LOSING YOUR JOB IN THE PHILADELPHIA AREA COULD BE DUE TO DISCRIMINATION
There are few things as painful and alarming as losing your job! The Delaware Valley, like the rest of the nation, is experiencing a downturn in employment ranks through layoffs and firings. But, the economy is not the only reason for this. We at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis have great experience in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties and across the bridge in New Jersey, getting sizable verdicts and settlements because employers are using this for discriminating against employees.
This is especially true if your employer has used a pretext of downsizing or vague performance issues to justify why you and not someone else was cut from the company payroll. Often, the real reason is that someone in a position of power did not like your age, gender, color, religion, race or national origin. Or it might be because you spoke up – exercising your First Amendment right of free speech and a manager or owner did not want the information out there. Or it might be because you refused to respond to unwanted sexual advances and were the object of a pattern of sexual harassment. Or maybe it was to retaliate against you because you were disabled and by right asked for an accommodation or sought benefits or were out on medical leave.
All of these reasons are unlawful and discriminatory.
There is an economic crisis going on in America. We all know it. We hear everyday about companies that are laying off or letting employees go. If this is done for a pure business reason and is not done unlawfully, then it is a fact of life and our times. BUT – what if the employer uses the current economic environment to get rid of you and others who have a different color of skin, speak with an accent, or have a different belief system? What if there is someone out to get you who is your supervisor or someone in a position of power? What if the company wants to replace you with younger workers or get men to replace women?
You have legal options and you are not powerless.
There are both federal and state laws that may be used to reinstate you and/or award you damages in the form of back pay, front pay, lost benefits, pain and suffering, humiliation, consequential losses and even punitive damages. Some of these laws permit a multiple of your actual losses. Many of these laws even make the employer pay for your attorney.
If you need legal representation and would like to learn more about what our firm does and the results we have obtained in employment discrimination, retaliation and actions founded upon violation of your civil rights, visit our Philadelphia employment discrimination website.
