Georgia Employment Legal Questions

If the mandatory training is specific to your job (i.e., it isn't a general knowledge course such as a GED course) and if it is required by your employer, the employer is required to treat the training as "compensable time" and must compensate you for it. If it fails to do so, we can bring a suit against it for 2 times the amount it shoul have but failed to pay. Additionally, we can win our attorneys fees and costs from the employer. Michael A. Caldwell 404-979-3154 ... Read More

A guilty plea is the same as a conviction. You must disclose the felony. There is no law governing decisions to not hire or to discharge for falsification of an employment application, or what is lawfully required to be disclosed. What ever the employer says is final. No right to sue, no right to appeal, etc. You should look closely at the question asked, and then be truthful. I have seen valuable employees of 20+ years discharged for minor crimes that were not disclosed on the employment application. While many employees will overlook minor events, they will not overlook dishonest answers on the employment appl. When in doubt, disclose.... Read More

I'm sorry to learn of your wife's problem. In Georgia, unless one has a contract of employment, the employee is employed "at will." This means that the employer needs no reason to justify a termination, and an employee needs no reason to justify quitting a job. The only restrictions on firing an employee are that the employer may not fore the employee for a reason forbidden under federal law. This would include firing her because of her race, color, creed, religion, gender, national origin, age (if she is over 40), disability (if she is qualified to perform the job and meets the definition of disabled in the ADA, as amended by the ADAAA).  The closest thing that you might be able to claim is that she was terminated because of her age. However, based on what you say in your inquiry you probably cannot prove age discrimination. To prove age discrimination you must meet a higher standard of proof than she would have to meet under the anti race discrimination provisions of Title VII. The Age discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) probides that to prove age discrimination you have to be able to prove that "but for her age" she would not have been chosen for termination. Since your wife was the most highly paid employee, the employer can claim that it is firing her because she costs them the most to employ.  One thing she might do is go to the employer and offer to take a pay cut to the pay and benefit level of the next highest employee so tha she no longer would be the most highly compensated employee.  That way, if the still choose her for termination, she has eliminated their lawful wage-based reason for firing her.   Michael A. Caldwell 404-979-3154... Read More

I do not know. What is the school telling you? Are they promising that you will become an attorney. I suspect you will not be permitted to sit for the bar exam in any state, therefore, you may not practice law with this degree. That is to say you may not become a lawyer. Each state sets their own standards. Most states now require that the school be accredited by both the American Bar Association (The ABA) and accredited by the State's own Supreme Court. I have never heard of the executive juris doctor degree. Most law schools award the Juris Doctorate (JD) Degree. With a JD degree, one may apply to sit for the State Bar Exam.... Read More

You should go to the CLERK OF COURT and see if the record from GA DOL is docketed or not. If it is docketed as received, make a note of the date, and advise the judge in writing. If it is not docketed as received, and if the Commissioner of Labor was properly served, you should contact GA DOL - UI Legal Dept 404 232 3310. If it is not docketed as received, and if the Commissioner of Labor WAS NOT properly served, you should have the sheriff serve GA DOL. This is the most likely answer. GA DOL does not file the record until they are lawfully served with your petition. Your sole remedy from GA DOL would be UI Benefits or not. You can not recover from GA DOL any compensation for retaliation It sounds like you need an attorney in this. You can not even get this before the court, much less persuade the court to rule in your favor.... Read More

There are not enough facts here to provide you with much advice.  Is this the only the only time that the foreman has subjected you to this kind of behavior or is it just an example of what he frequently does. If requeently, how often? Do other foremen or managers engage in this kind of behavior toward you or other employees? What is your gender/race/color/religion/creed/national origin/ age/ disability and what is your foreman's gender/race/color/religion/creed/national origin/age/disability etc. why do you think your foreman picked you for this kind of behavior?  The law does not provide any guarantees that a person's worklife will be pleasant. However, the law does not allow an employer to discriminate against you by creating a working environment hostile to you because of one of those reasons/ Michael A. Caldwell... Read More

