Let’s face it – as employees, we have a whole lot to contend with no matter where we live. Here in Los Angeles, it often feels compounded in a way that’s very difficult to keep up with. If that’s something that you’ve been experiencing, then you’ve come to the right place.
Today, we’re here to explore some of the issues that employees are facing en masse right now – especially the ones that can be helped by employment and labor lawyers. If you aren’t familiar with them at all, or if you’d just like to learn a bit more about them, make sure to stick around.
As we can see from sources like this one: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/259426?journalCode=jpe, it’s not exactly a mystery that employment law is one of the biggest fields not just here in the United States, but across the entire world. It’s an integral part of ensuring that we as employees are treated right by our employers.
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Employment Law and Labor Law
To understand what exactly these sorts of lawyers bring to the table, it’s important to first understand what employment law is. Sometimes, you will hear this phrase used interchangeably with labor law. However, there are some distinctions between them that are important to know.
You see, labor law refers specifically to the way that non-union employers interact with employees who are part of one. It’s also part of how these unions get formed in the first place. If you’ve got an attorney who specializes specifically in labor law, this is likely the sort of thing that they’re best at.
Meanwhile, employment law is a broader way to approach the issue for those who aren’t a part of a labor union. You can learn a bit more about it in this article if you’d like to get more in depth. For now, these are the basics that you need to know. What Do Employment and Labor Lawyers Do, then?
Now that we’ve covered the basics of these fields, let’s delve into what these lawyers really bring to the table. Obviously, it will depend on what particular field they are specializing in as well as where they are located. For our purposes today, we’re focusing on Los Angeles.
As far as an employment lawyer Los Angeles goes, they can potentially help you with a pretty wide variety of issues that could crop up. We’ll cover several examples, but if you’re not sure that you’ve got a valid case, you can get a consultation with any lawyer or law firm in our area to see if you do or not.
Wrongful Termination
If you feel that you’ve been let go of or fired unfairly, for unjust reasons, then this may be something for you to look into. Wrongful termination can be difficult to prove, though, so that’s often why an attorney is necessary to help along the way. Some examples of this could include being fired due to discrimination based on age, religion, gender, or race, being fired due to pregnancy or childbirth in the family, being fired due to a whistleblower situation, and more – that’s just the tip of the iceberg.Harassment
This is perhaps the most difficult topic associated with this field, and that’s because it can range from anything like workplace bullying or something as serious as sexual harassment. No matter what you’re going through, remember that harassment is when there is someone performing some type of unwanted and disruptive behavior towards you.
No one should have to put up with a work environment that is stressful and unwelcoming, really. If you’re going through a situation like this, whether it’s physical, verbal, or sexual harassment, there are people who are more than happy and willing to help you. They’ll be an empathetic presence as you look to get some sort of justice.
Unpaid Wages
If you didn’t know, there’s a pretty big problem right now as far as unpaid wages go. It’s not just here in California, although plenty of studies have been done on our state, but across the entire country. Therefore, it only makes sense that employment lawyers have this on their radar now.
Typically, this is brought to the table during an unemployment case. Sometimes, employers try to withhold wages that they owe their workers if they are no longer employed there. Trying to fight this sort of battle alone is challenging, which is why it can be a good idea to ask for some help.
Workplace Discrimination
Although this falls into a similar category as harassment, we felt it worth highlighting on its own due to the seriousness of the topic. You see, there are many workers each year who are wrongfully discriminated against for attributes like race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and more. It’s simply disgusting to think about.
Beyond that, discrimination for these things is also against the law. Employers who participate in these practices are liable to a lot of trouble in court. Finding excellent representation is key to winning these types of cases, but it can be well worth it in the end.
Should You Hire an Employment or Labor Lawyer?
It can be intimidating to hire legal representation for any of these reasons. More often than not, we tend to feel scared of the idea of our employers. However, it’s important not to let this happen, and to instead find the attorney that can help us through these struggles.
For this reason, amongst many others, you can probably see why our general answer to this question is “yes.” Admittedly, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of life and to feel like it’s “not that important” in the end, but you must remember that your problems are important and that it’s not wrong of you to want to seek some sort of compensation or retribution.
Whether you’re involved with a union and want to seek out a labor lawyer or you’re not and thus you talk to an employment lawyer, you’ll get an idea of whether it’s worth it for your situation.
