All employees have basic rights in the workplace — including the right to privacy, fair compensation, and freedom from employment discrimination. A job applicant also has certain rights even prior to being hired as an employee. Those rights include the right to be free from discrimination based on age, gender, race, national origin, or religion during the hiring process. Some important employee rights include:
The right to a safe work environment, free from undue dangers
The right to a degree of privacy in your personal matters
The right not to be discriminated against on grounds of your age, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, pregnancy, religion, or disability
The right not to be discriminated against on the basis of marital status, gender identity, sexual orientation and other characteristics
The right to fair pay, meaning at least a minimum wage, plus overtime for any hours worked over 40 hours a week or, in some places, over 8 hours a day
The right to a workplace environment with no harassment
The right to take time from work to tend to your own, or a family member’s, illness
The right to take leave following the birth of a child
If you feel that your workplace rights have been violated, you should take the following steps:
Talk to Your Employer
The first thing that you should do once you believe that your workplace rights have been violated is to talk to your employer about the situation. However, there are still occasions when an employer can be truly antagonistic and uncaring about the rights of workers. Be informed of your rights and stay detached when meeting with your employer.
Keep Track of All Records
Be sure to keep copies of everything for your own records. Take notes of important conversations that you have regarding the situation. Remember to include important details such as the date, time, place and names of people who took part in the conversation. Also, gather any documents that you think may be relevant such as e-mails, employee handbooks, letters, company policy statements and others.
Should I Consult an Attorney?
If you have spoken with your employer and you still feel that nothing has been done to address your workplace rights, it may be time to consider taking legal action. There time limits for taking legal action to protect your workplace rights. An experienced attorney can help navigate the complicated legal issues and deadlines involved. If you’ve been the victim of employment discrimination, consult an attorney to protect your rights and help get you the compensation that you deserve!
After 19 years working for the Goodyear Tire Company, Lilly Ledbetter discovered that she was paid 20% less than her male counterparts. The knowledge began a decade long fight for equal pay for equal work that went all the way to the Supreme Court, and resulted in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; the first piece of legislation signed by President Obama.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was signed into law on Jan. 29, 2009, restores the protection against pay discrimination that was taken away by the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The Act reinstates prior law and helps to ensure that individuals subjected to unlawful pay discrimination are able to effectively assert their rights under federal anti-discrimination laws.
In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., the Supreme Court ruled that employees cannot challenge wage discrimination if the employer’s original decision to pay discriminatory wages occurred more than 180 days before, even when the employee continues to receive paychecks that have been discriminatorily reduced.
The Lilly Ledbetter Far Pay Act makes clear that pay discrimination claims on the basis of sex, race, national origin, age, religion and disability can be renewed whenever an employee receives a discriminatory paycheck, as well as when a discriminatory pay decision or practice is adopted. This means that a women who believes that she has been the victim of wage discrimination can take legal action up to 180 days after her last discriminatory paycheck or other discriminatory pay decision.
President Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in law
If you are a woman in Colorado and have experienced wage discrimination based on your gender, there are options available to you. Equal pay is the law! Learn more at equalpayisthelaw.com
On April 20th, the 110th day of 2010, people across America observed Equal Pay Day, which marked the 110 extra days per year that women in the United States must work in order to earn what men earned in 2009. On average, a woman in America makes 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes. For African American women and Latinas these numbers are even lower. Over the course of her career, the average women can expect to lose $700,000 as a result of wage discrimination. Although 47 years have passed since the passage of the Equal Pay Act, which made equal pay for equal work the law, women in Colorado, and across the country, still face widespread wage discrimination.
Recently, however, the national outcry against gender-based wage discrimination has grown louder and the movement to end unequal pay for equal work is gaining momentum. In 2009, President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which increased the statute of limitations in which women who have been the victims of wage discrimination can take legal action against their employers. This has opened the door for women across the nation to take the enforcement of equal pay for equal work into their own hands.
If you are a woman in Colorado and have experienced wage discrimination based on your gender, there are options available to you. Learn more at equalpayisthelaw.com.
