Protecting your rights.
Protecting your rights.
At Choate Law, we take the time to understand your unique needs because we believe the strongest outcomes are built on clear communication and trusted relationships. We work to ensure we’re the right fit for you—partnering with you at every stage of the employment relationship, from pre-hire negotiations through severance discussions and litigation.
Below are some of the common challenges individuals face in the workplace.
Contract Matters
Choate Law has extensive experience negotiating, drafting, and reviewing employment contracts including severance agreements. Restrictive covenants (such as non-compete and non-solicitation agreements) create significant concerns for employees. It is important to understand your obligations prior to entering into any contract. Choate Law can help you advocate when negotiating these contracts as well as advising you before you moving to a new opportunity to ensure you do not violate any existing agreement.
Unpaid Wages and Overtime
An employer may not properly pay you minimum wage or overtime pay, unpaid commissions, off-the-clock time, keep your tips, or take unlawful deductions from you pay. Several laws including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Illinois Minimum Wage Act, Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IMWPCA), and other create rights for you and possibly a class of workers. There are strict record-keeping requirements as well. Choate Law can help guide you through these matters.
Discrimination & Hostile Work Environment
Put simply, discrimination occurs when an individual is treated less favorably than others because they are part of a protected class. Those protected classes include: race, national origin, sex (gender), pregnancy, age (ADEA), disability, religion, family status, and sexual orientation discrimination, among other protected classes. A hostile work environment occurs when offensive conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. This behavior interferes with the employee's ability to do their job.
Retaliation, Whistleblower, Wrongful Termination
Retaliation after you make a good-faith complaint of discrimination or harassment is prohibited by law. Despite the laws, retaliation in the workplace happens. Similarly, employers may not retaliate against whistleblowers who make external reports of unlawful activity to governmental agencies.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment in the workplace includes unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature including advances or requests for sexual favors. Harassment can also involve offensive remarks about a person’s sex or gender.
