Employment Law & Your Rights

Employment laws should keep employees safe and ensure they receive fair treatment. These employment laws began in the early 20th century and have continually expanded and evolved in an effort to create safe working environments, non-discriminatory hiring practices, a minimum wage, and more.

Common employment law issues:

  • Minimum wage violations
  • Wrongful termination
  • Employment contracts
  • Sexual harassment
  • Discrimination (gender, race, religion, age, pregnancy, military service)
  • Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)
  • Retaliation and whistleblowing
  • Overtime pay disputes
  • Workplace violence
  • Family Medical Leave Act violations
  • Non-compete contracts
  • Required Tip Sharing
  • Forced to work off the clock
  • Misclassified as an Independent Contractor
  • Improperly paid by the Job/Piece/Install

Whether you are transitioning to a new job, leaving an old job, or simply encountering unfair changes in your employment, the team at Fieger Law will protect your civil rights.

We’ve helped collect millions for individuals unfairly treated in their employment, and we will fight and win for you as well.

DOES YOUR EMPLOYER OWE YOU BACK PAY?

In many employment lawsuits, employees or former employees are entitled to back pay for any money rightfully owed to them by an employer. This is often true in minimum wage and overtime disputes.

Minimum Wage Violations

Your employer is required to pay you either federal or state-mandated minimum wage, whichever is higher. Workers in Michigan older than 18 are entitled to at least $9.25 an hour. Even full-time salaried workers must have an annual pay that satisfies the minimum wage when accounting for a 40-hour workweek.

Overtime Violations

Whether you are salaried or hourly, if you work longer than 8 hours in a day, 40 hours in a week, or more than seven days consecutively, you are entitled to overtime—period. You are not required to have “approval” for overtime, nor are employers required to be aware that you worked overtime at the time. As soon as your employer knows that you’ve worked extra hours, you are entitled to extra pay for those hours.

If your employer has refused to pay you your rightful wages, turn to Fieger Law. We’ve taken on big businesses who thought they could get away with cheating their employees. And, our firm won’t let that stand—we’ll file a claim to make your employer pay every dime they owe you, as well as potential penalty fees based on how long their violations went unaddressed.

ARE YOU A RECENTLY-PROMOTED MANAGER?

Many employers get away with overtime violations because many of them go unreported or employees wrongfully believe they are exempt from overtime pay. This is rarely the case. If you’ve been recently promoted, only to find that you’re working more hours for less pay per hour, you may be owed a great deal more money than you realize.

Fieger Law has been going after large franchises who have been taking advantage of their managers by using “loopholes” in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA states that employees in administrative positions (managers) are exempt from overtime pay. As a result, businesses will “promote” their employees to legally compel them to work long hours for barely more than minimum wage. In reality, these managers are doing almost the exact work—just with a different title and less pay per hour.

To be truly exempt from overtime pay, you need to meet all the following criteria:

  • Your salary must be at least $913 a week ($47,476 a year)
  • You must have the power to hire and fire employees and make business decisions
  • You must spend at least 51% of your time with management duties (not regular employee tasks)

If this doesn’t sound like your situation, contact Fieger Law. Your employer may owe you hundreds of hours of overtime pay, as well as compensation for violating your civil rights. Our team will make sure they’re held accountable for taking advantage of you and wrongfully denying you the wages you earned.

WRONGFUL TERMINATION LAWSUITS

Since 1950, Fieger Law has stood for the rights of workers. If you’ve been terminated on illegal grounds, you’re entitled to sue your employer in a wrongful termination lawsuit. Wrongful termination includes firing someone based on their membership in any protected class (i.e., for having a disability, being a certain race or gender, belonging to a particular faith, reaching a specific age, etc.)

However, you are also protected from termination as retaliation. This action includes getting fired for:

  • Reporting an employer’s workplace violations
  • Filing a workers’ compensation lawsuit
  • Suing an employer for discrimination
  • Taking family or maternity leave
  • Filing a sexual harassment complaint

If you’ve been fired following any of the above events, you may have been wrongfully terminated. Your employer will never admit their wrongdoing, but Fieger Law knows how to handle big businesses and employers. We conduct the investigations that reveal your firing for what it is: discriminatory and wrong.

More Million-Dollar Verdicts than Any Law Firm in the Nation

The employment law experts at Fieger Law have fought for victims’ rights for over three decades. In that time, our world-famous firm has become synonymous with taking on big business and advocating for the abused and unheard. If you or a family member’s civil rights have been violated in regards to your employment, Geoffrey Fieger and the expert attorneys at Fieger Law can help.