Rights of Employees and Employers: What Employers Should Know

By JC Serrano

There will always be horrible bosses. A lot of employees struggle with difficult and sometimes unreasonable employers. Fortunately, there are labor laws and guidelines that protect the rights of employees.

On the other hand, many newbie employers are so focused on getting their businesses off the ground they forget to handle the legal side of things. So, despite being well intentioned, decent employers can still violate labor laws due to ignorance.

That said, here's a list of the most common labor law claims filed against terrible and ignorant employers alike.

5 labor laws that protect employees

1. Employers cannot discriminate against protected attributes

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers cannot make any employment decision (such as hiring, rejection, firing, and demotion) based on an employee's protected attributes. These include race, color, religion, national origin, and sex.

For example, an employer cannot fire an otherwise competent employee solely on the basis of being a woman. Of course, not every instance of firing a female employee can be considered sex discrimination. However, if proven that an employer fired a female employee after hearing she was pregnant, it will be a clear act of discrimination.

Additionally, firing an employee for discriminatory reasons counts as wrongful termination. If successful, former employees might be entitled to economic and non-economic damages.

More importantly, discrimination laws don't just cover wrongful termination. They encompass all employment decisions, including tolerance or encouragement of harassment, handing out unfair demotions, and unjustified pay cuts. So, for example, if an employer encourages or tolerates harassment, that might also count as discrimination.

Note that discrimination laws and exceptions can vary depending on the state or the size of your business. Make sure to consult with your lawyer to ensure you're not violating any laws and employee rights.

2. Disabled employees can request reasonable accommodations

Disabled employees are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Other than it's illegal to make employment decisions based on an employee's disabled status, it is also an employer's responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations when the employee needs them.

"Reasonable accommodations" are changes and modifications to a business's employment system that would help an otherwise competent employee to do their job. These accommodations are dependent on what an employee needs and what an employer can afford.

For example, some employees just need to be given flexible hours, be allowed to take their work home, or be reassigned to a different department. However, some employees might require ergonomic chairs, special equipment, and wheelchair ramps. These are typically decided through discussions and negotiations between the employer and the disabled employee.

The keyword here is "reasonable," which means that the accommodations shouldn't be causing the employer undue burden. For example, if the requested accommodation causes significant financial and structural challenges, both parties will need to negotiate something else.

3. Pregnancy is considered a temporary disability

Pregnant employees can suffer from many physical problems, even before they reach the last trimester. Hence, the difficulties associated with pregnancy can be enough cause to request accommodations.

This means pregnant employees can request alternative work hours, reassignments, flexible work responsibilities, and other reasonable accommodations. Employers can provide these accommodations on top of the maternity leave employees will file towards the end of their term.

Again, employees should discuss these accommodations with their employers. These discussions ensure that the employee gets the assistance they need while not causing undue problems to their employers.

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4. Whistleblowers are protected

Whistleblower protections are there to protect employees and consumers. To encourage people to report illegal activities, employers are prohibited from taking any adverse action against whistleblowers.

For example, if an employee reports product health hazards to OSHA, it is illegal for their employer to get back at them by termination, pay cuts, suspensions, or demotions. Likewise, if an employee "blows the whistle" on company fraud and security breaches, they cannot be fired or retaliated against.

More importantly, employers cannot take action against employees even if the employee makes a mistake. The Whistleblower Protection Act was established so employees won't hesitate to report possible illegal activities, and before they cause any real consequences. Additionally, employees who help the government catch illegal activity are heavily compensated for "blowing the whistle."

Similarly, employees who participate in investigations (i.e., doing an interview or becoming a witness) cannot be retaliated against. It is within their right, and firing them is an act of wrongful termination.

5. Employment retaliation is illegal

As briefly explained in the last section, employers cannot get back at employees maliciously. Essentially, employers cannot make adverse employment actions in response to an employee exercising their rights.

For example, if an employee reports their boss for gender discrimination, the employer cannot fire them, demote them, or cut their salaries. Doing so is an act of retaliation.

Here are other things that employees can do without getting punished or retaliated against:

• Taking or requesting a sick leave, family leave, or a maternal leave
• Taking time off work to serve as jury or to vote
• Reporting an employer for OSHA violations, discrimination, harassment, or retaliation
• Becoming a whistleblower
• Giving witness testimonies against their employer
• Refusing to break the law for the employer or company (i.e., refusing to make false statements to the IRS to save the company)

Some employment actions that might count as retaliation include:

• Demoting an employee
• Unjustified pay cuts
• Refusing to promote an otherwise qualified and deserving employee
• Deliberately assigning an employee to a site location that's causing them undue hardship (i.e., assigning them to an area that's unreasonably far from where they live)
• Giving the target employee more work as underhanded punishment
• Encouraging harassment and alienation of the employee at work

Are you a good boss?

You might not be a terrible boss, but there's a lot of them out there. However, the law knows that some employers hand down "punishments" to employees who are otherwise in the right.

This doesn't mean that employers can't penalize employees for bad behavior. Employers are free to demote, cut pay, or suspend, as long as it doesn't infringe on an employee's rights or violate one of the labor laws we've covered here.

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