Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog

What a ‘Retaliatory Hostile Work Environment’ Is and How Proof of It Can Help Your Georgia Employment Law Case

January 31, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

The law gives many workers certain rights. The right to a minimum wage, the right to overtime pay, and the right to a workplace free from sexual harassment and certain forms of discrimination are a few of those. When you, as a worker, stand up for those rights — whether yours or a coworker’s — you shouldn’t be punished for it, but too many are. If you’re concerned about retaliation at your job, you owe it to yourself to get in touch with a knowledgeable Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer to discuss your situation.

Often, people associate workplace retaliation with a discrete form of punishment. For example, a worker who got fired just a few weeks after filing a formal sex discrimination complaint, or a worker who was demoted just a couple of months after settling an unpaid overtime lawsuit. Those kinds of adverse employment actions, while potentially valid bases for a retaliation claim, are not the only type, however.

It’s also possible that you can be harmed by what’s called a “retaliatory hostile work environment.” A retaliatory hostile work environment happens your protected activity triggers misconduct directed at you that rises to a level of hostility that would motivate a reasonable person not to speak out about a violation. Well-represented recent plaintiffs are continuing to reap the benefits of this newer pathway to success in a retaliation claim.

U.S. Labor Department Busts a Tire Shop for Overtime Violations Affecting 72 Workers in Georgia and South Carolina

January 25, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act — in the form of unpaid overtime — occur frequently. Some of them may be an employer’s good-faith mistake in the calculation of a worker’s overtime hours, or they may be more nefarious things like intentionally misclassifying workers or forcing workers to work “off the clock.” Either way, it is against the law and, if you are a worker harmed as a result of unpaid overtime, you have the right to take action and should get in touch with an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer right away to find out more about the legal options that exist for you.

A business in Georgia and South Carolina was one of those entities that the federal government recently caught violating the FLSA. The business, a tire and auto repair shop, had three locations in Georgia (Pooler, Darien, and Dublin) and two in South Carolina.

There were actually multiple ways that the shop violated federal overtime laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. For one thing, the shop required employees to complete after-hours service calls but, when it came to calculating those workers’ overtime pay, the employer did not properly factor in those after-hours service calls.

The Significance of Summary Judgments in Your Georgia Employment Discrimination Case

January 18, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

After you’ve suffered discrimination at work and determined that a discrimination lawsuit is necessary, there are several essential hurdles you need to clear. One of the biggest ones is defeating your employer’s motion for summary judgment. Whether you’re before, at, or past the summary judgment stage in your case, representation from the right Atlanta workplace discrimination lawyer can be crucial to your success.

Take, for example, disability discrimination plaintiff C.G., who worked as an “Inclusion Specialist” at a Cobb County preschool for children with special needs.

C.G.’s problems arose abruptly when she experienced numerous seizures/neurologic episodes on Dec. 13-14, 2018. By Dec. 20, she was ready to return to work. On Dec. 21, however, the employer convened a meeting with C.G. and the executive director told C.G. and her husband that the school “was going to treat C.G. as if she had suffered seizures that could reoccur so it could not allow her to return to any classroom due to liability risk and exposure to [the school] in case she injured herself, a co-worker, or a student while working.”

U.S. Labor Department Sues a North Georgia Employer After It Paid an Ex-Employee Using a ‘Mountain’ of Dirty Pennies

January 10, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

We all know that workers have certain rights established by Georgia law and federal law. For many workers, it’s not as simple as that. They fear that, if they invoke those rights, they will incur harm that will have a long-lasting negative effect on them and their career going forward. Do not let this fear scare you away from contacting an experienced Atlanta minimum wage and overtime lawyer and pursuing your legal options. Not only does the Fair Labor Standards Act give you certain rights regarding your pay, but it also gives you the potential opportunity to recover compensation if your employer retaliated against you for seeking the fair pay you deserve.

Many news outlets, including major ones like AP, UPI, NPR, and Fox News have sections dedicated to news that is “weird,” “odd,” or “strange.” A lot of these make for fun reading and perhaps a few laughs. Some, however, can be more educational than funny.

Take, for example, a recent peculiar story about an employment dispute that occurred right here in North Georgia. The employee, A.F., worked at an auto shop in Peachtree City. When A.F.’s employment at the shop ended, the employer did not pay him his last paycheck. Still owed $915, the worker took his complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25 and Georgia’s is $5.15, So Which One Applies to My Job?

December 30, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In almost all areas of the law, there’s a certain interplay between federal law and state law because, when it comes to a lot of subject areas, both have laws addressing and governing that topic. Here in Georgia, that’s true about a lot of employment law-related issues, including everything from age discrimination to the minimum wage to overtime pay. The key in any situation is to know whether federal law or state law applies to your circumstance. Doing this often requires in-depth knowledge of the law, which is why it pays to have an experienced Atlanta minimum wage attorney handling your case.

The hashtag #todayilearned (or TIL for short,) which loosely equates to the more well-worn “Did you know?”, is a common meme on social media. There’s even an entire subreddit (a/k/a subgroup) on the popular internet community Reddit devoted to people sharing things they newly learned.

What does that have to do with Georgia employment law? Perhaps not much, but there is this: a few years ago, members of the Reddit community discussed the fact that Georgia state law sets the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour, beneath the federal law minimum wage of $7.25. That amount remains the Georgia minimum wage today. (Georgia and Wyoming have the lowest state minimum wages, and Georgia’s is not set to go up in 2022.)

