Employment Law: Do You Need It?

Whether you’re an employer or an employee, employment law is something you may come up against during your career. It’s best to listen to the experts on this matter, like Geonetta & Frucht, LLP, as breaching employment law can have severe consequences on both sides. Luckily, a wealth of information is available to help you make the right choices, and a reasonable employment attorney can constantly improve.

What Is Employment Law?

Employment law is a specialized area, and you need experienced professionals you can count on to get the job done right. The term covers a niche area of law. As the name suggests, everything from contracts, dismissal, discrimination, safeguarding and employer and employee rights can be covered within this area.

Why Do We Need It?

The purpose of employment law is to protect employees and employers. It also helps add clarity and regulation to the employer-employee relationship. Areas covered under employment law include:

• Grievances from employees
• Dismissal queries
• Discrimination by age, race, religion, gender, sexuality or any other protected characteristic
• Issues, concerns or questions about disability
• Bullying and harassment
• Equal pay
• Contracts of employment
• Rights over working hours
• Parental leave
• Redundancy

These are just a few of the areas covered by employment law - it is a large area of law that impacts many factors of the working relationship.

What Are My Rights?

Employment law is designed to protect against various issues and concerns in the workplace. These can include:

Workplace Harassment

This example is usually a pattern of ongoing behavior compared to schoolyard bullying. A single incident can also count as harassment if it has a long-lasting impact on the victim. Suppose an employer starts to create a hostile work environment for the employee. In that case, the employee may feel forced to resign or retire, which is also known as constructive discharge, because they are dealing with an intolerable environment that they simply can not work in any longer, leading them to leave before they want to.

Examples include:

• Teasing
• Jokes which are intimidating or offensive
• Innuendo
• Sexual harassment
• The display or circulation of offensive images or material
• Text messages, comments or phone calls that are unwelcome, intimidating, or offensive

Most areas have strict legislation to deal with workplace harassment; a good Oregon Employment Law Attorney will be able to help.

Exit Agreements and Termination Letters

When looking to terminate an employee's employment, it may not be as simple as merely letting them go. Exit agreements help sever the employer-employee relationship as amicably as possible and can include clauses and conditions designed to protect both parties. They may contain requirements such as:
Non-disclosure clauses: this preserves the materials, designs, ideas, and transaction information of a company from being shared with external sources. They help ensure that sensitive company information remains confidential and may prevent former employees from sharing details such as client lists, patents, coding, and other data with third parties.

 
Non-compete clauses prevent the employee from competing with their former employer in a similar profession. A time must usually elapse before the employee can return to the field. This practice is expected in the music industry, where a musician will agree not to sign to another record company for several years.

 
Return of property clauses: demand that all property owned by the company is returned to the employer, such as company cars, cell phones, credit cards, documents, hardware, and software.
If you need an employment lawyer, you should consult Employment Lawyer in Toronto ON - Employment Attorney - Levitt LLP, as they have fast, reliable and professional services that you couldn’t get better from anywhere.