Experienced Labor & Employment Lawyers in Fort Lauderdale
The employment lawyers in our Fort Lauderdale office represent workers
in all types of cases involving violations of federal and state labor
laws. We handle cases involving failure to pay overtime wages, workplace
discrimination, sexual harassment, and defamation of character. In
addition, we handle cases involving the Family Medical Leave Act, the
employment rights of veterans returning from active duty, and employee
benefits.
Our attorneys fight to protect victims of workplace right violations. If you believe your employer has subjected you to wage theft, wrongfully denied you benefits, retaliated against you, or violated any other of your employee rights, we may be able to help. Fill out our free, no-risk case review
form to learn if our Fort Lauderdale office can assist you.
Types of Employment Lawsuits Our Attorneys Handle
The attorneys in our Fort Lauderdale office have experience handling the
following types of cases:
Family Medical Leave Act
The Family Medical Leave Act is a federal labor law that requires
employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in certain
circumstances. In general, the employee may be eligible to take leave
under the FMLA for one of the following reasons:
- Pregnancy and care for a newborn
- The adoption of a child
- Placement of a foster child
- Care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition
- Your own serious health condition
- For certain situations arising out of the fact that the employee’s
spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty or call to
covered active duty status as a member of the National Guard,
Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces
Additionally, you may take up to 26 weeks of FMLA leave in a single
12-month period to care for a covered veteran with a serious injury or
illness.
How Our Fort Lauderdale Employment Attorneys Can Help
If you have been improperly denied FMLA leave or your employer has
retaliated against you for requesting FMLA benefits, our attorneys can
help you obtain the leave to which you are entitled. Your attorney will
deal directly with your employer or their attorneys to protect the
rights granted to you under the FMLA.
Determine Whether You Qualify: The employment attorneys in our Fort
Lauderdale office can help determine whether you qualify for FMLA leave.
In general, you must be employed at a company with at least 50 employees
for at least 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the year
prior to the date of your leave. If you are taking FMLA leave because of
your own or a family member’s serious health condition, the Department
of Labor provides the following descriptions of medical situations that
may qualify for leave:
- Medical conditions that require an overnight stay in a hospital or
other medical care facility
- Medical conditions that require ongoing medical treatment and render
you or a family member unable to attend work or school for more than
three days
In addition, you may also qualify for leave if you or a family member
suffers from a chronic medical condition that causes occasional,
sporadic periods of incapacitation and requires treatment by a
healthcare provider at least once a year.
Make Sure You Receive Benefits and Are Reinstated: Your employer
must continue to provide health insurance benefits during leave. When an
employee returns to work, he or she must have his or her position prior
to the FMLA leave reinstated, or an equivalent job with the same salary
and benefits. An employee who takes FMLA leave cannot lose his or her
right to any employment benefits accrued prior to taking the leave.
Take Action to Stop Retaliation: It is a violation of the FMLA for
an employer to interfere with or refuse an employee’s rights to take a
leave of absence. Furthermore, the FMLA protects you from retaliation.
Your employer cannot terminate, discriminate against, or retaliate
against you in any way for exercising your legal rights. If your
employer retaliates against you for requesting leave, the attorneys in
our Fort Lauderdale office may be able to help you file a lawsuit
against your employer.
By filing an employment lawsuit, you may be entitled to recover the
following types of damages:
- Lost wages
- Reinstatement of your job
- A court order requiring your employer to restore any promotions or
benefits that you were denied because of your request for FMLA leave
Pension and Employee Benefits Attorneys
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) protects the
rights of employees who participate in pension, 401(k), medical, and
other types of employee-benefit plans. Under ERISA, your employer has a
fiduciary duty to act in your best interest in administering and
managing your benefit plan. Under this obligation, your employer must
prudently manage the assets contained in these plans and cannot
arbitrarily deny any legitimate claims for benefits.
401(k) Plan Attorneys: Participants in 401(k) plans must be provided
with a broad array of reasonable and diverse investment options. In
addition, the mutual funds offered by a 401(k) plan cannot charge
excessively high asset management and administrative fees. If you
believe that the investment options offered in your company’s 401(k)
plan are inappropriate or charge unreasonably high fees, our employment
attorneys may be able to file an ERISA lawsuit on your behalf.
Defined Benefit Plan Attorneys: If you believe that your employer
made an error in calculating your pension benefit or denied you a
benefit to which you were lawfully entitled, you may be able to obtain
legal relief through an ERISA lawsuit.
Employee and Retiree Health Plan Lawsuits: The attorneys in our Fort
Lauderdale office handle cases involving companies that reduce or
eliminate medical benefits for retirees or illegally deny health and
welfare benefits.
If you believe you that have been wrongfully denied benefits, our Fort
Lauderdale attorneys can help. Your attorney will review all plan
documents and benefit statements to determine if you have a valid claim
for benefits. Your attorney can help you navigate your company’s
internal appeal process, which generally must be followed before you can
file an ERISA lawsuit. If your company’s plan administrator continues to
deny your claim after the appeals process is complete, your attorney may
file a lawsuit seeking the benefits to which you are lawfully entitled.
USERRA
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”)
is a law that intends to protect the employment rights of current and
former members of the Armed Forces. It demands that employers do not
discriminate against current or former military personnel with regard to
hiring, firing, reemployment, promotion or benefits. USERRA also
protects disabled veterans by requiring employers to make reasonable
efforts to accommodate a veteran’s disability.
USERRA also requires that employers must reinstate health plan coverage
to the returning service member and his or her dependents upon the
service member’s reemployment. Employers are generally prohibited from
imposing a waiting period or exclusion on the reemployed service member.
If you are returning to work after serving in the military and your
employer is refusing to rehire you or has reduced your hours,
compensation or benefits, our Fort Lauderdale employment attorneys may
be able to help. Your attorney may first contact your employer to
resolve the matter without going to court. If these measures prove
unsuccessful, your attorney may file a USERRA lawsuit to protect your
workplace rights.
Defamation of Character
If you believe that your current or former employer has made false
statements about you that have caused you harm, the attorneys in our
Fort Lauderdale office may be able to help you recover compensation
through a defamation of character lawsuit. Your attorney may interview
witnesses who heard or read the defamatory statement and investigate
whether the company has a history of making defamatory statements
against its former employees.
Defamation of character often occurs when an employer makes false
statements about a terminated employee that damages the employee’s
reputation and makes it difficult for him or her to find another job.
You may have grounds to file a defamation of character lawsuit if you
can prove that the statements made by your employer are false and that
it is the type of statement that could damage your reputation and your
ability to obtain a new job.
There are two types of defamation: slander and libel. Slander is
defamatory speech. Libel is a defamatory statement made in writing. Both
slander and libel can give rise to a defamation of character lawsuit if
the false statement has caused you harm, such as preventing you from
getting a job for which you are otherwise qualified.
If you believe that your workplace rights have been violated, please
complete our case review form
for a free, no-obligation evaluation from our experienced Fort
Lauderdale employment attorneys.