Without knowing the individual facts of your case it is impossible to render much sage advice. However, disability discrimination cases are difficult for plaintiffs to win in the Northern District of Georgia, and in the 11th Circuit especially. This is the reason very few attorneys want to take these cases: There is too little assurance that the attorney will ever get a pay day at the end of the long and expensive litigation process. (I'm sure you wouldn't want to work without getting paid either.) If the employer is covered by the ADA or Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the ADAAA (i.e., the employer has at least 15 employees), and if your wife's condition would qualify her as disabled within the meaning of that law, the employer has a duty, upon request,  to make reasonable accommodations to the disability.  That might involve shceduling or other accommodations. The employer is not required to give the disabled person the accommodation she desires if there is another accomodation that would enable the employee to perform the essential functions of the job.... Read More

The question is how are you going to prove that you had an agreement whereunder the employer would pay you for your preparatory work, and how much? If you can show that you may be able to recover against the emoloyer. Without a written agreement you can file a lawsuit against the employer for detrimental reliance, and quantum meruit as long as you can show a reasonable basis for the amount you are suing for. You can file such lawsuits in the magistrate's court of the County where the employer operates its business, or where it's corporate agent for service of process is located.   Michael A. Caldwell 404-979-3154... Read More

Under Georgia law, an employer has the right to choose the employees it wants and to not choose persons he does not want to work for him. His reasons for rejecting an employee are irrelevant except when they violate federal discrimination laws. There is nothing in federal discrimination laws that prohibits an employer from refusing to hire, or from deciding to fire an indvidual who drinks or smokes. There is nothing that requires you to go to work for that person, or to remain that person's employee. This is the meaning of employment at will, which is an important feature of Georgia's common law of employment. Another way of putting this is to say that it is governed by the Golden Rule. He who has the gold, makes the rule. ... Read More

Yes the employer may ask for the information. The fact that the Defense Department rated you as 100% Service -Connected disabled person, does not mean your employer has to accept that. It has the right to make its own independent evaluation, based on its consultation with its medical advisors.  On the other hand, they have no right to make any adverse employment decision affecting you if that decision is based on (1) the fact that you are disabled (if you are qualified to perform the essential job functions of the position you are seeking to hold or retain); or based on(2) the fact that you filed an EEO complaint after they withdrew an accommodation they previously made.  I hope that is helpful for you. Thank you for your service to our country. Michael A. Caldwell  ... Read More

While you say you are an exempt employee, that doesn't necessarily mean that you actually are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). You must be salaried to fit within one of the FLSA's white collar exemptions; but not every person who is salaried is exempt.  You must be paid on a genuinely salaried basis (meaning it is a set amount and not subject to fluctuations for missing time) of at least $445/week. In addition, your duties must fit within the very narrow definitions of "professional" "administrative" or "executive" employee for the exemption to apply to you. I would need to know a lot more about your employer and what you do in order to advise you.  Generally, if you are exempt, the employer can require you to work as many days as it wishes, including holidays, without additional pay. If it gives you additional pay for working holidays, this does not destroy your exempt status.   Michael A. Caldwell 404-979-3154... Read More

Loomis may have done you a favor. By saying that they fired you because your drivers license was suspended (I assume it was a driver's and not a gun-carry license), they established that you are involuntarily unemployed. This is a condition precedent to qualfiying to recieve unemployment compensation benefits.   Michael A. Caldwell... Read More

Tell your employees: I know of no duty in GA to disclose this to your employees. If you are asking instead if you need to tell your employer, in GA, you would need to disclose this: 1) If your employer has a rule that requires such disclosure. This rule is common in certain industries: trucking, security, health care, child care, etc. 2) If you are a licensed professional, such as a doctor, nurse, lawyer, CPA, etc... Otherwise, I know of no duty for you to disclose this.... Read More

Retaliation is unlawful under Title VII and under the FMLA.  While the note to your co-workers might not be retaliation or unlawful (it would depend on the rest of the facts that I don't know) it is unlawful to change your working conditions to less advantageous ones because you opposed what you believed was unlawful discrimination (sexual harassment is a form of disrimination), provided you could show that your belief that the employer's actions were unlawfully discriminatory was objectively reasonable (which in this federal circuit means that a labor lawyer when examining the facts also would have concluded that the employer's action was unlawfully discriminatory).  I would need to know a whole lot more than you wrote in this email to advise you more fully on whether you have a case that would be worth pursuing.   Michael A Caldwell 404-979-3154... Read More