Employment Law Attorneys
The top employment lawyer represents employees as a legal representative. Employment lawyers defend and apply federal and state laws that affect employees, while employers are represented by labor attorneys. Both employment law and labor law deal with a wide range of issues such as harassment, discrimination, redundancy, maternity and paternity issues, collective bargaining, and vocational education. The role of an employment lawyer, therefore, is to provide advice to both employers and employees, gather together and analyze existing HR policies concentrating on all aspects of the employment contract, and conduct negotiations with the employer and relevant trade unions, if applicable. In addition, an employment lawyer can advise and represent employees in labor disputes that involve issues such as discrimination in the workplace, minimum wage and other employment-related disputes, overtime pay, harassment, dismissal, or abuse of a non-competitor.
The main function of this layer is to ensure compliance with employment law. To this end, the lawyer should have a thorough understanding of all laws that affect employees. This includes laws related to wages, hours of work, vacations, sick leave, employer discrimination, whistleblowing, and other pertinent areas. The proficient harassment lawyer has substantial experience in dealing with such matters as harassment, discrimination, redundancy, maternity and paternity issues, industrial accidents, whistleblowing, dismissal, or abuse of a non-competitor. The lawyer should therefore be able to effectively represent any employee that feels they have been discriminated against, or that their rights have been violated.
It is not sufficient for employment lawyers to merely draft a fair and just code of conduct for employers and employees. They must ensure that the code is consistently enforced and that it applies equally to all parties, such as employees, applicants, management and co-workers. The lawyer should also be capable of responding to changes in the law that could impact the employees, applicants, co-workers, and employers. For example, during a period of economic downturn, laws may become more restrictive and thereby affect the hiring practices as well as job descriptions. The employment lawyer needs to be aware of these potential changes and be proactive in communicating this information to clients.
These lawyers are often called on to defend employees who have been accused of discrimination based on gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by law. They represent the allegations, protect the employee's rights, gather evidence, provide representation during the trial and at appeal, advise their clients, prepare and file litigation documents, file counterclaims, and otherwise participate in the resolution of claims. In addition, employment law professionals are responsible for other duties. For example, they may attend interviews, meet with potential clients, make presentations, provide legal advice, draft agreements, etc. They also supervise the interviewing process of a potential candidate, assist in the preparation of a job description and application, conduct background checks, and follow up on candidates once hired. In some states, these lawyers may also be asked to draft contractual agreements.
An Employment lawyer must be licensed to practice in the state in which he or she practices. This is true for all states, not just those related to labor laws. Therefore, it is very important to choose an Employment lawyer who is familiar not only with the laws related to his area of practice but also has to experience in defending clients who have been accused of discrimination. To ensure that your attorney is committed to fighting for you and has your best interests in mind, you should give him or her a written agreement regarding representation. A good lawyer will always include this requirement in his service contract.
Employment lawyers are also referred to as labor law attorneys, employment attorneys, employment law firms, and employment attorney firms. These are just a few of the terms used to describe these professionals. Nevertheless, many attorneys focus solely on employment law, including overtime pay, worker's compensation, discrimination, and other areas of employment law. Lawyers who focus primarily on employment law may be required to take additional education beyond what is required for other attorneys practicing in the same area. Because of this specialty, these attorneys tend to command a higher salary than most attorneys practicing in similar areas. Check out this related post to get more enlightened on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyer.
