Breaking Barriers, Empowering Workers
If you have been exploited, harassed, discriminated against, or otherwise suffered in the workplace, you can be confident knowing Aventus Law has your back. We break barriers to empower workers and get you the just compensation you deserve.
Protecting Your Workplace Rights
Aside from family… a job is among the most important aspects of many people’s lives. Not only do we spend a significant percentage of our time at work, but our jobs also help define who we are and how we feel about ourselves.
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For these reasons, it is important for individuals to protect their rights in the workplace. Federal laws protect employees against wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and other illegal actions taken by employers.
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Workplace Discrimination
A number of federal and state laws prohibit employers from discriminating against employees or job applicants on the basis of race, sex, orientation, age, disability, or national origin. Despite legal protections, some employers discriminate, either creating a hostile or unfair environment.
Hostile Workplace - Discrimination, Retaliation and Wrongful Termination
Every worker has a right to work in a safe and supportive environment, but the workplace can be an abusive and sometimes dangerous environment for too many working Americans.
Employees may find themselves working under intolerable conditions for other reasons. Some of the most common forms of workplace hostility include:
Workplace Retaliation
Like discrimination, workplace retaliation can make an employee's work environment hostile and negative. When retaliation occurs, an employer attempts to punish an employee for taking part in activities that are permitted by law but are discouraged by that particular employer.
Wrongful Termination
Wrongful termination occurs when an employee is fired for an illegal reason, such as illegal discrimination or a breach of contract. Federal employment law provides that no employee can be fired based on race, gender, ethnic background, religion, or disability.
Wage and Hour Laws - Minimum Wage, Overtime, and Tips
The U.S. Department of Labor is the regulatory agency that oversees employment laws at the federal level. The DOL oversees and enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a body of wage and hour laws that sets the minimum wage ($7.25 in 2020), overtime pay eligibility for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, and other compensatory time for U.S. employees.
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While many companies treat their employees fairly and legally, it is not uncommon for employers to violate labor laws and engage in various forms of employee wage theft. These could be as simple as paying workers below the minimum wage or not at all. Wage theft can also result from less obvious schemes, including promoting workers to “managerial” positions in title only to exempt them from overtime; forcing tipped workers to pool tips with non-tipped workers, or providing comp time instead of overtime pay to name just a few.