Choosing a Workplace Harassment Lawyer

Answer:

I think we get phone calls every day from potential clients feeling that they’ve been harassed at work and looking for advice regarding workplace harassment. We get two big questions that fall in regards to harassment when they call us. The first question is if harassment at work is unlawful and they feel they’ve been subjected to a hostile work environment. The second question is what type of attorney is needed if you do feel like you’ve been harassed.

It’s important to note that, a lot of times, I have to talk to the clients about the fact that it’s unlawful for an employee to be subject to harassment based off a certain class or characteristic. Obviously harassment based off of sex, gender, race, disability, or comments that are harassing in nature because of one’s gender, race, disability, under California law. It is unlawful and that an employer can’t subject an employee to a hostile work environment based on that type of harassment.

When an employee feels that they’ve been harassed, it’s important for them to go to a firm that has specific expertise regarding identifying whether or not the conduct that they’re being subjected to is in fact unlawful. Unfortunately, it’s not unlawful to work for a bad employer. In that case it would be meaning an employer that does harass employees, that yells and screams at employees, and that makes employees cry. Shockingly, that’s not necessarily unlawful.

What you have to do is find an attorney that can articulate for you why the harassment that you’re being subjected to is unlawful harassment. You might ask questions like does the supervisor target a specific class of people? Does he only yell and scream at Hispanics? Does he only ask women in the office to go to lunch with him or ask about their marital status and whether or not they’re happy in their marriage? Did the supervisor only start to make comments that were harassing once you informed the supervisor that you needed surgery? Did you have a work restriction that prevents you from doing a certain amount of work and he makes harassing comments about that?

While it’s not necessarily unlawful in California to be subjected to harassment, it is unlawful for that harassment to be based off a protected class. Again, it’s important to hire an attorney or to find an attorney to be able to slow down the process and articulate if this type of harassment is unlawful. Additionally, for that attorney to have an honest conversation with you in saying, “I don’t think it’s necessarily unlawful. It’s unfortunate and it’s unfair, but it might not be unlawful.” Before you get to that question, it is important for you to find a qualified attorney to walk you through those steps. If I can answer any of your questions regarding what’s going on at work, please just reach out to us. I’m happy to answer any questions that you may have.