When Does an Employee Need a Lawyer?

Not many people realize how often their employer may be exploiting them in legal terms. It might not be apparent, but employees have substantial rights when dealing with their own personal being and care owed to them by their workplace. Knowing these rights can save you from the headache of dealing with the administrative side of your work, and making you feel more secure in your job knowing when you deserve legal counsel.

When does an employee need a lawyer then? Let’s look at some examples:

Employer retaliation

This is a situation in which you may be complaining about, and acting upon discrimination or harassment in the workplace. In this instance, lawyering up will be helpful as claims may not be taken seriously without the appropriate assistance from a legal professional is apparent. Letting your employer commit an act of discrimination (or other unethical practices) and retaliate by threatening you in any manner, will be much easier to navigate with a lawyer.

Signing agreements/legal documents

In the case of signing agreements, such as non-disclosures or employment agreements, that you do not fully understand and are not being expressed to you in a helpful manner consider getting a lawyer immediately. All information in a written contract or agreement must be expressed to you in a way which is understandable and transparent. Any failure to do so by your employer is a breach of your rights and if not addressed with the right legal help, can result in you signing documents which you do not fully understand.

Illegal termination

If you believe you have been wrongfully terminated, based on your employers reasoning and based on the criteria to which you could be terminated, contacting an employment lawyer is wise. Often, employers will beat around the bush as to why an employee is terminated because they do not believe that the employee will seek further advice or help. An Employment and Consumer Law Group are able to handle situations like this, when the full documentation of what constitutes a legal termination is met. Many employers do not expect this kind of defense from their employees when they fire them, do not be a push-over and let them have their way if it is a wrongful termination.

Although these are just a few of the examples when an employee requires a lawyer, they are far from the least pressing. Whenever you as an employee, or you as a lawyer, feel that rights are being infringed upon that do not meet the expectations that employers are supposed to give, it is important to take action. When employers are retaliating against discrimination or harassment that has occurred in the workplace that they were aware happened to you or your client, or  whenever an employee or client does not feel comfortable with the information they have been given on documents like legal agreements. If an employer has terminated you as a worker or your client under wrongful circumstances or refuses to provide sufficient reasoning, it is never a bad idea to seek legal counsel or provide that legal counsel.