Clues That Your Rights May be Violated at Work

There are, of course, times when you know that your employer is treating you illegally. But sometimes, that’s not as obvious as you think. Often, an employer will break the law, and violate an employee’s rights, and the employee may not even be certain that they have been wronged.

Here are some things that should tip you off, that your employer may not be treating you legally.

You do a lot of work, off the clock – If you are an hourly employee and your employer bothers you during your lunch break or after work, or requires that you do things to “check in” or “check out” of work, and you’re not paid for these things, or pressures you to stay at work after your shift has ended–there’s a good chance that your employer is breaking the law, if you’re not being paid for this time.

You get paid in a non-consistent manner – Many jobs don’t have steady, regular, consistent paychecks. That’s legal–but not an excuse to pay you less than minimum wage, or to deprive you of earned overtime pay.

Employers often make errors in paying minimum wage, to employees who get paid on commission or who get paid through tips. If you suspect that you aren’t being paid in full or paid overtime, and you get irregular paychecks, you may want to speak to an employment attorney.

You’re being retaliated against – Often, an employer will start to treat an employee harsher, or deprive the employee of benefits or opportunities, or may even reprimand the employee, soon after the employee has made some valid compliant, or even just asked a question about the employer’s behavior or policies. Sensing the employee may be a “troublemaker,” the employer starts to take retaliatory actions.

If you exercised some right, such as making a complaint or even filing for personal bankruptcy, or getting workers compensation benefits, and suddenly, your boss is coming down harder on you, that could be a sign of illegal retaliation.

You’re the target of “jokes” – Many employees are deceived into thinking that so long as the people at work are “just teasing,” that there can be no illegal harassment. That isn’t true.

Even jokes or humor can be harassing, discriminatory and hurtful. If you (or your “class,” such as your gender or age or nationality) are the target of office jokes, quips, or other forms of ridicule, you could be a victim of illegal workplace harassment.

Insults aren’t directed at you – Many workers think that if their boss or workers make derogatory comments or jokes about gender, age, religion, nationality, race, or disability, among other categories, that there is nothing that the worker can do–after all, it isn’t the worker that’s being directly insulted. In fact, the worker may be included in the humor or joke.

But when comments and criticism go around an office and they are directed at one of those listed classes of people, it can result in what is known as a hostile work environment. A hostile work environment doesn’t require that you, specifically, be targeted–it just requires a workplace that has been made toxic, embarrassing or uncomfortable, because of these kinds of comments.

We can help you determine whether or not you’ve been a victim of workplace harassment. Contact the San Jose employment law attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today.

Source:

dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/20-flsa-commissions-retail