Your workplace environment should feel comfortable and safe, even if you don’t enjoy being at work every day. You may feel the need to speak to a lawyer if you’re experiencing discrimination or some other mistreatment at work. Speaking to a lawyer should be confidential; however, you may worry that your employer will find out about your legal discussions and retaliate by firing you.
Thankfully, even if your employer were to find out you spoke with a lawyer, the law makes it illegal for your employer to retaliate against you. Whatever your reason may be for speaking with a lawyer, you should do so without hesitation. Our team at Snider & Associates, LLC is experienced in employment litigation. A federal employment lawyer from our team wants to help you with your case.
Employee Protection against Retaliation
Federal antidiscrimination laws also outlaw retaliation, because employers may mistreat employees after finding out they’ve filed employment complaints or assisted other employees in filing complaints, for example. Employers can’t retaliate against employees if they’ve attempted to file a complaint, filed a complaint and failed, discussed filing a complaint, or spoken to a lawyer about the employer, among other actions.
Retaliation may come in the form of harassment, demotions, withholding bonuses, or wrongful termination.
How to Identify Wrongful Termination
Federal law doesn’t require employers to give a specific reason why they’ve terminated an employee; however, if you can’t identify a valid reason why your employee fired you or you have evidence to believe that retaliation was the reason, then you can work to hold your employer accountable by filing a claim against them.
An employer may also wrongfully terminate an employee because of age, race, disability, pregnancy status, genetic makeup, religion, or national origin. These are all forms of discrimination, and various federal statutes protect employees from these forms of discrimination.
Filing a Complaint with the EEOC
If you believe your employer has fired you because you spoke with your lawyer about filing a complaint or about some other workplace matter, you can file a complaint against your employer through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The federal agency where you work should have an EEO counselor who you can reach out to to file your claim.
The EEO counselor may make you go to EEO counseling or attend an alternative dispute resolution program with your employer. If these options don’t resolve the issue, then the EEOC will investigate. Once the EEOC has decided whether discrimination or retaliation has occurred, they’ll offer a remedy for the situation or close the case. You can appeal their decision if you choose.
You’ll also have opportunities throughout the claims process to abandon your claim and file a private lawsuit against your employer.
Contact a Federal Employment Attorney
You should never feel afraid to seek legal counsel, even if it means losing your job. If you lose your job after speaking to a lawyer, then the termination is unlawful, and you can take steps to fight back. To discuss your claim with a federal employment lawyer from Snider & Associates, LLC, fill out the contact form below or call 410-653-9060.