Here’s what others are saying about equal pay for equal work and wage discrimination:
President Barack Obama Presidential Proclamation: National Equal Pay Day
“A PROCLAMATION: Throughout our Nation’s history, extraordinary women have broken barriers to achieve their dreams and blazed trails so their daughters would not face similar obstacles. Despite decades of progress, pay inequity still hinders women and their families across our country. National Equal Pay Day symbolizes the day when an average American woman’s earnings finally match what an average American man earned in the past year. Today, we renew our commitment to end wage discrimination and celebrate the strength and vibrancy women add to our economy…” Read More
Senator Chris Dodd Equal Pay for Equal Work
“…Today is Equal Pay Day, the day until which women have to work to make up the earnings they were shorted in 2009 compared to their male colleagues. Frankly, it’s a little embarrassing that the fight for equal pay continues in the year 2010. It’s hard to find anyone who will say, on the record, that women don’t deserve to earn the same as men…” Read More
Senator Tom Harkin Women Deserve Equal Pay for Equal Work
“…This is wrong and unjust. But, even more, it threatens the economic security of our families. The fact is millions of Americans are dependent on a woman’s pay-check just to get by, put food on the table, pay for child care, and deal with rising health care bills. Two-thirds of mothers bring home at least a quarter of their family’s earnings. In many families, the woman is the sole breadwinner…” Read More
The New York Times Happy Equal Pay Day By Nancy Folbre
“…Today is Equal Pay Day, designated every April on a Tuesday as a reminder that Tuesday is the day on which women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the preceding week. On average, female workers have to put in more than six days of paid work to earn what men earn in five…” Read More
Newsweek Tracking the Wage Gap By Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison
“Equal pay for equal work? Don’t bet on it. President Obama may have made the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act the very first act he signed into law as president, but women still earn just 77 cents on the dollar on average, when compared to men. African-American and Hispanic women earn even less. Yes, the number is an old refrain, repeated so often it has little impact. But in 2010, there’s more reason for everyone—women and men—to care about the persistent pay gap than ever before…” Read More
The Denver Post Closing the wage gap By Linda A. Meric
“…In Colorado, women’s earnings generally exceed the national average by a penny or so. But this is no great cause for celebration – especially in these tough times when every penny counts. As those lost pennies add up, women and their families are being shortchanged thousands of dollars a year and hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime…” Read More
In the United States, the two largest and most well-known social security programs are Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) and Social Security Income (SSI). Both of these disability-assistance programs were designed to provide monthly payments and Medicare benefits to disabled individuals who have contributed to the general Social Security fund by working (in the case of SSD) or who can prove that they have both a disability and financial need (in the case of SSI). The process of filing and being approved for SSD and especially SSI can be an arduous and highly time-consuming and frustrating task for many Colorado residents.
The process of filing a disability claim usually begins at the Colorado (or other state) social security field office. In many cases these claims are rejected, often because they have not been supported with sufficient evidence of your medical condition or by the records themselves. If you lose a case at the state level, you should contact a Colorado SSI attorney immediately to file an appeal. Remember that you only have 60 days from the time of your claim rejection to do this, so don’t wait!
When applying for SSDI or SSI, its important to remember that:
Benefits are awarded to people who are unemployed, have worked and paid payroll taxes in at least five of the last ten years, have a proven disability that is expected to last for at least 12 months and are unable to perform their normal career work or previous job
Benefits are made in monthly payments to disabled persons or widows or minors (under 18 years of age) whose spouses or parents have contributed to Social Security
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) decision to grant benefits is largely based on paperwork, and errors are common, especially in complex cases involving a large degree of paperwork
The amount of time taken by the SSA in processing SSD/SSI claims and granting benefits can often take more than a year so if you are disabled and you expect that injury to last for some time, apply immediately
Social security disability benefits will begin approximately five months after the established onset of the disability, meaning that these benefits will start for the 6th month after the date of your disability. In addition, if you are 65 years or older, generally speaking you will be eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid coverage in addition to your disability benefit payments.
If you are disabled Colorado resident and feel that you qualify for CO Social Security Disability, you should contact an experienced Colorado SSI Attorney immediately. Furthermore, if you believe that your disability is the result of an accidental injury or if you have disability insurance which you purchased either through your employer or individually, you may be eligible for benefits from more than one source! Contact an experienced Colorado Social Security Disability attorney today to thoroughly review your legal options.
From its inception 1987, Franklin D. Azar & Associates, P.C. has concentrated in cases involving personal injuries.
In recent years, we have also begun representing persons in a variety of class action lawsuits, ranging from victims of defective and dangerous products to employees who are not receiving full payment for their work from their employers. We currently maintain offices in Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Trinidad, Colorado.
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