Employment Law and the Road to Settlement

What is employment law? Well, it is a very big area of laws that determine what the employer/employee relationship should be, and what is not allowed. It does not include negotiation though, which is covered under labor law and collective bargaining. Most employment laws state not only minimum wage, but also the definition of discrimination.

You see a lot of lawyers out there who fight for your rights if you feel you were let go in an unfair way or for what you feel are discriminatory reasons. For example, you cannot be let go if you are a different color, a women in a mostly man's field, or if you suffer from mental disorders. As long as you can complete you job in a competent manor, you should be able to keep that job forever, unless they have downsizing, or you do something that does make it possible for a reasonable employer to fire you.

If you feel you have been let go by an employer and the employment laws have been broken you should call the EEOC, which stands for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They will send you paper work that you need to feel out stating why you feel you have been discriminated against; you then will mail this form back.

The EEOC will then have one of their field workers look at the form and determine, through their experience and the laws that are set up, whether they think you have a case or not. If they decide they will send you a form stating that they feel you have a case, you will need to sign it and return it to them in a timely fashion. After this step they will send the charges to the company that you used to work for. That company would then have up to 30 days to answer the charge, or ask for an extension.

This is where the process becomes extremely slow and you begin to wonder if your case will ever be settled. It's not a quick process and the EEOC does tell you if you want to pay for a lawyer you can use them to go further on the case. But if you have the patience to wait for all their paperwork and the bureaucracy that is the government, it might be best to do it this way.

Hopefully within six months they say that you should know what has happened with your case if a settlement was reached or if it was dropped. Of course, if they drop the case you do have the option to go to an attorney then too.