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Labor Laws FAQ's

You may have grounds to file a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at (305) 536-4491 if you feel you were treated unjustly based on your race, sex, color, nationality, religious preference, age, disability, or sexual orientation. This must be done within 300 days of date of the incident. If you'd like more time to think, you have 365 days to file with the Florida Commission on Human Relations at (850) 488-7082. If you fail to file a discrimination charge within the respective time periods, you will waive your right to do so.

If you are being harassed due to your race, sex, color, nationality, religious preference, age, disability, or sexual orientation, the first step is to figure out if your employer has a harassment policy in place. If a policy exists, follow the procedure outlined in the employee handbook to report the issue. If there is no policy, or the employer does not resolve the problem for you, your only alternative may be to file a discrimination charge with the Florida Commission on Human Relations or the Equal Opportunity Commission.

Unless you are ineligible to receive overtime pay due to your line of work, the Fair Labor Standards Act states that you must be paid for all hours worked in a work week in excess of 40. Those who may not qualify for overtime include executives, management, professional employees, or salespeople.

Employees are usually eligible to receive unemployment compensation as long as they have not voluntarily quit on their own terms or been terminated or suspended for violating company code. This includes any form of misconduct within the workplace such as arriving to work drunk, lack of attendance, noncompliance, and theft. Below average performance or substandard conduct does not necessarily indicate misconduct.

Under the Americans of Disabilities Act (ADA), employees working for a company of at least 15 people and disabled individuals are protected. According to ADA, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that impedes at least one major life activity. ADA also states that in order to qualify as disabled, an individual must have a medical history showing record of the impairment, or the employer must recognize the impairment. Conditions like AIDS, heart disease, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes could all be defined as disabilities.

An employer cannot terminate you for filing a workers' compensation claim because you are entitled to this right as an employee. The same goes for filing a discrimination or harassment complaint.

Probably not. If you are employed by a non-state or local agency, which fall under private employer, you must be granted permission by the employer before you can view or make a copy of your file.

If you have been employed for a minimum of 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours during that time, and your employer is located within 75 miles of at least 50 employees, you are qualified to take as many as 12 weeks of unpaid absence. Situations that call for such an extended leave may be childbirth, placement of a child in foster care, taking care of an immediate family member with a serious illness, or addressing a personal health condition.

It depends on the terms of the contract, but if you sign a release when you lose your job in exchange for a severance check, you could surrender any rights you have to take action against your former employer. However, if you are over 40, any signed release has to contain specific clauses in order to be valid.

In compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA), employers are asked to provide a job site free of safety and health perils and abide by the rules laid down by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. If you believe your work surroundings are dangerous, report the problem to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

• Labor and employment legal information
• Understanding harassment
• Understanding Discrimination
• Employers' rights and responsibilities