Hire an Experienced Employment Attorney in Philadelphia

Why You Should Hire a Philadelphia Employment Attorney

Do you need an employment attorney? If your employer let you go for no reason, your co-workers are bullying you, or your boss refuses to fire that employee who won’t stop harassing you, chances are good that you could benefit from legal advice.

Employment disputes we can assist with include:

• Wrongful termination
• Employment contract issues
• Drug testing
• Discrimination due to your gender, age, race, or disability
• Workplace accidents
• Toxic workplaces
• Unpaid wages

As your employment attorney in Philadelphia, we can help you understand if your situation meets the criteria for discrimination or wrongful termination.

Your Employer Is Treating You Unfairly

Does your employer seem to treat other employees better than you? For instance, perhaps they:

• Give other workers the choice shifts and make you work the worst ones
• Give other employees more leeway when they need to call in sick
• Gave a promotion to a friend or family member even though you were more than qualified for the role

If any of those examples sound familiar, call us for advice.

You Think You Were Wrongfully Terminated

Your employer is within their rights to fire you if you’re constantly late to work or keep making mistakes on the job. However, if they let you go for no good reason, it’s possible that you may have been wrongfully terminated. A lawyer can review the details of your firing and tell you whether you may have a case against your employer.

Your Employer Is Retaliating Against You

Is your employer retaliating against you for something you’ve done (or something they think you might have done)? For instance, perhaps they suddenly switched you to the night shift or demoted you to a lower-paying position. If your employer did something like this to retaliate against you, they are breaking the law. It’s important to know your rights at work in these situations, as they protect you from such unlawful actions by employers.

You’re Dealing With a Toxic Workplace

Do your co-workers make it very difficult for you to do your job because they won’t stop bullying you? Is your boss slandering your good name? Such actions can make work feel like a miserable place, and if your employer refuses to address the problem, our attorneys can help.

You’re Experiencing Discrimination

Do you suspect that your employer or co-workers are discriminating against you in some way? It is illegal for your employer to discriminate against you because of your disability, age, race, gender, or religion.

Employment Cases We Can Help With

The Law Offices of Eric A. Shore can assist with all types of employment law cases. 

Wrongful Termination

It can be very tricky to prove wrongful termination. Employers will sometimes let you go for “poor work performance,” but their true reason for firing you may be more nefarious.

Essentially, wrongful termination involves firing someone for an illegal reason. This illegal reason can be:

• Retaliation
• Discrimination
• Violation of public policy
• Breach of contract

For instance, if you had a contract of employment that was valid for five years, but your employer broke the contract by firing you after one year, they may have fired you illegally.

How your lawyer will prove wrongful termination depends on your case. A few options include:

• Requesting your attendance records if your employer fired you for calling off work or coming in late
• Reading past performance reviews if your employer let you go for poor performance
• Reviewing the employee handbook to verify whether the employer fired you for a valid reason

Whistleblower Retaliation

Pennsylvania’s Whistleblower Law protects employees who report their companies for legal violations from retaliation. This protection applies to both public and private employees.

Under the law, your employer can’t fire, threaten, harass, or retaliate against you for reporting (or planning to report) certain illegal actions. For employees, legally protected actions include:

• Working with a government agency that is investigating discrimination or harassment claims
• Reporting unlawful discrimination
• Acting to safeguard your co-workers
• Refusing to follow discriminatory directives from your boss
• Making a request for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Asking for an accommodation for your disability or religion

If your boss fired you in retaliation, the court can force them to give you back your job, including back pay, benefits, and seniority rights. The employer will also have to cover your attorney’s fees.

Hostile Work Environment

Sexual harassment, bullying, and threats can be severe enough to make you want to quit your job. If you ask your boss for help, but they won’t do anything about the problem, you may have a case against them for a hostile work environment.

This could include:

• Unwanted sexual advances
• Offensive jokes and pranks
• Bullying
• Insults
• Unjustified discipline

Workplace Violence

Some employees are at a high risk of workplace violence simply due to the nature of their jobs. This can include employees who:

• Work in a business that serves alcohol, such as bars and nightclubs
• Work the night shift
• Work in a high-crime area
• Work with volatile people, such as people with certain mental illnesses

Anyone can commit violence against you at work. For instance, a robber might hurt you while demanding money from the cash register. Or an angry employee might bring a weapon to work when they know they’re about to lose their job.

If you are hurt at work and aren’t eligible for workers’ compensation, you may be able to sue the person who injured you. You might also have a case against your employer if they knew about a threat but didn’t do anything to remedy the problem.

Discrimination

It’s against the law for your employer to discriminate against you based on your gender, age, race, or disability. However, some employers discriminate against the disabled because they believe that they can’t do their job as well as an able-bodied person would.

To prove discrimination based on disability, you’ll need to provide this evidence:

• You have a mental or physical disability
• You’ve experienced harassment due to that disability, and the harassment was severe or pervasive
• The harassment badly harmed you
• The harassment would have adversely impacted any reasonable person in the same situation

It’s also common for employers to discriminate based on age. Both the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) and the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protect people aged 40 and up from this type of discrimination.

Unpaid Salary and Overtime

Is your employer refusing to pay you? Maybe they say they’ll give you your check “in a few days,” but payday never seems to come. Or perhaps they’re denying you overtime pay when you worked over 40 hours in a week.

If you performed work for your employer, the law requires they pay you. Your employer must also pay you no less than the minimum wage ($7.25 per hour in Pennsylvania). An attorney can help you claim wages your employer owes you.

Workers’ Compensation Denials

Workers’ comp benefits cover medical costs and some lost wages if you’re hurt on the job or suffered an injury related to your work. These benefits can cover:

• All workplace-injury-related medical care, including mileage driven to doctor’s appointments
• Lost wages based on your disability and how long you need to take off work
• The cost of retraining if you need to find a different job

When you make a workers’ comp claim, it’s possible that your employer’s workers’ compensation provider may deny it. For instance, this can happen if your employer says you weren’t really hurt at work. You may also have your claim denied if you miss the filing deadline, which is no later than 120 days after the accident in Pennsylvania. Working with an experienced attorney is key to maximizing your Pennsylvania workers’ compensation settlement, ensuring you receive the full benefits you’re entitled to.

If you believe that you’re eligible for workers’ comp benefits, your attorney can help you file an appeal with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Learn more about our team, then give us a call for a free consultation on your case.