Age Discrimination in the Restaurant Industry and What You Can Do if It Happens to You in Georgia

December 23, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Back in 2018, a major restaurant chain headquartered in neighboring Florida paid out roughly $2.85 million to settle an age discrimination class action. While that was one of the more headline-grabbing cases of age discrimination in the restaurant and foodservice industry, it is far from the only one. Indeed, one of the most recent alleged occurrences comes from right here in North Georgia. What these cases have in common is that the workers took prompt legal action, which is absolutely essential to getting justice for the harm you suffered. If you’ve encountered discrimination at work because you’re age 40 or older, you should waste no time in getting in touch with an experienced Atlanta age discrimination lawyer.

That North Georgia age discrimination case involved a man in his 50s who had worked at a Roswell coffee shop for five years when the shop, which was a part of a major Seattle-based chain of coffee shops, fired him in July 2021. The man was a “Store Manager” when the shop fired him.

According to his lawsuit, his termination was part of a larger, concerted scheme by the employer to weed out older managerial employees and replace them with younger managers. This allegedly included firing workers who had been with the company for several years and “who did not have a history of written disciplinary action.”

The Importance of Attention to Detail, and Using Your Employer’s Lack of It to Your Advantage in Your FLSA Case

December 16, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

An American psychotherapist became famous after he published a self-help book entitled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and it’s all Small Stuff. While that may be great advice in terms of mental health, the exact opposite is often true in legal matters. Many times, the small stuff is the stuff most worth sweating, as something very small may make a very big difference in terms of success versus defeat. That’s why a knowledgeable Atlanta worker misclassification lawyer is so valuable to you, as your attorney will spot all of the small stuff that is most definitely worth sweating.

Here in Georgia, workers, when it comes to minimum wage and overtime, often rely on the protections written into federal law. With that in mind, even cases from outside Georgia may offer very useful insights for you and your minimum wage and overtime case.

A recent Fair Labor Standards Act case from North Carolina is a good example. The case involved an industry where minimum wage and overtime disputes are common: adult entertainment. The plaintiff was an exotic dancer at a club in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. Her lawsuit alleged that the club improperly classified her as an independent contractor when she really was an employee and, in the process, improperly failed to meet the overtime and minimum wage obligations of the FLSA.

Corporate Holiday Parties are Back in 2021. So, Too, Is the Risk for Sexual Harassment at Those Events.

December 8, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Here in 2021, lots of things are making comeback. One of them is the company holiday party. Just like before, holiday parties pose a special set of challenges and risks, and one of those often is sexual harassment. If you’ve been the target of sexual harassment at work, whether that harassment occurred at your company holiday party or elsewhere, you should reach out to an experienced Atlanta sexual harassment lawyer without delay to learn more about the legal options that may exist for you.

Sexual harassment (and the increased prevalence of it) at holiday parties may happen for a variety of reasons. For one, the setting (as many company holiday parties occur outside the physical office space) may lead some people to drop their inhibitions and feel freer to engage in inappropriate behavior. For another, many company holiday parties come with a degree of (and sometimes unlimited) access to alcohol, with those beverages serving as the fuel that further lowers some people’s inhibitions that would otherwise stop them from engaging in harassing behavior.

Recently in the news is a gaming company and the allegations of sexual harassment that, for people who’ve been the victim of holiday party sexual harassment, likely sound all too familiar.

What You Can Do If You’ve Lost Your Job in Georgia Because You Spoke Out Against Someone’s Else Acts of Sexual Harassment

November 30, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

No one should, as a worker, have to choose between their job and speaking out when they see discrimination or sexual harassment in the workplace. Too many times, though, speaking out does lead to workplace punishment. When that happens to you, it is possible that your employer has engaged in illegal retaliation, so you should get in touch with a knowledgeable Atlanta employment lawyer to learn more about the legal options that may exist for you.

P.P. alleged in her Title VII case that that was exactly what happened to her. She worked as a supervisory employee for a burger restaurant in Atlanta where the owner-franchisee was the higher ranking person and the general manager was second in command.

One day in November 2018, the supervisor allegedly saw the general manager grope a male worker, but P.P. didn’t confront the manager. When the owner learned about the incident elsewhere, she began her own investigation during which she interviewed P.P. The supervisor told the owner what she saw and offered to provide a written statement.

Remote Work, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Law of Disability Accommodations

November 23, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Throughout much of 2021, remote work has been a hot topic throughout many industries. Whether a company was extending remote work, ending remote work, or moving to a “hybrid” option, the decisions made by businesses big and small have been in the headlines. For some, returning to the office for 40 hours every week now represents not just an inconvenience, but a very real and possibly very severe health risk. For those people, an employer’s refusal of continued remote work may be more than just a business decision, it may represent illegal discrimination. If you’re a worker in that position, you should check with a knowledgeable Atlanta disability discrimination attorney about your legal options.

R.M. was one of those workers trying to balance work and health. In early March 2020, R.M.’s doctors diagnosed her with a type of chronic lung disorder. A few weeks later, once the pandemic hit with full force, R.M.’s job, that of a health & safety manager at a Newton County pharmaceutical facility, moved from in-person to fully remote.

By summertime, though, the manager’s employer required her and her coworkers to return to the facility. Returning to the physical worksite would mean, according to the manager’s lawsuit, being in “close contact” with many colleagues, including sharing a desk with some of them.