Workers' Rights Attorney in New York

Employers must provide a safe workplace free of dangerous health and safety conditions. A worker may report unsafe and dangerous working conditions to OSHA. OSHA is in place to protect employees from unsafe working environments and to enforce employers to comply with federal and state laws regarding workplace safety. If your employer violated OSHA safety regulations and you were hurt. As a result, you have the right to take legal action. When a company violates OSHA’s safety standards, employees could be severely injured as a result. The regulations are intended to prevent injuries to employees, and some of the most important standards include:

• Fall protection: Falls are the most common cause of serious work-related injuries and death. Employers must provide a workplace that prevents employees from falling from platforms or elevated work stations.
• Respiratory protection: In cases where employees need to work in an environment with limited oxygen or harmful dust/fog, employers must ensure proper respirators to avoid injuries.
• Noise regulation: Because of possible hearing damage, noise levels must be regulated to prevent injury.
• Prevent exposure to high levels of substances like asbestos and lead: OSHA strictly regulates exposure to chemicals or harmful substances. Employers must label chemicals and ensure that respiratory hazards in the workplace are evaluated for safety.
• Electrical, wiring method, components, and equipment: By following certain standards, employers must ensure that workers are not exposed to dangers like electric shock, electrocution, fires, or explosions. They also have to ensure that employees are properly trained to handle potentially dangerous equipment that involves electricity and wiring.

A work injury is typically sustained at work while doing your duties or at a sponsored event where the company can be held accountable for your accident. If you suffered a work injury, your employer may be responsible for more than workers’ compensation. They may be responsible for lost wages and other accommodations. We are committed to helping injured workers in New York get the compensation they need to pay their bills, lost wages, and other expenses. We are also determined to help make workplaces in our city and state safer for everyone. One way to do that is to hold employers accountable for neglecting safety standards, ignoring proper protocols, prioritizing profits over employee safety, and other egregious actions that cause workers harm. You are entitled to monetary compensation if you have suffered from an injury due to a business’s negligence. Contact an attorney today to go forward with your claim.

Employment discrimination claims cover any hiring, firing, and workplace harassment claims that are based on discriminatory sentiments. New York has laws that deem it illegal to discriminate against or harass an employee based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or retaliation. In turn, the federal and state governments also have statutes that constrain discrimination in the private sector. If you feel like you have been treated differently and unfairly at work, you can get monetary compensation for your injuries. Our team of New York worker’s rights attorneys has extensive experience fighting against businesses, both large and small. We have the resources needed to hold these companies accountable for their actions and the skill needed to prove your claim. We are prepared to help you if you experienced discrimination due to the following:

• Race
• Gender
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Pregnancy
• Religious

If you have been discriminated against at work, fight for justice for yourself and others who might be victims.

Wrongful discharge or termination includes a firing decision based on discrimination, a breach of contract, a violation of labor state and federal laws, a violation of whistleblower cases, and even firing as a form of sexual harassment. If you’ve been the victim of wrongful termination from your employer, Hach & Rose, LLP can help you get justice and compensation from those responsible for this illegal act. Please contact our attorneys to discuss the specifics of your case to determine if you have been a victim of wrongful termination. Some of the causes of wrongful termination in New York include:

• Termination because of discrimination: Your employer cannot fire you because of any personal characteristic protected by law. In New York, these include, among others, race, religion, pregnancy, sex or gender, sexual orientation, disability, citizenship status, military status, and marriage status. Contact us to find out if the reason for your termination violated a protected status.
• Termination as retaliation to whistleblowing and other causes: Your employer cannot fire you for reporting illegal business practices or an unsafe work environment.
• Termination to deny benefits: Your employer cannot fire you to avoid having to pay benefits that come with your employment.
• Termination in breach of a contract: If you have signed a contract with specific limitations on your termination, and your employer violates those limitations, you can file a claim against wrongful termination.
• Termination for legally required time off: In New York, you can take time off for military service, voting, jury duty, taking time off to care for a family member, spending time with a spouse on leave, and numerous other reasons. Contact us for information on whether your time off was legally protected in New York.
• Termination for off-duty conduct: Your off-duty behavior cannot result in your termination in New York.

All of the above causes are protected in New York, and with the help of Hach & Rose, LLP, you’ll be able to receive compensation for violations of that protection.

