As an employee, you can have a number of reasons to sue your employer, such as retaliation, discrimination at the workplace, wrongful termination, unpaid wages, etc. If you find yourself in any of these scenarios, the best thing to do is to get yourself a lawyer and approach the termination legally.
Here are some of the common reasons you can sue your employer.
Your Employer Hasn’t Paid Your Wages
One of the common reasons to sue your employer is unpaid wages. Wage claims can come up in a variety of different ways. According to the general law, your employer has to pay you for the work you perform. On that note, if your employer is refusing to pay you what they rightfully owe you – you can sue them for unpaid wages as you have a wage claim.
Suppose you have a non-exempt contract, which means that if you work for more than forty hours per week, you should be paid overtime.
Now, if you find yourself in a situation where your employer refuses to pay you overtime rate – even though you work for more than forty hours weekly.
In this case, you can work closely with a lawyer to file an overtime claim and collect those unpaid wages.
Similar Scenario for Unpaid Commissions
You have a similar claim for unpaid commissions. Suppose you are on a work contract where you work for commissions, but your employer is refusing to pay you your commissions. In this case, you might consult with a lawyer as you might have a wage claim to collect your unpaid commissions.
Scenario of No Rest Breaks
As an employee, you are entitled to rest breaks. Also, your contract might include meals. The laws around meals and rest breaks are different for each state – however – most states in the USA require employees to provide meal and rest breaks to their non-exempt employees.
On that note, if you are a non-exempt employee, and your employer refuses to provide you meals and rest breaks, then you are legally entitled to sue your employer and collect the wages for the time you would have been on break.
What To Do About It?
Wage laws differ from one state to another and come with loads of exceptions. So, if you are a non-exempt employee and you believe that your employer owes you wages, the best thing you can do is to talk to an attorney who specializes in this field.
Wrongful Termination in the Form of Illegal Retaliation
You can sue your employer if they fire you based on a complaint you made against their discrimination or harassment – based on your protected characteristics. Such claims are known as retaliation claims and are part of wrongful termination cases.
Retaliation happens a lot, and with the help of an attorney, such as the Wrongful Termination Colorado attorney, if you reside in Colorado, you can sue your employer and get compensation. You might get in a situation where you are discriminated against because of your protected characteristics; you can use your right to speak up against it.
However, if you get fired in response, you can sue your employer for wrongful termination, which will be illegal retaliation on their behalf.
Example of Termination Based on Discrimination
Suppose you are from an African ethnicity, and you notice that you are treated differently from other co-workers as you might be the only person of color. You might also get less paid. You might hear your employer or manager say some disrespectful things about you.
Now, protecting your rights, you naturally go to HR and file a complaint reporting that you feel as if you are being discriminated against on the basis of your ethnicity. What happens next is that the company turns around and terminates you.
How Does This Become Illegal Retaliation?
Now, suppose the company has no legal reason to terminate you, but you are terminated after you file a complaint against your discrimination experience. In that case, it is a clear case of illegal retaliation. To legally approach this retaliation claim, the retaliation needs to be based on your protected characteristics.
Simply put – protected characteristics are the characteristics about yourself that you cannot change, such as your ethnicity, sex, disability status, age, etc.
However, suppose the conduct that you are complaining about has nothing to do with your protected characteristics. In that case, it means that you probably don’t have a wrongful termination claim that is based on retaliation.
What To Do About It?
As always, the best thing to do is talk to a lawyer. Contact a wrongful termination attorney and ask them to assess your case. The lawyer will assess the termination history of your employer to analyze the pattern.
Illegal Termination Based on Disability
Another reason to sue your employer is when you get fired due to disclosing your disability. This claim is also known as disability discrimination claim. According to the general law, your employer cannot fire you simply because you have a disability – given the fact that you can still perform the basic functions of your job.
Usually, when an employee discloses their disability to an employer, the employer might think that the employee won’t be able to perform, which is why they need to get rid of them.
Possible Scenario of Disability Claim
Suppose you have been working with a company for many years, and suddenly, you fall ill and develop a medical condition. You tell your employer about it, and all of a sudden, you are terminated for some made-up reason that is not true.
In such a case scenario, you are the victim of disability discrimination and can sue your employer with the help of an attorney.
What To Do About It?
Talking to an employment lawyer is important as the lawyer will determine whether it is really a case of wrongful termination and take the next steps accordingly.
To help your attorney, it would help if you were to journal the details of the incident, including the time and date when you told your employer about your disability and when you got fired afterward.
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