Work is a reality for most Americans. Most people go to work so they have money to pay their bills, support their family and afford luxuries. Work is a necessity, but in some ways it’s also a right. It’s the means most of us use to reach self-fulfillment, achieve our potential and make our mark in the world.
In America, it’s commonly understood that no one can stand in your way if you want to work your way to the top. However, you might run into a situation that makes it seem impossible to get a raise or a promotion or even to keep doing your job to the best of your ability. In cases where an employer is refusing to remedy the situation, you may be able to file a claim with an employment attorney to help you.
If you know anything about the history of employment in the US, you’re familiar with stories of terrible working conditions, long hours and low pay. Over the course of several decades, the law stepped in to protect employees from abuse and unreasonable working conditions. Today, every American employee is afforded protections under federal and state law.
As an employee, your rights are protected by law, including:
In an effort to establish and protect the rights of employees across the country, we have federal regulations. These are the federal laws that apply to employee-employer relations:
Employers are required to comply with federal regulations. In states where the state regulations are more stringent than the federal ones, employers must comply with state regulations. In most states, additional regulations are put in place to clarify or strengthen the federal ones. State regulations also fill in the gaps where federal regulations do not exist.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces laws related to a hostile work environment on the federal level. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act is a state law which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, ancestry, age or national origin by employers with more than four employees. Every employee has the right to a safe work environment that does not impede them from performing duties and pursuing prosperity. This doesn’t mean that work has to be easy or physically comfortable. Some jobs are demanding, both physically and mentally. Working in a hostile environment, however, is not acceptable under federal or state law when the basis for the hostile work environments is the employee’s membership in one or more protected classes.
There are several ways to define a hostile work environment. It’s a subjective condition based on what the employee may determine is uncomfortable. The legal definition, however, is the only one that applies when it comes to hostile work environment claims.
A hostile work environment, which is prohibited by law, is one that is intimidating or offensive. It’s usually created by harassment that is discriminatory and on-going, and must be what the law requires as serve and/or pervasive. When an employee is bullied or harassed based on his race, religion, sex, color, nationality, age or disability, a hostile work environment exists. The work environment needs to be both subjectively hostile to the employee asserting the claim and objectively hostile to what is referred to as a “reasonable” person.
A hostile work environment might be created by another employee and not directly by the employer. The employer, however, has a responsibility to resolve the situation once they are aware of it. One employee may experience a hostile environment when the other employees do not.
An uncomfortable workplace becomes illegal when the harassment that one or more employees experience becomes a condition of continued employment and the harassment is ongoing. When extremely severe, an isolated incident of harassment in the workplace can be considered a hostile work environment.
Here are some ways that harassment can be perpetrated in the workplace:
Harassment in the workplace can be carried out in a number of different scenarios. It is not always the employer assaulting the employee. Sometimes the harassment is between two employees. At times, the harassment is unintentional, but it can still rise to the level of illegality.
Recognizing a hostile work environment is important to claiming your rights under Pennsylvania law. Feeling uncomfortable at work should not force you to find a new job or give up your goal of being promoted. When you realize you are in a hostile work environment, however, you need to take action. Your employer will not necessarily recognize the situation and make the needed changes.
Follow this procedure if you find yourself in a hostile work environment:
It’s important to follow the above steps if you want to try to resolve a hostile work environment situation. If you take your complaint directly to an attorney, they will likely ask you if you have taken the steps. It may seem uncomfortable, but sometimes confronting the source of the harassment can put an end to it with one conversation.
If your harassment is not resolved with any of the steps involved, you can discuss the option of suing your employer with an attorney at Weisberg Cummings, PC. In this case, you must file a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and in some cases, wait for a Right-To-Sue letter from the EEOC.
To win a lawsuit against your employer for harassment, you’ll have to prove that the conduct was the following:
Personnel files are another area of employment that is regulated by law. Employers are required to keep a file on each employee that contains certain information:
Public employers, the military and other government entities are strictly limited on the type of information they can keep in a personnel file. Private employers, however, are not at all restricted. Often, your personnel file becomes a repository for information in addition to what is listed above. Evaluations, references, and other subjective information can be kept in your personnel file, which makes these files particularly sensitive.
You may not know exactly what is in your personnel file. If you did, you might not want your next employer, your ex-spouse’s attorney or anyone else to have access to it. When you leave your company, whether you are fired or you quit, you may want to gain control of your personnel file to secure the sensitive information it might contain.
Sometimes a personnel file can give some indication as to why an employee was not promoted or was terminated. That information might be needed to prove that the employer is guilty of discrimination or some other unfair labor practices. It is not uncommon for a terminated employee or their attorney to want to review the personnel file.
Instead of restricting what can be kept in your personnel file, many states, like Pennsylvania, regulate who can access that file and under what circumstances. In Pennsylvania, there are requirements for accessing your personnel file:
There is no federal law that gives the right to review your personnel file to employees. For this specific purpose, we must turn to varying state laws. The regulations explained above apply to all employers in the state of Pennsylvania, but they may or may not be the same in other states.
When it comes to emotional situations like identifying a hostile work environment, it is often wise to seek the impartial opinion of an attorney who is experienced in employment law. In Pennsylvania, a knowledgeable attorney at Weisberg Cummings, PC can compare the facts of your situation to the state and federal laws that apply to determine if you have the basis for a claim.
Once one of our attorneys confirms that you’re experiencing a hostile work environment, we can assist you through the claims process. Give us a call, chat online or send us a message to get started.
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