Tough Employment Times: Know Your Rights

In these tough economic times, many people are losing and worried about losing their jobs. Most employers are very responsible and will retain every performing employee possible — but that is not always the case. There are myriad stories (and lawsuits) where companies laid-off or fired solid employees due to their ethnic origin, sexual orientation, whistle blowing, etc. Consequently, it is important for you to understand some of the basic rights and strategies for staying employed.

Understand Your Employment Bill of Rights

This is not a formal document like the Bill of Rights under the Constitution, but it is no less relevant in the workplace. It is a collection of federal, state, and local regulations aimed at ensuring you are treated fairly by your employer. This list is long and varies from state to state, but the most common rights are as follows:

  • You have a right to be free from discrimination. This typically includes discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, qualified disabilities, old age, etc.
     
  • You have a right to a safe workplace. This means that your employer cannot subject you to dangerous conditions, safety hazards, etc.
     
  • In most states, you have an express right of privacy at your work. This usually applies to your possessions (including purses and backpacks), private mail and telephone calls, and storage lockers that only you access. However, be careful with your email and Internet usage. You have very limited rights in keeping these activities private if you are using the company's computers.
     
  • You have a right not to be terminated for "whistleblowing." Whistleblowing is when you report to regulators prohibited or illegal activities that your employer is engaging or has engaged in.
     
  • You have a right to take leave for qualified medical purposes.
     
  • You have a right to fair wages.

Depending on the state, your Employment Bill of Rights can come in all different shapes and sizes. State and local law, as well as union agreements (if you are part of a union), can also give you additional rights. Most state employment websites will enumerate your general rights, and your union representative or a competed employment lawyer can also give you a list of rights specific to your state and type of employment.

The Employee Scorecard

Laying-off employees is one of the most difficult things an employer will do. The typical employer has a deep connection with his or her employees, and letting any one of them go for financial reasons (which is the essence of a layoff) is a personal tragedy. As a consequence, most responsible employers are going to layoff underperformers first. They will then move up the performance ladder, with the pain increasing as they go.

Not surprisingly, the best thing you can do in a layoff is perform well. And while it sounds pretty simple, what does it mean? It is hard to define unless you communicate well with your employer up front regarding the goals and objectives for your position. Every good employer will have a plan for you and be able to articulate that plan both orally and in writing. Having that conversation up front will prevent the goals from shifting over time (as they can often do). Being able to say "I did everything we discussed six months ago" may just save your job in a layoff environment.

But what if an employer decides to fire you for inappropriate reasons? What if your boss decides to "lay you off" simply because you are a minority? Without the aforementioned scorecard, this can be very hard to prove. Without documentation to the contrary, the employer can say, "I was simply unhappy with his/her work."

Get your scorecard in place up front. Communicate well with your employer up front. And make sure you are tracking and communicating your progress against the scorecard. This will all help you in the face of layoffs or termination.

Fighting Back

Fighting back in the face of unjust employment practices is never easy. Your former employer will often have an army of lawyers and you don't even have a job. Still, as evidenced by the many successful lawsuits in this area, all is not lost. The key is hiring a competent employment lawyer who has a successful track record in helping employees that have been treated unfairly.

This is a guest post by Mark Britton, Founder and CEO of Avvo. Avvo rates and profiles 90% of the lawyers in the United States and has the industry's largest Q&A forum where you can ask these lawyers legal questions regarding your employment situation — anonymously and free. For more resources from Avvo:

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Guest's picture
Guy G.

Hey Mark,

Great post. It's interesting how many people aren't aware of their employment rights. Most of us go about doing whatever the superior requests or demands for fear that questioning their authority or the safety of the task could land us with a pink slip.

I think it's important to add that we have the right to go into business for ourselves too. It's okay for us to leave whatever we're doing and be our own boss.

 

Thanks for sharing,

Guy

Guest's picture
Elaine

I have a question; my boss is clearly doing terribly finacially. I don't have a fantastic job and have no intention of keeping this long term, but the job market is still not very promising in my area and I am often told that I'm "lucky to even have a job." I work at a laundromat, which is depressing enough in itself. Our business utilities are frequently being shut off, especially our gas/electric. Our paycheck frequently bounce and we are charged overdraft and returned check fees. Our boss is apparently morbidly depressed and I haven't seen him for more than five minutes every couple of weeks in months. He seems to be in a great deal of legal trouble as well, based on some of the mail we receive here at the store. I am the "manager" though I have no power of the store's financial situation, I am not in charge of accounts payable or payroll. The ceiling behind the dryers leaks Very Much whenever it rains or snows, which I feel is incredibly dangerous. I started notifying my employer about that months ago and he claims he can't do anything to stop it and that I should just continue using buckets to catch the rain. There are other structural problems with the building that concern me. Our business certificate of occupancy expired over a year ago. I have no idea why the city hasn't checked up on our store. For months now I've been thinking my boss may just close down; which in a small way could be a blessing because we could all get unemployment for a time while searching for new work. It would be better than never knowing if/when we are going to get paid. I don't hate my boss, I just think he shouldn't be a business owner as he seems to have absolutely no business sense whatsoever. I want to quit, and am currently on the hunt for a new job. The other employees here are in the same boat though, and I don't know what to tell them. Do we have rights? Is there something we should do?

Guest's picture
Guest

You have a right to a safe workplace, but it sounds like in your situation the cost of fixing the leak may be the the thing that pushes the boss over the edge, so that "right" doesn't do you much good.

The best thing to do is find another job before you leave or lose this one. Easier said than done, especially now. You already know that.

Check with your state department of labor about the rules in your state about quitting your job due to the conditions. In most states you can get unemployment for almost any reason. You wait for your first check the longest if you just leave a job on your own without a compelling reason or are fired for cause. Your first check comes fastest if you are laid off or are out of work because your employer closed shop. You are somewhere in the middle. It almost never comes in the first week or two.

Once you know when and how much unemployment you can receive you can decide if you are better off waiting for that first unemployment check or staying put until you can find something else. Call a couple of times in case the first time you call the person on the other end of the line makes a mistake. It happens. Be prepared to be put on hold. Don't let those things keep you from finding out what you need to know.

I really hope you can get out of this situation and find something better.