Discrimination in the workplace does not always occur in the same way. While discrimination can come in more blatant forms: i.e. an employer chooses a less-qualified coworker for a promotion over a more-qualified minority worker, discrimination can also occur in more subtle and latent ways. One such way in which discrimination can occur is if an employer makes earning or advancement opportunities less accessible to minority and/or female employees. For example, if an employee is in sales, do they have the same access to prime leads, well-established accounts, or more affluent territories for prospecting? If the employee is a store manager that is evaluated on the store’s relative financial performance, do they likewise have equal opportunity for assignment at the higher performing store locations?
These acts of discrimination are not always so obvious. Luckily, federal law protects workers from discrimination, both in terms of blatant discrimination and latent discrimination. Particularly, federal law protects workers from discrimination on the basis of race, sex (i.e. gender identity, pregnancy, and sexual orientation), national origin, religion, age, disability and genetic information (i.e. family medical history).
If you have experienced either blatant or latent discrimination in your workplace, please give us a call at the Shavitz Law Group, (800) 616-4000 or email us at [email protected]
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are required to pay all overtime-eligible (non-exempt) employees overtime at a rate of one-and-a-half times employees’ regular rate of pay for all overtime hours worked (absent limited exceptions). Frequently, employers fail to do so in a myriad of ways: by making employees work off-the-clock, by interrupting their meal periods, by improperly rounding their time punches or by manually adjusting their time entries. While doing this may result in employers saving a little money in the short term by cheating employees out of their rightfully earned wages, this practice can ultimately become costly. 
When a plaintiff brings a representative action on behalf of a potential group of similarly situated individuals they most frequently do so as part of a class action lawsuit. In a class action, such as for unpaid overtime wages, the plaintiff makes allegations that the harm he or she experienced is not unique and that there are many others who also suffered that same harm. If the court agrees, notice of the class action will then go out to those similarly situated class members (also known as “putative” class members) advising them of the fact that they are in the purported class. These members are by default included in the class, unless they take an affirmative step to opt out of the class. 
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) is federal law that requires an employee to have the ability to continue with their company-provided health insurance following the end of their employment. Following the end of an employee’s employment, if that employee was enrolled in the employer’s health insurance plan and the employer employs more than 20 employees, then the employer is required by law to provide documents to that employee disclosing the parameters of their COBRA insurance coverage. 
