Why You May Need An Employment Lawyer

Whilst many of us of course hope that we will never require the services of a lawyer, there are many situations in life which leave us needing legal assistance. One of the most common complaints and issues which people have that sees them needing a lawyer, is within the world of employment lawyer.

Lawyers can turn their hand to just about any aspect of the law but most focus on individual specializations, and employment is one such branch of law. Regardless of how safe an secure you are in your job role, it makes sense to understand what kind of issues an employment lawyer can help you with, should they ever occur, let’s take a look at just a few of the most common work complaints.

Wrongful Termination

Here in California wrongful termination figures have risen sharply in the last few years, thankfully however there have been lawyers on hand to help these individuals. There are certain protocols which businesses must carry out when they are assessing whether or not someone should be terminated, often these are not followed. Equally there are some people who are terminated without a real reason or because they have been accused of something which wasn’t their fault. Employment law is in place to protect workers in this regard and if those laws have been ignored, a legal team can do great work in overturning decisions and winning settlements.

Unpaid Overtime

Taking legal action against your employer because of unpaid overtime may sound extreme but at the end of the day you should always be paid for the hours that you have worked. Additionally, those who work overtime are only doing it for the additional money in their pay, so not being paid it can have large consequences for the worker. If this is a situation which you go through, that can not be resolved by the HR team or your management, consulting a legal professional would be a great idea. Nine times from ten, the overtime gets paid the second that a letter from an attorney arrives in the office.

Accidents

The number of accidents in the workplace that have occurred in the last year are staggering, and in most cases it was not the fault of the victim. Missing signs, poor communication, lack of training or negligence are all contributory factors to accidents in the workplace and something like this could happen to anyone. The idea of taking legal action against an employer after an accident is not solely to gain a settlement payment, but also so that the company takes measures to avoid this happening to anyone else in the future.

Bullying

Bullying in the workplace by either an authority figure or indeed by a co-worker should never be accepted and if your employer is not ready to deal with it and take action, you will need to speak to a legal professional. Employment law is in place to protect you in the workplace and there are many aspects of it which are dedicated to bullying. In an ideal world your employer will deal with this in-house, but many fail to do so.

Let’s hope none of these issues befall you, just make sure that you know what to look out for.