The Fair Labor Standards Act states that nonexempt employees are eligible for overtime pay. Overtime pay is 150% of the regular hourly wage (or time and a half) for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. Common unpaid overtime issues include miscalculating work hours or the hourly rate and misclassifying exempt and nonexempt employees. In New York, some employees are exempt from overtime pay, but this designation is not what most employees assume. For instance, just because you get a salary doesn’t mean you cannot receive overtime pay. The lack of understanding around overtime is one of the ways employers exploit their employees to get more work than they pay for out of them. Some of the most common violations include:

• Making employees work off the clock: A business may attempt to make employees work before clocking in, work through breaks, or work after they have clocked out. These off-the-clock demands are illegal in New York, and you can pursue compensation for all work you’ve done without pay.
• Misclassifying employees as exempt from overtime: Some workers are exempt from earning overtime, but that has less to do with how you are paid (salary vs. hourly wages) and more to do with the type of work you do. Management, executives, and specialists are often exempt. However, businesses will sometimes exploit uncertainty in this area to deny overtime pay. Businesses might provide a title that suggests certain responsibilities that aren’t present or exaggerate some of your job requirements to avoid overtime pay. If you are unsure whether you should be classified as exempt, Hach & Rose, LLP can find out.
• Withholding wages: Sometimes overtime pay violations are as simple as businesses refusing to pay what is owed.
• Miscalculating overtime: Sometimes, overtime violations are genuine accidents on the part of your employer. You may still need a lawyer to help you prove the error in these cases.

Regardless of the circumstances around your unpaid overtime, if you have been denied money you’ve earned, we will fight to get that money returned to you.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guarantees workers the right to be paid fairly and properly. This includes employees getting paid minimum wage, overtime, commissions, tips, equal pay for men and women, pay for time off due to jury duty, family and medical leave, and sometimes paid vacation days off. There are three main components to the FLSA, all of which New York employers may violate, although some are more common than others. Those components include:

• Violation of the federal minimum wage: This issue has grown less common because of New York’s higher minimum wage, but it still does occur. If you receive less than $7.25 an hour and your work is not exempt from minimum wage pay, we will file an FLSA claim on your behalf.
• Violation of rights to overtime pay: Far more common is a violation of FLSA requirements for overtime pay. Unless you have a position exempt from overtime pay, you are being denied your rightful pay if you are not receiving at least 1.5 times your normal wages for every hour over 40 hours you work per week. Employers use many tactics to avoid paying overtime, including asking employees to work through lunch or breaks, wrongfully labeling employees as exempt, or telling salaried employees they are not entitled to overtime. Contact us to determine whether your position is exempt from these requirements.
• Violation of child employment restrictions: Most labor from children is forbidden by the FLSA. Contact us to learn about the requirements and exceptions to this restriction and whether your child’s rights have been violated.

Whatever tactics your business uses to undermine the protections in the FLSA, if you aren’t getting what you are owed, we will fight for you to ensure those wages are returned in full.

If you feel that your pay does not match your work duties, your employer may have misclassified your employment status. Non-exempt and exempt employee misclassification can cost employees time and money. You could be missing out on overtime pay and other benefits owed to you. You could even be entitled to a salary bump. Misclassification of nonexempt and exempt workers’ claims is highly individualized and can be very complicated. If you believe you have been misclassified as a nonexempt or exempt worker, please call us today to discuss the details of your situation to determine if you have a case against your employer.

If your employer has denied you benefits, you can appeal. Benefits include disability plans, medical insurance plans, life insurance, pensions, and 401k plans. Our lawyers have dealt with almost every variation of benefit denials case and understand how to adapt to what each unique case requires. Being denied benefits can be psychologically disempowering and financially straining. You do not have to go through this fight alone. The lawyers at Hach & Rose, LLP have over 100 years of combined experience. We have helped many workers and families in difficult situations following benefits denials. We are also committed to guiding as many workers as possible through the appeals process to get the desperately needed benefits. Though our clients often feel overwhelmed, we understand this process very well and can be a voice of familiarity and reason.

When you lose your job, you lose more than your income: you also lose the additional financial benefits that accompany it, like health benefits and retirement provisions. Suddenly finding yourself out of work is scary, but you are not alone. Though filing an unemployment claim to receive unemployment benefits may not be your first instinct, starting the process is an important step to saving your financial situation. We recommend filing for unemployment benefits as soon as possible to start the process. If you are denied these benefits, we recommend you get in touch with a lawyer right away.

