Make no mistake: in America, workers have rights. These hard-fought protections ensure that abuse or neglect at the workplace are illegal and may hold severe penalties for the employer. There are several times when suing employer for injury becomes necessary; here are three of the biggest.
Unsafe Work Place
If an injury is caused by an employer not maintaining a safe working environment, an employee may well have a worker’s compensation case. This can range from a supervisor asking a worker to use equipment upon which they have not been trained, to leaving hazardous chemicals or dangerous machinery out in the open without regard to safety procedures. If you are asked to do something unsafe, or safety protocols are ignored, you may have a suing employer for injury claim.
Harassment
Harassment in the workplace can take on many forms. One of the most common forms is sexual harassment – if an employee feels they have been sexually harassed at work, they will need to contact a specialist sexual harassment attorney if they wish to bring a claim against the perpetrator. It can sometimes be difficult to decide what exactly is classified as harassment, but much of the outline for what constitutes harassment can be found in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Essentially, if an employee is discriminated against or targeted due to their gender, race, religion, or sexual preference, they are experiencing harassment and within their rights to be suing the employer for injury.
Retribution
If a claim or complaint is filed, an employer is required to take it seriously, investigate, and take appropriate action. During this process, a company cannot suspend, demote, or punish the complainant solely for bringing the issue to the proper authority’s attention. This is considered punitive retribution, and that is illegal. Workers are protected from retribution to ensure that they can raise legitimate concerns without fear.
Employees and employers both have rights. It may seem like businesses have the advantage with deeper pockets for lawyers, but the law tends to side with employees. Either way, workers deserve safe workplaces, and the law has protections to ensure that they receive them, or receive compensation if negligence is proven.
