These pages are for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. Your situation may not fit the claim you think it would, but it may fit another. Only an attorney with comprehensive knowledge of employment law can tell you whether you have a claim. You should always consult with an attorney before taking or refraining from taking any action in your individual situation.
Many employees who are dealing with employment issues don’t want to bring a lawsuit, they just want their employers to respect their rights. The first step to achieving this is to know your rights. The pages below contain the tools you need to protect yourself, including a detailed description of your rights, answers to frequently asked questions, steps you can take, and the legal framework for various claims so that you can know whether you may have a viable lawsuit.
wrongful termination
Wrongful termination is a general term used for termination that violates law or contract, and is not a stand alone claim in Michigan. For instance, a wrongful termination claim may be based on discrimination, retaliation, or breach of contract. These and other examples are listed below. For an overview of what may constitute wrongful termination, including your rights and steps you can take if you have been wrongfully terminated, click the button below.
DISCRIMINATION RIGHTS
Discrimination in employment based on a protected class is prohibited under federal and Michigan law by various statutes. Federal statutes prohibiting discrimination include the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADA). Michigan has its own state statutes which prohibit discrimination. Michigan statutes include the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) and the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act (PWDCRA).
Among the types of discrimination prohibited by these statutes are:
- Racial Discrimination
- Sex Discrimination
- Sexual Orientation Discrimination
- Gender Identity Discrimination
- Pregnancy Discrimination
- Religious Discrimination
- Disability Discrimination
- FMLA Discrimination
- Marital Status Discrimination
- Familial Status Discrimination
- Veteran Discrimination
- National Origin Discrimination
- Age Discrimination
- Reverse Discrimination
- Height Discrimination
- Weight Discrimination
- Union Activity Discrimination
The law both prohibits intentional discrimination in employment decisions and policies that have a discriminatory effect. You can learn more about your rights in fighting discrimination by clicking the buttons below.
HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Numerous federal and state statutes prohibited workplace harassment based on a protected characteristic. Under these statutes, an employee has a right to a workplace free of discriminatory harassment. Lawsuits for discriminatory harassment are brought as hostile work environment claims. The types of harassment prohibited by these statutes include:
- Racial Harassment
- Sex/Gender Harassment
- Sexual Orientation Harassment
- Gender Identity Harassment
- Disability Harassment
- FMLA Harassment
- Religious Harassment
- National Origin Harassment
- Age Harassment
- Height Harassment
- Weight Harassment
You can learn more about hostile work environment claims, including your rights, steps you can take, and answers to frequently asked questions by clicking the button below.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Sexual harassment is prohibited by both federal and state law. There are two types of claims that can be brought for sexual harassment. They are a sexually hostile work environment claim and quid pro quo sexual harassment claim. If you are experiencing sexual harassment, you may have a claim for one or both of these sexual harassment claims.
You can learn more about these sexual harassment claims, including your rights, steps you can take to stop the sexual harassment, and answers to frequently asked questions by clicking the button below.
DISABILITY RIGHTS
Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act (PWDCRA) prohibit employers from discriminating against employees or prospective employees because of disability. There are two main types of disability claims that may be brought under the ADA and PWDCRA, a disability discrimination claim and a failure to accommodate disability claim.
You can learn more about disability claims, including your rights, steps you can take in response to disability discrimination, and answers to frequently asked questions by clicking the button below.
FMLA RIGHTS
The Family Medical Leave Act grants qualifying employees the right to take up for 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected FMLA leave in a 12-month period for a variety of personal medical conditions, as well as for the care of close family members. There are two types of FMLA claims that can arise under the Family Medical Leave Act, an FMLA interference claim and a FMLA retaliation/discrimination claim.
You can learn more about FMLA claims, including your rights, steps you can take in response to FMLA retaliation or interference, and answers to frequently asked questions by clicking the button below.
WORKPLACE RETALIATION
Employers are prohibited from retaliating against an employee for the employee engaging in certain types of conduct, which is called protected activity. These protected activities are delineated by law, usually by statute. These statutes generally make it illegal to retaliate against an employee for opposing or reporting a violation of the law, or participating in an investigation of a potential violation of the law. Although the three most common types of actionable retaliation claims are claims based on civil rights acts, whistleblower laws, and violations of public policy, if your claim does not fall within these categories, contact us and we would be happy to advise whether the type of retaliation your are experiencing is illegal.
Notably, retaliation that is not based upon a protected activity is not protected by the law. This means that if you are being retaliated against due to a personal conflict, you may not have a retaliation claim. However, depending on the facts, you may have a different claim. Only an experienced attorney specializing in employment law will be able to tell you whether you may have another claim.
CIVIL RIGHTS RETALIATION
Both the federal and state civil rights statutes prohibit an employer for retaliating against an employee for opposing or reporting discrimination and harassment, or for participating in an investigation relating to discrimination and harassment. For example, if an employee makes a discrimination complaint against a supervisor to HR, and then the supervisor retaliates by demoting the employee, the employee may have a retaliation claim.
To learn more about retaliation claims under the civil rights statutes, including your rights, steps you can take in response to retaliation, and answers to frequently asked questions, click the button below.
WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION
There are both federal and state laws that prohibit an employer for retaliating against an employee for reporting, or being about to report, violations of law to a public body. An example of whistleblower retaliation is when an employer terminates an employee for reporting a suspected violation of the law to a state agency.