Whistleblower laws are in place to protect the employee who reports the wrongdoings of their employer. Qui Tam cases refer to when an employee or whistleblower exposes fraud against the government. An individual who assists in a qui tam case may be entitled to a portion of the money recovered on behalf of the government.

Retaliation includes any action taken against an employee because they complained or reported any harassment in the workplace. Actions considered retaliation include termination of employment, salary reduction, negative evaluations and references, demotion, and changes in job assignments.

Unfortunately, there are some incidents where after an employee has been fired, employers will try to blacklist the fired employee from ever finding a job again. We understand that industries in New York City can be particularly tight-knit, and news travels fast. Your former employer’s failure to respect your rights and privacy could cost you future opportunities. Though there are no legal statutes in New York state to protect against blacklisting specifically, workers in New York can sue for defamation if they believe that a former employer is attempting to tarnish their reputation. Defamation commonly takes the following forms:

• Slander — Spoken false statements about someone’s character that harms their reputation.
• Libel — Written statements that are untrue and harmful to someone’s standing.

The statute of limitations in New York is one year, so if you believe your employer has been working against you, you should take legal action immediately. With our help, we may be able to win you compensation for the income you lost as a result of your employer’s actions.

Employers have a certain amount of power over their employees, which should always be used responsibly. Depending on the job, drug testing can be an occupational necessity to ensure that employees can safely perform their job duties. Many employers require applicants to take a drug test before applying to the final steps. In these cases, employers do their due diligence and set employee expectations. However, in other circumstances, invasive and unnecessary testing may violate an employee’s right to privacy. A worker’s rights lawyer will help you understand the ways in which your rights may have been violated and the steps you can take to protect yourself. Employees of private companies can be legally drug tested, but if the following violations occur during the course of drug testing, you may be able to take action against your employer:

• Invasion of privacy
• Discrimination
• Retaliation
• Targeting
• Defamation

If you believe that your drug test results are responsible for discrimination and retaliation, you may be able to hold your employer accountable.

In the state of New York, it is illegal for employers to request, require, or use the results of a lie detector test. Under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA), most private employers cannot force employees to take polygraph tests. Wrongfully subjecting workers to polygraph tests violates United States labor laws. If a private employer asks an employee to do a polygraph test, the employee is within their right to refuse. If someone agrees to take a polygraph test without knowing their rights, an employer can be barred from making decisions about that employee based on the test results. The EPPA protects private employees when employers:

• Require employee polygraph testing.
• Make decisions about employees based on a polygraph test
• Take action against an employee based on test results
• Discriminate based on polygraph results

If you work for a private company that doesn’t fall within the exemptions of the EPPA, it is absolutely within your rights to refuse a polygraph test. If you have been coerced to take a polygraph test or agreed to take one without knowing your rights, a lawyer can help you.

A wage garnishment is when a creditor takes money from your paycheck before you receive it. However, there are legal limits to how much of your check can be garnished by creditors. Hach & Rose, LLP can help you protect your income and potentially minimize your garnishments.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA) protects veterans and military personnel, ensuring they do not receive an unfair disadvantage when returning to civilian work. If you are having issues regaining employment upon returning to civilian life, an attorney can help you gain employment at the same company or a comparable job. You have a right to return to work.

Retirement benefits are a crucial asset to workers in NYC. Though the resources a company may allocate to retirement will vary based on the company, the government has passed certain acts like the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to ensure that employees have certain rights regarding their retirement. If you have any problems with your retirement planning or need an advocate, a workers’ rights lawyer can help. According to the ERISA, companies who provide retirement must also do the following:

• Provide clear plan summaries.
• Provide necessary benefits calculators and resources.
• Give participants the ability to sue for breach of benefits or fiduciary duty

Issues that you may have with your retirement plan will vary depending on your employer. We have worked with a variety of clients and are ready to help you with the following:

• Understanding your retirement options
• Recoup damages if your employer has violated the ERISA
• Identify and address unwarranted fees
• Representation in court, when necessary
• Evaluate that you are receiving the necessary benefits
• Protect your rights if your employer makes unplanned changes to your plan

With the help of Hach & Rose, LLP, you can receive compensation for benefits you should have received and fees you should not have been asked to pay. Whether you are just getting started on a retirement plan and want the knowledgeable assistance of an attorney, or you have run into a problem and need immediate help, we are available for you.