations: Sometimes, you may be aware that there is something going on in your company, but you might not be in a position to investigate such behavior on your own. An employment lawyer can launch their own independent investigation into the practices of your company to uncover illegal or discriminatory activity going on inside the organization.
• Family and Medical Leave: The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees with a certain amount of unpaid leave to handle personal medical issues as well as those involving family members. The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) provides similar rights to employees. If your employer refuses to allow you to take FMLA or CFRA leave, you could take legal action.
• Wrongful Termination: Since California is an at-will employment state, your employer does not need cause to terminate your employment. Still, there are exceptions to the rule. You cannot be legally terminated in retaliation for something you said or did against the company, and you cannot be fired because of your protected class. If you may have been wrongfully terminated, bring your concerns to an employment lawyer and build a case.
• Retaliation: If you report bad behavior in the company to the authorities, your employer cannot legally retaliate against you by firing you, creating a hostile work environment, or demoting you. Behaviors such as blowing the whistle on illegal activity, filing for workers’ compensation, or defending an employee who is being harassed all count as protected behavior. If your employer retaliates against you anyway, you could seek legal action.
• Sexual Harassment: No employee should have to deal with unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Such actions may constitute a hostile work environment. Sexual harassment in the workplace typically falls into one of two categories:
  • Jokes and comments have the capacity to offend a coworker and should be left out of workplace conversation.
  • “Quid pro quo” behavior occurs when a higher-earning employee offers promotions, raises, or other forms of advancement to a lower-earning employee in exchange for sexual favors.

  If you are ever sexually harassed in the workplace or witness somebody else being sexually harassed in the East Los Angeles,  you should seriously consider reporting that behavior to your company’s HR department. You should also speak with an employment lawyer in case things escalate from there.

• Severance Agreements: When your employment comes to an end, your employer is responsible for fulfilling certain requirements, such as honoring severance payments and other contractually obligated agreements. If your employer refuses to honor these agreements for whatever reason, you can seek legal action with the aid of an employment lawyer.

Retaining legal representation for an employment-based situation is vital to the success of your case. Not only can an employment lawyer protect you from being taken advantage of by your employer, but they can also make sure you are provided with the maximum amount of compensation available to you. They may even find additional ways you are being wronged that you weren’t even aware of.