Sometimes you’ll be so annoyed with your employer that bringing legal action would be your only way out. According to this California employment law attorney, there’s a right and wrong when employees are considering filing legal action against their employers.
First, lawsuits are not always the best way to resolve disputes, particularly when the employer is involved. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t sue your employer when all other dispute resolution mechanisms have failed and that’s where the services of a California employment law attorney come in.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Filing Legal action against your Employer
1. Are You Sure the Employer Violated the Law?
Being unfair to employees is not always illegal as much as that statement sounds unfair. Favoritism, poor communication, and other habits are often considered unfair by employees. However, there’s no violation of law in such instances and that’s why you should consider whether the employer violated the law in any way.
2. Have Other Workers been Treated the Same Way?
What you consider mistreatment, or a violation may not be so. With that in mind, it’s always important to find out how other workers are treated and start from there. Although the facts of your situation may differ from other employees, you should first try to establish whether you have a valid ground for filing legal action against your employer.
3. Any backup or Evidence?
Do you have sufficient evidence to prove that you were mistreated or treated unfairly, unjustly, or unlawfully? For instance, can anyone substantiate your claim? Will your supervisor defend you or is everybody siding with the boss? If you lack sufficient evidence to prove your claim, you’re likely to lose the case
4) Are you Still Working for the Employer?
The truth is that it won’t end well if you’re still working for someone you want to sue. Why? They’re likely to retaliate and frustrate you looking for a chance to terminate our contract. Also, how will you feel working in a toxic environment?
Your colleagues will likely be looking at you funny and your supervisor may start picking on you. If you can’t put up with constant stress, the best way forward would be to resign and find another job instead of filing legal action against your current employer.
5) Have you tried Speaking to your Employer?
Have you addressed the situation with the management if you feel harassed, discriminated against, or retaliated against? You should talk to the management, particularly your supervisor before considering legal action.
If your supervisor/ manager doesn’t help, take the case to the HR department and if there’s no HR department in your company, schedule a meeting with the boss. Many employment issues can be resolved without going to court. The good thing about solving an issue internally is that you’ll continue working peacefully if the alleged mistreatment or violation was a misunderstanding.
When filing legal action against an employer it’s wise to consider the repercussions. That said, the questions discussed in this article can help you make informed decisions.