Discrimination Legal Questions

Females' pay should not be less than that of males with equal experience, duties, responsibilities. Employers will raise defenses to such a complaint or charge. An employer's defense may be based on a seniority or merit system which measures the quantity and quality of work or some other "bona fide factor", which might include education, training and experience, but not the male's gender or membership in another protected class such as race, national origin, etc... You should call some employment lawyers. These claims don't come up that often because employees tend not to share their pay rates with each other. And some fear for their own jobs although retaliation is illegal. Without retaliation protection it would be next to impossible to prove such claims. These claims can be good ones, are rarely slam dunks, and sometimes heavily litigated. We need more facts to make a preliminary analysis. All calls are confidential to protect potential clients considering legal action. All licensed lawyers are bound by state ethics rules applicable to the Bar.... Read More

Apply for unemployment. Unless you committed gross misconduct you should receive benefits. On the other hand, if you committed gross misconduct you most likely will not. Maybe pay an employment lawyer to review any agreements, handbooks, policies you were given which might? create a contractual claim. Most of those claims would be under the jurisdiction of small claims court. 1) Apply and secure unemployment, honestly. If they deny you then you will have the chance to timely request a hearing and to present evidence and cross examine witnesses regarding the procedures they claim you did not follow and what reasons they might have for waiting 4 years to tell you that. 2) Consider paying an employment lawyer to read, review, and analyze all of your correspondence, offer letters, employee handbook, etc... to see whether you might have a claim for breach of contract. 3) If you already have the documents and have some basis to believe that an agreement or contract was in fact broken you could try filing a claim in small claims court. The amount potentially owed to you is probably under $10,000 anyway and most of those courts' jurisdiction was raised to $10,000 if I am not mistaken but since I don't appear in those courts I don't know. Check with the clerk of court in your county. Not legal advice. No lawyer client relationship.... Read More

Apply for the new jobs. Assuming you are the most qualified if they do not hire you maybe they are discriminating. But if they just want to pay everyone less money that might be ok. It's a complicated analysis. Sometimes they are getting rid of older workers, sometimes they are flushing out injured or disabled and sometimes they just want to hire their buddies. The first two reasons are often illegal. The buddies hiring is sometimes perfectly ok. But if employees tried to unionize and those employees are being pushed out that's probably illegal. Call some employment lawyers statewide. There are plenty of us everywhere.... Read More

Most race-based discrimination is based on employment discrimination or a failure to accommodate in a place of public accommodation based on race. Someone generally misidentifying you as the wrong tribe would not fit into one of these (or other categories) and you would not have a cause of action under Ohio law.... Read More

We are in unusual times. The answer before the virus would have been that the employer may not discriminate between employees who have school age children and those who do not. However, the virus is changing the rules of the game. Older employees or employees with compromised health cannot be forced to work. Will the courts rule against an employer who kept people employed and tried to make accomodations for employees with children ? I am not convinced this will happen. This is further complicated by the federal government loan and grant program which encourages employers to keep employees paid even if they sre at home. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read More

I'm sorry to hear of your experience.  However, the facts are not clear why you resigned.  From these facts, it appears you resigned voluntarily and solely based upon a single offending event.  Generally, if you just solely made the decision to resign over a single incident instead of seeking to have the employer investigate and resolve, and otherwise seeking recourse through the EEOC or human rights commissions, county or city etc, you would not have a basis to hold your employer liable the loss of your employment and all related damages.  If however, you were informed that you either had to tender your resignation or be fired, that would be different.  You should consult an employment lawyer and go over all the facts.  ... Read More

If you are allergic to cigarette smoke or even the smell of smoke on smokers, you should make a written request with HR for a reasonable accommodation asking that you not be placed close to a smoker in the work place. If you are retaliated against, you will have a written request already on file. This will help protect you from adverse employment actions.... Read More

In order to answer your question, I would need to know more about the work you do, the business of your boss, and the structure of your work position.  Very recently, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling making it harder for employers to classify workers as independent contractors.  To classify someone as an independent contractor, businesses must show the worker is free from the control and direction of the employer, performs work that is outside the hirer's core business, and customarily engaged in an "an independently established trade, occupation or business."  This last factor is of special significance to the Court because if a worker is not engaged in their own business, there is a "substantial risk" that the hirer has misclassified the worker. A worker may be denied the status of employee "only if the worker is the type of traditional independent contractor, such as an independent plumber or electrician, who would not reasonably have been viewed as working [as an employee] in the hiring business."  The Court used a plumber as an example of an independent contractor, while a seamstress working from home to make dresses for a clothing manufacturer from cloth supplied by the company, or a cake decorator who work regularly on custom-designed cakes would be employees. In summary, three factors are relevant:  1) amount of direction and control the hirer has over the worker; 2) does the worker perform work that is outside the hirer's core business; and 3) is the worker engaged in their own independent business?   I hope this is helpful for you in assessing your situation.  Feel free to contact me to discuss further.        ... Read More

Sounds like a government job. If so use FOIL. Get copies of all the personnel files of each younger candidate preferred over you. Then take your complete personnel file and those of the successful candidates to an employment lawyer. That lawyer may ask you to FOIL additional documents. But for your age would you have been the most qualified for each position? Tough cases. Speak with many lawyers as I suggest in you tube videos at employment law reality check.... Read More

You may have a case for both sexual harassment and retaliation. Discuss with counsel here in Florida. Most of us take these cases on contingency fee, meaning you dont pay anything unless the case is won, and then the fee comes out of the settlement. Does your company have more than 15 employees?... Read More