Unlawful Retaliation

Working with a supervisor might not always be the best experience, particularly if there are problems in the workplace. Close relationships like this are often ripe for personal conflicts and the odd disagreement now and then. If things get to the point where the employee and supervisor are really at odds, what develops is a situation where the worker becomes afraid of retaliation from their supervisor and fears for their job.

There are laws to prevent employees from being the target of retaliation in the workplace and at The Coffey Law Firm, a Chicago unlawful employee retaliation lawyer would be happy to outline them for you if you are in a situation where your supervisor is making your life difficult.

Retaliation in the workplace may include a variety of things such as threats, intimidation, firing, lack of any chance to advance and being denied raises. The net result of tactics like this is that workers are uncomfortable and looking over their shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. All this because the employee may have reported something the supervisor did not want anyone else to know about.

Wrongdoing in the workplace is a tough thing for some workers to ignore, particularly if it happens to involve theft, bribery, fraud, sexual harassment, embezzlement and discrimination. The whole idea of putting a stop to unethical and immoral practices in a working environment is centered on the theory that workers should have the freedom to tell someone about their concerns and let management know what’s going on. They should also have the right to “not” be harassed because they spoke up about an issue.

In a nutshell, standing up for what you think is right and being harassed, fired, shunned or threatened because you did, is illegal under a wide variety of both federal and state laws. If retaliation is proven against the company, they may be fined by the courts. In addition, employees who lose their job because they spoke out against something they thought was wrong and were fired because of it may be able to sue for retaliatory termination. Unfortunately, while workers who speak out and up about something may not be terminated; they may still bear the brunt of some very difficult circumstances at work, because they did say something.

If you have been the victim of workplace retaliation, you may be able to sue your employer for compensation because many federal and state laws including OSHA, FLSA, HIPPA and FMLA state categorically that there may be no retaliation against employees who oppose what they believe to be illegal conduct and/or participate in some other or of what the law refers to as “protected activity.” Even employers in “at will” states, such as Illinois, cannot retaliate against employees for exercising their legal rights under the anti-discrimination statutes as well as various other federal and state laws.

At The Coffey Law Office a Chicago employee retaliation protection attorney will take the time to listen to your concerns, ask for all the pertinent details, and then we operate on an investigate, evaluate and negotiate basis. This means that The Coffey Law Office will only charge a one-time, non-refundable fee for assessing the merits of your case. The fee is based on your financial ability to pay and the extent of the work required determining if the case is meritorious. This does not necessarily mean that The Coffey Law Office will litigate your case, but it will definitely let you know your legal rights and whether or not you do indeed have grounds to proceed to litigation.

Chicago Unlawful Retaliation Lawyer

At The Coffey Law Firm we value our clients and deal with them in a no nonsense straightforward manner. We tell them what they need to know to make informed decisions, not what they want to hear.

Call us today for some straight talk about your case. We won’t keep you in the dark and promise you the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but we will let you know where you stand legally.