At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we help you recover from the harmful consequences of labor law violations by upholding and protecting your rights under federal and state law. This includes doing everything the law allows to hold your employer accountable for the mistreatment and exploitation they bring to the workplace.
Justice for labor law violations looks like this:
Making your employer
- stop engaging in exploitative or abusive practice
- pay you compensation for the harm they caused, and
- pay for your legal bills because you had to force them to do the right thing
What Employment Discrimination Is
Labor Law Violations are workplace situations in which someone with decision-making authority or supervisory authority violates your rights when it comes to wages, overtime, breaks, leave, safety, and similar. The most common examples of labor law violations are: (1) Unpaid Wages– you aren’t paid minimum wage or your agreed rate or aren’t paid at all for shifts or hours worked; (2) Unpaid Overtime– you aren’t paid for overtime hours or at overtime rates, or you’re misclassified as salaried to avoid paying overtime; (3) Unsafe Conditions– you’re put at risk by an employer ignoring health and safety standards; (4) Unjust Break or Leave Refusals– you’re denied lunch breaks, rest breaks, or leave under FMLA; and (5) Retaliation- you’re subjected to additional mistreatment after addressing other violations or attempting to enforce your rights.
How Labor Law Violations Harm You
If you know or suspect that you’re being exploited, cheated, or stolen from by an employer, you could face serious harm, including:
- Financial Loss or Hardship. It doesn’t matter how hard you work or how many hours you work if you’re not getting paid what you’ve earned.
- Mental and Emotional Distress. When you’re subject to exploitation and wage abuse, your mental well-being plummets. This can show up as anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, physical ailments, family stress, and more.
- Job Loss. At any phase of your career, unjust firing decisions can completely derail you, especially when you suspect the decision was retaliatory or done to avoid paying what was owed.
- False promotions. When your employer pretends that you’ve advanced to a salaried position that is actually still rightfully an hourly position, you’re likely being exploited to work more hours and avoid paying overtime.
- Employer Retaliation or Targeting. When you stand up for yourself and insist on fair pay and access to things like safety, breaks, and leave, sometimes it’s like adding fuel to the fire of mistreatment, and the problem grows.
- Workplace Isolation. Whether it’s planned or simply the result of ongoing mistreatment, many workers subject to labor violations experience isolation from colleagues, clients, and others.
Steps To Take if You Suspect You’re Being Exploited at Work
Step 1 Document everything
From the first moment you realize that something isn’t right, start taking detailed notes including printing and saving any emails, pay statements, and other documents. Include dates, names, summaries, quotes, witnesses, steps taken or promised, threats, etc. If an employer wants you to sign anything after you’ve stood up or filed a complaint, talk to a lawyer first.
Step 2 Talk to a lawyer
The law upholds your right to a safe and fair workplace free from wage and hour exploitation and mistreatment. But that doesn’t stop employers from misbehaving in big and brutal ways. A lawyer will clearly set out your rights, guide you through the legal process, and get you compensation.
Step 3 Enforce your rights
If your employer is playing games with your pay, your time, your safety, or anything else, never accept their nonsense, stories, or threats. They may not do the right thing when no one’s watching, but a lawsuit usually gets the job done.
How A Labor Law Violation Attorney Leads You to a Full Recovery
Enforcing labor rights shouldn’t have to be a complicated and convoluted process, but it frequently is. Working with an experienced attorney gives you the best shot at a full resolution and maximum compensation.
Knowing when, how, and who to sue is everything. Here’s how we help you:
- We know the law. Labor law can be complex, involving federal, state, and local rights about every aspect of your position, including minimum wage, overtime pay, health and safety, breaks and leaves, and more.
- We know the problems. We’ve seen, heard, and handled every type of exploitative and thieving employer practice and policy, and put our full knowledge and resources into everything we do.
- We know the tricks. We know the tactics used by employers to delay or avoid their legal obligations. They’d rather threaten, punish, or ignore you. We know otherwise.
- We provide legal guidance. We help identify and gather evidence, documents, witnesses, and more, and advise you on your rights and best practices along the way.
- We file with the right state and federal agencies. If you need to file formal regulatory complaints, we guide you through the process.
- We file a lawsuit. We file a lawsuit to hold bad employers accountable.
- We get you money. If you’ve been harmed and you’re entitled to compensation, we know how to maximize it.
How Fee-Shifting Makes the Wrongdoer Pay Your Legal Bills
One of the most important and least known facts about working with an attorney to fight back against workplace wage theft and exploitation is that you don’t have to pay out of pocket for legal help. The same laws that grant you rights, protect your interests, prevent further harm, and hold unscrupulous employers accountable also say that the employers you sue have to pay your legal bills when you settle or win. Under the law, you should not have to spend your own money or take on debt to be treated fairly and equitably at work.
At Consumer Justice, we respect this fee-shifting provision for the role it plays in our legal system, especially since it serves as an equalizer, bringing justice to everyone, including those who otherwise couldn’t afford to work with an attorney. We value each and every client and every case, and appreciate that the law has carved out a way to center equity and fairness in legal representation for people harmed by dubious or dangerous employers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does labor law protect my tips as well?
Yes. If you work for tips, there are laws regarding how your employer can handle, share, and disperse tips. Of course, if you work for tips, you also know that there are numerous ways that employers try to skim, scam, and avoid paying fair tips, so stay alert. Laws around tips are determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act and state-specific laws. But in general, your employer is not usually allowed to do things like keep a percentage of the tips for themselves (except possibly for charge fees on credit card tips), split pooled tips with staff not typically tipped in the course of their job (like kitchen staff), fail to pay you an amount in addition to your tips so that you are earning an amount at least equivalent to the applicable minimum wage, or fail to pay you overtime based on a the full minimum wage (not your base wage before tips).
Which job has the most wage and hour violations?
Wage and hour violations can show up in any position that is not salaried. So whether you’re working in a high incidence industry or not, you’re vulnerable and need to be aware of your rights. However, statistically speaking, the industries with the greatest number of wage and hour or overtime violations in a given year are food service, retail, home care, custodial services, and construction. If you’re within one of these specific industries, it’s healthy to be aware of the fact that it is especially susceptible to this kind of wage exploitation.
Can a labor law lawyer help with severance negotiation?
Yes! We help clients with this all the time. Negotiating for severance can be a tricky topic, no matter what circumstances you’re leaving under. But this is especially true if you’re leaving under strained or adversarial circumstances. We’re able to help by reviewing the full context of your departure, analyzing the severance terms proposed, looking at the industry-wide standards, and considering your professional achievements, years of employment, and perceived performance throughout.