Blog posts

American workers have the right to report issues like workplace discrimination without fear of retaliation. It’s against the law for an employer to fire you because you’ve filed a report of discrimination in the workplace. It’s worth noting you have the right to report workplace discrimination against yourself or any of your coworkers.

Do you believe you’ve lost your job for reporting discrimination? You may have grounds to take legal action if so.

Under federal employment law, “nonexempt employees” are eligible to receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. Some employees are exempt from overtime pay rules, meaning they’re not eligible to receive overtime pay even when they work more than 40 hours.

For example, a worker might be exempt if they meet a certain minimum salary threshold. The Biden-Harris administration recently announced an overtime law change that increases the amount of money workers must earn annually to qualify as exempt.

If you have been fired, but the way you were fired wasn’t direct, such as face to face, but indirectly by email, phone, or text it can be unnerving. You may be wondering whether it is legal for an employer to fire an employee in this way. 

Every year the EEOC releases a batch of important statistics that provide insights about workplace rights in the previous year. In April, the EEOC released their 2023 annual statistics. Here are some takeaways that you should know about:

An employer may be breaking the law if they aren’t paying you in a timely manner or if they aren’t paying you the wages you’ve earned. You might think you can just refuse to work in these circumstances.

This could be a mistake. As this overview will explain, you have other options to consider before jeopardizing your employment by refusing to do your job.

If you believe that you have been discriminated against in the hiring process, you may be able to file a claim with the help of an employment law attorney. It’s illegal for employers to engage in discrimination at any point of the hiring process.

Understanding Discrimination in Hiring

Discrimination in hiring occurs when a potential employer doesn’t seriously consider an applicant for a position that they are qualified for because of their race, gender, sex, religion, place of birth, or other protected reason.

If you believe that you have suffered from discrimination in your workplace, been fired for a reason which is in breach of state or federal employment legislation, or have evidence that you are underpaid according to state employment laws you may be eligible to file a California employment law claim. There are both state and federal government agencies that are in charge of enforcing employment laws and you should file your claim with the most appropriate agency to pursue your employment complaint. Read on below to understand what steps you should take.

Understanding your basic employee rights is key to knowing when an employer has violated them. The following overview will cover some of the general employee rights the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) outlines. You may have grounds to file a complaint, claim, or lawsuit against an employer if they violate any such rights.

Your rights as an employee include:

If your workplace rights have been violated and you want to file a Massachusetts employment claim here are the different agencies that you can file an employment law claim with in Massachusetts.

Illinois has a number of employment laws in place that protect employees from discrimination at work, sexual harassment, retaliation or wrongful termination. State labor laws also provide regulations on wages, overtime and employment benefits. It is still not uncommon for employees to be the victim of wage theft in Illinois. This is a breach of Illinois employment law.