Lancaster Employment Lawyer

Lancaster Employment Attorney

Employment law in California exists to protect employee rights and ensure that employers respect those rights. If you are a Californian employee, you need to understand your employee rights. Understanding your rights can help you take action if those rights are violated. A Lancaster employment lawyer can help if you believe your employer has taken illegal action or your employment rights have been violated.

An Experienced Legal Team at Hennig Kramer LLP

It is not always easy to address employee rights violations in the workplace. It is especially difficult when you have already taken steps to address the issue through your employer or human resources department, and have seen no action taken.

Hennig Kramer LLP can help you protect your rights and resolve your workplace issues. For more than 30 years, our firm has supported employees and held employers accountable when they have failed to maintain safe and fair workplaces.

Employment law violations, especially those involving harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, can feel very isolating. It’s important to know that you are not alone. Our legal team has the resources and knowledge needed to investigate and determine if you have grounds for a claim and help you file a complaint in Court. Our goal is to help you find a resolution that gets you justice and protects your future.

What Employment Cases Do We Handle at Hennig Kramer LLP?

Employment law is a complex field that covers both state and federal laws. Additionally, certain fields of employment have their own unique regulations that can impact a potential claim. When you are securing legal support for your labor law violations, it is important to engage an attorney who has handled cases like yours before. This ensures they have the knowledge and resources needed to navigate your case.

At Hennig Kramer LLP, our team has worked with some of the following areas of employment law and labor violations:

• Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment in the workplace creates an intimidating and often humiliating environment. As an employee, you have the right to a safe work environment that is free from sexual harassment. There are two main forms of sexual harassment cases: quid pro quo harassment and a hostile work environment.

Quid pro quo sexual harassment is conduct made by a worker in a position of power, such as an employer, manager, supervisor, or other individual. They request sexual favors or that you accept sexual harassment in exchange for beneficial employment actions, such as a raise, promotion, or improved job duties. The employer may also threaten adverse employment actions for sexual favors.

A hostile work environment occurs when sexual harassment is either severe or pervasive enough to become intimidating or upsetting to a reasonable person. This may include physical, visual, or verbal harassment.

If you have already reported the conduct through your employer or human resources and were ignored or no action was taken, engage an attorney. If you are facing sexual harassment in the workplace, you can take action to protect your personal well-being. An attorney can guide you through the right steps.

• Workplace Discrimination

Discrimination in the workplace is offensive or hostile conduct based on a person’s protected characteristics. An employer that enacts adverse employment actions against an employee based on discriminatory reasoning can be held liable for violating labor laws. An employer can also be liable if the reason they denied a person’s job application was because of a protected characteristic.

Protected characteristics can include physical or mental disabilities, age, race, religion, sex, gender, ethnicity, gender identity, or medical condition. If an employer bases employment decisions on these protected characteristics, an employee may have grounds for a complaint.

• Unsafe Workplaces

Employees have a right to safe workplaces, and there are numerous regulations to maintain safe, healthy, and relatively hazard-free workplaces. Employers that do not maintain safety guidelines are violating labor laws. If employees report this behavior, they cannot be retaliated against.

• Whistleblower and Retaliation

Whistleblowing occurs when an employee reports illegal activity in their workplace. This could include unsafe and hazardous workplaces, regulation noncompliance, and other illegal actions. When done in good faith, whistleblowing is a protected action. The employer cannot retaliate against the whistleblower. Employer retaliation violates labor laws, and the employer can be held liable.

It is also retaliation when an employer takes adverse employment action against an employee for reporting or filing a complaint about discrimination or harassment in the workplace. Employers could also retaliate against employees for taking protected family and medical leave.

Retaliation can include many adverse actions, including demotion, firing, reducing pay or benefits, unwanted work duties, a job transfer, or other actions. If your employer retaliated against you for a protected action, you may have grounds for a complaint.

• Wage and Hour Violations

Labor laws also protect an employee’s right to be paid fairly and on time for the work they complete. Wage and hour laws include regulations for overtime pay, rest and meal breaks, minimum wage, wage deductions, and expense reimbursement. If you have not been fairly and fully compensated or have been refused your fair breaks, and your employer has not corrected the issue, you may be able to file a wage and hour claim.

• Misclassified Employees

Employers may violate wage and hour laws by misclassifying their employees. Workers may not even realize they are entitled to employee benefits. Independent contractors do not have the same protections that employees do, but also do not have the same expectations. Employers that misclassify employees as independent contractors are breaking labor laws. An employment attorney can help hold them accountable.

• Wrongful Termination

Wrongful (unlawful) termination occurs when an employer fires an employee on illegal grounds, typically in violation of fundamental public policy. California is an at-will employment state. This means that either employees or employers can end their employment relationship for any reason or no reason.

An employer does not have to have a reason to terminate an employee’s employment, but it cannot be terminated for an illegal reason. Illegal reasons include retaliation or because of discriminatory reasons. Unlawful termination for retaliation or based on an employee’s protected characteristics is illegal.

Creating a Strong Employment Claim

It’s important to gather the right evidence to support the claims you make in your complaint and determine what damages you have sustained. An attorney in Lancaster, California, can help you with each part of this process.

FAQs:

Q: What Is Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace in California?

A: Discrimination and harassment in the workplace in California occurs when an employee is subject to a hostile workplace or negative employment actions due to a protected characteristic. This could include the employee’s:

• Race or color
• Ancestry or national origin
• Mental or physical disability
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Sex or gender
• Pregnancy
• Gender expression
• Genetic information
• Medical condition
• Marital status
• Military status

If an employer takes negative actions against an employee for these characteristics, the employee could file a complaint.

Q: What Are Three Rights Workers Have in California?

A:There are numerous workers protections and rights in California, including:

1. The right to a safe work environment. This includes a workplace free of harassment, discrimination, and hazards.
2. The right to be paid fairly for work completed. This includes payment that is on time, at least minimum wage and fairly compensates you for overtime work.
3. The right to take protected actions without retaliation. This includes actions such as whistleblowing or filing a discrimination complaint.

Q: What Is a Hostile Work Environment in California?

A: A hostile work environment in California is conduct that:

1. Is severe or reoccurring to the point that it affects the employee’s ability to do their job
2. Is based on the employee’s protected characteristics
3. A reasonable person would consider it to be abusive or intimidating

Hostile work environments, if they are not addressed by an employer, can be grounds for a complaint and a claim against the employer. An employment attorney can help you if you are dealing with this environment.

Q: What Is Wrongful Termination of Employment in California?

A: Wrongful (unlawful) termination of employment happens in California when an employer fires an employee based on an illegal reason. Unlawful termination may happen when:

1. An employer terminates employment in retaliation for taking protective action, such as including whistleblowing or filing a complaint for discrimination.
2. An employer terminates employment based on a discriminatory reason because of the employee’s protected characteristic

Employers do not need a reason to terminate employment, but that reason cannot be illegal.

Contact an Experienced Employment Attorney in Lancaster

Employment cases can be very complex, especially if your employer refuses to respect your rights. The support and protection of an employment lawyer are essential in the face of these frustrating circumstances. These cases often require obtaining the right to file a claim from a state or federal agency. Filing the complaint to receive this right is much easier with an attorney who has managed this process before.

Discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other labor law violations are unacceptable. However, they are, unfortunately, prolific across many different fields of employment. If you need legal guidance with an employment issue, Hennig Kramer LLP can help you. Contact our team today and see what we can do to uphold your employee rights…