To learn more about whistleblower claims, including your rights, steps you can take in response to whistleblower retaliation, and answers to frequently asked questions, click the button below.
PUBLIC POLICY RETALIATION
Courts have also fashioned relief for employees where retaliation against the employee for engaging in certain conduct is against public policy. While not explicitly authorized by statute, retaliation in violation of public policy claims are generally based on retaliation for employees asserting their rights or refusing to violate the law in the course of employment. An example of retaliation in violation of public policy would be if an employer terminates an employee for refusing to participate in defrauding customers.
You can learn more about retaliation in violation of public policy claims, including your rights, steps you can take to protect yourself from retaliation in violation of public policy, and answers to frequently asked questions by clicking the button below.
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS: AT-WILL
Under Michigan law, all employees are presumed to be at-will employees. This means an employer can terminate you for “any reason or for no reason at all.” However, this rule is subject to many exceptions. For example, if your employment contract specifies that you may only be discharged for cause, you are not an at-will employee and the employer must have cause to terminate you. Moreover, even if you are an at-will employee, the employer may not terminate you for illegal reasons, such as opposing discrimination.
To learn more about whether you have an at-will contract, including your rights and answers to frequently asked questions, click the button below.
BREACH OF CONTRACT
An employment contract is a contract between you and your employer to abide by certain terms specified in the contract. The employment contract may obligate the employer to compensate you at a certain level, provide other benefits, or terminate for just-cause only to name a few examples. Likewise, the employment contract may obligate you to perform certain duties or refrain from certain conduct. When a party fails to fulfill its obligations under the contract, they have breached the contract.
Thus, either party to the contract may be able to sue the other side in the event of a breach. For example, an employees with a for-cause employment agreement may sue for wrongful termination in breach of contract. On the other hand, for example, an employer may sue an employee if the contract requires the employee to compensate the employer if the employee leaves the employer before a specified term, and the employee does so without remitting payment.
To learn more about your rights and obligations under your employment contract, click the button below.
NONCOMPETE AGREEMENTS
A contract may include a noncompete clause, which limits who you can work for should you leave the employer. However, courts look disfavorably on noncompete clauses that are too broad in scope. Thus, noncompete clauses may be successfully challenged and invalidated in court.
To learn more about the validity of noncompete clauses and how you can get an employer to release from a noncompete agreement, click the button below.
SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS
In layman’s terms, a severance agreement is a payout to the employee when an employer wishes to end the employment relationship in return for certain promises made by the employee. Severance agreements will likely contain a clause releasing the employer from any past, present, and future claims the employee may have against the employer. Employers will therefore oftentimes use a severance agreement to proactively settle any legal disputes that may arise from the termination. For this reason, employees should be very careful about signing a severance agreement.
To learn more about severance agreements and what rights you may be giving up, click the button below.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
Constitutional rights are rights guaranteed in, or derived from, the federal and state constitutions. They are prohibitions on what the government may do. For example, the constitutional right to free speech limits the government’s power to regulate what you may say or write about. It is important to note that a private individual cannot violate your constitutional rights except in vary limited circumstances. However, a person acting in their official capacity as a government official can violate your constitutional rights.
In the employment context, this generally means you cannot bring a claim for violation of your constitutional rights unless you are a public employee. However, if you are a public employee, there may be a wide range of additional rights you have under the constitution, including the right to due process and equal protection under the law.
Click on the button below to learn more about your constitutional rights.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Civil rights are guarantees of equal social opportunity and protection under the law, regardless of race, gender, religion, or other protected characteristics. In the legal context, these rights are guaranteed by acts of Congress and provide a cause of action for redress when these rights are violated. Civil Rights are different from Constitutional Rights in that they provide protection not only from the government, but from others who may violate your rights. Many of your civil rights in the employment context are covered above. However, these same civil rights acts, and others, provide guarantees in other contexts. One example is the right to be free of discrimination in housing under Fair Housing Laws. Click the button below to learn more about your civil rights.
ADA WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY
As we delve further into the digital era, the law and technology are struggling to keep up when it comes to website accessibility for those with disabilities. For users with disabilities, a website that is not accessible can be a frustrating and enraging experience. For the owner of a website, knowledge of the law governing accessibility is difficult, if not impossible to obtain.
The simple truth is that it is unclear whether the ADA applies to websites, or what the standard actually is. Some jurisdictions hold the ADA applies to websites, while others hold it does not. This means some users in one part of the country may bring a claim for an ADA website violation, while others in a different part may not. Likewise, some website owners may be sued for ADA website violations, while others may not at least be liable.
Click the button below to learn to learn more about ADA website violations.
HOW MUCH IS MY CASE WORTH?
In most cases, the amount you can recover, referred to as damages, is calculated by the total of your economic damages plus noneconomic damages. Economic damages generally refer to loss in compensation and benefits. Noneconomic damages consists of damages such as emotional distress. Particularly in civil rights cases such as discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, juries may be permitted to additionally award damages for outrage or as punishment for reprehensible behavior.
Contract claims are usually limited to economic damages. However, if you are bringing additional claims that permit other damages, you may be able to recover beyond economic damages.
Click the button below for a more detailed explanation of how damages are calculated and what your case could be worth.