Worker Rights and the Battle for Fair Compensation
When you are employed by a company, there are obligations that an employer must maintain. One of them is having a workers’ compensation program available for employees who have been injured on the job. Not only that, but employees have the right to receive fair pay for their work including overtime hours. But sadly, many employers are more focused on their profit and not what is fair for their workers. If you are having trouble with a work-related problem, such as not being paid for overtime hours or not receiving workers’ compensation benefits, consider speaking with a lawyer near you as soon as you can.
Overtime Laws and Statutes
Your time matters, and the hours you work should always count. But all too often employers do not pay what they owe you based on the hours you’ve worked. There are overtime laws and statutes that protect workers from being taken advantage of. For hourly employees, when you work more than 40 hours in a week timeframe, you should be getting paid more than your hourly rate. It’s simple, if you are on the clock for more than 40 hours each week, you are entitled to receive overtime pay. So if your employer has been resistant in giving you the pay you have earned, now is the time to speak with an employment lawyer for help. Situations like these sometimes require a lawyer’s intervention to keep employer’s accountable.
Workers’ Compensation Benefits
By law, employers have to provide workers’ compensation benefits to employees who have been injured on the job (or when traveling for work-related duties). Depending on the nature of your job and the work environment, there are many potential contributing factors for workplace accidents. You may have been injured due to safety violations, inadequate training or instruction, equipment failure, faulty machinery, unskilled personnel, lack of property protective equipment, and more. Even if your job entails a certain degree of danger, such as construction, it doesn’t mean that you should go without compensation when you have been injured. If you have an issue regarding benefits under workers’ compensation, you may want to speak with a legal team, such as Cohen & Cohen, as soon as possible.
Signs of Workplace Retaliation
It’s important to understand your rights as an employee. If you report a workplace accident and ask for workers’ compensation benefits, but then your employer starts treating you in an adverse way, this could be a sign of retaliation. You may be asking
yourself why an employer wouldn’t want to help an employee who was injured. In many cases, it’s because an employer is going to lose out on profit if they have to pay their worker fairly to treat their injuries. So an employer may purposefully try to get the claim denied or reduced as a means to save money. If your employer has moved you to a less desirable department, reduced your pay, created a hostile work environment, verbally threatened or harassed you, or outright fired you, this is enough reason to get an opinion from a lawyer immediately.