Banding together to file a lawsuit may produce better results than filing an action on your own.
lawsuit form with glasses and pen
When you go to work for a company, you expect your employer to treat you both fairly and legally. Unfortunately, many employees find themselves in a position where their employers do just the opposite — discriminating against them, retaliating against them, harassing them, or even firing them for exercising their legal rights. Figuring out what to do in these situations can be challenging, particularly if you are the only worker who has experienced such treatment. In those situations, an experienced employment lawyer can often help you decide the best course of action.
However, there may also be cases where you are one of many employees who have been treated illegally. For example, consider a situation where a company regularly fails to pay hourly employees overtime (time and a half) for all hours worked over forty in a given week. Or a workplace where all female employees were given menial jobs, regardless of their education or experience, and all male employees were promoted even if they were not skilled. Perhaps a company did not give leave time to any employees as required by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act or related state laws, or simply did not pay the proper minimum wage. In any of those situations, a joint lawsuit may be the appropriate remedy.
As a skilled employment lawyer can tell you, a class action lawsuit is a legal claim where a group of people who have all suffered the same type of harm — such as an illegal action by an employer — join together to sue the person or organization who caused them the harm. If that group wins the lawsuit or reaches a settlement, then each member of the class (group) is paid.
In the employment law context, a group of employees typically come together to sue their employer for a grievance, such as a failure to pay proper wages or observe employment laws.
There are many benefits to a class action lawsuit over other types of claims. Perhaps most importantly, it becomes easier for your employment lawyer to demonstrate that you are telling the truth about what happened when there is a pattern of conduct on the part of the employer. If you are the only person claiming discrimination or unfair treatment, a judge or jury might find it harder to believe. But if five, ten or twenty people all say that the employer did the same type of thing to them, it is often far more credible. It is also more difficult for an employer to retaliate against employees who band together to file a class action lawsuit. While it is against the law for employers to retaliate against employees who file lawsuits against them, there may be subtle ways that employers can nonetheless do so. Becoming part of a larger lawsuit may help to insulate you from potential retaliation.
If you have been subjected to discrimination, harassment, or other forms of illegal conduct at work, you will need a seasoned employment lawyer to help you determine if you have a viable case. At PLBH, our attorneys have more than forty years of experience helping employees seek justice. Contact us today at (800) 435-7542 or info@plblaw.com to learn more about how we can help you.