How to Hire the Best Discrimination Lawyer in Pennsylvania

If you believe you’re being treated differently than other employees on the basis of a protected characteristic, your employer might be discriminating against you. Observe how your employer is treating people in similar positions to you but who are of a different sex, race, or religion. This will give you a good idea if you are dealing with true discrimination or retaliatory behavior.  If your employer just isn’t very nice, but they’re not very nice to anyone, it’s probably not discrimination.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act is a state law that was implemented in order to prohibit discrimination against employees in the workplace. While there are several federal laws that protect employees from discrimination, Pennsylvania also passed its own state-level anti-discrimination laws to expand the strength of the federal laws to help protect workers even further.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act protects the following classes from discrimination in the workplace: 

• Race
• Color
• Sex
• Religion
• National origin
• Familial status 
• Ancestry
• Age
• Whether one has a Handicap, including the need for guide dog or support animal due to a health condition.

Retaliation occurs when your employer takes an adverse employment action against you for your participation in a protected employment activity, such as filing a discrimination claim. An adverse employment action could be termination, demotion, reduced pay, poor performance extra evaluations, and more. If your employer takes any of these actions as a result of your discrimination complaint, you should let your discrimination lawyer in PA know immediately because this is entirely unlawful.

If you’ve been wrongfully terminated as a result of filing a discrimination complaint against your employer, you might be entitled to the following types of compensation:

Lost Wages

Under Pennsylvania law, you are permitted to recover lost wages in a wrongful termination claim. Any compensation you would’ve been entitled to from the time you got fired until the time you get to court can be recovered in this way. Additionally, you might be entitled to front pay as well. Front pay includes wages that you would have received in the future had you not been wrongfully terminated. Also, if you accept a new job at a lower-paying position, you could be entitled to compensation that makes up the difference between your old and new wages.

Emotional Distress

If you suffered emotional distress as a result of your wrongful termination, you might be able to collect compensation for this as well. Losing your job, especially when it’s for unlawful reasons, can be very stressful. If you’ve been struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other mental health issues or emotional distress relating to your termination, you should be compensated appropriately. Speak with your discrimination lawyer in PA about this.

Punitive Damages

In circumstances where your employer’s actions were egregious or willful, you should be able to recover punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded as a way to punish your employer for the behavior they engaged in and as a way to deter them and other employers from engaging in that type of behavior again in the future.

Morgan & