Let’s say your boss pinches your behind and makes crude comments about your skirt length.
This is textbook sexual harassment, so you decide to sue.
The good guy always wins, right? One might hope, but it’s not that always that simple.
Let’s go through what you can expect to happen in this scenario and others like it.
First, Find a Lawyer
Don’t make the mistake of hiring the guy who helped you with your divorce, real estate closing, or even your brother-in-law who totally knows about sexual harassment because he’s a prosecutor and that’s illegal, and he’s up on all that. I’m sure all of these people are perfectly nice people and probably even smart and capable. But, did you know that employment law isn’t even covered on the multi-state bar exam?
Really. The multiple choice section covers civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property, and torts. While those are helpful for the employment lawyer, it’s not exactly a topic your real estate lawyer studied heavily.
To keep reading, click here: What Happens When You Hire an Employment Lawyer?
I practiced employment law and now work corporate, and I have to disagree with the advice, “Be prepared to pay upfront.” Because so many statutes allow for the recovery of attorney fees in employment cases, there are many, many attorneys who do take employment cases on a contingency, even frivolous cases. I see at least one obviously frivolous case every year where the employment attorney uses the threat of some minor wage and hour violation to try to extort a payout. To be clear, this isn’t a wage and hour violation the attorney knows the company did, but rather, a fishing expedition, more along the lines of: “Wage and hour laws are so convoluted, that I’m sure I’ll find you folks did SOMETHING wrong when we get to discovery, and I’m going to bury you under mounds and mounds of discovery, so just pay now.” At least in California, anyway!
It is so important to find an true employment attorney. When I was in a situation, I knew that I had a case, but an attorney friend asked another attorney friend and they told me I was SOL. Eventually I consulted an actual employment attorney and she took my case and I eventually received a settlement.
And I agree with Dawn. My case was taken on a contingency basis. I paid a small fee up front to get the case started, but after that, I had no out of pocket expense.
Also, you need to have everything documented to have a case. Your testimony alone won’t get you very far. If you ever suspect your employer is doing something fishy, document it!
You should post this over at AAM for the LW whose boss was forcing them to get tested as a liver donor for his brother. I am not making this up!
I saw that. The extra crazy thing about that is the liver donor people were probably just as angry at him as his employees were! The boss wasted their time as well.
Good attorneys are very comfortable in advising when you’re barking up the wrong tree. Whether you’re asking a divorce attorney about employment, or an employment attorney about copyright law, or a civil attorney about a criminal charge… goo attorneys know when it is not appropriate to step in.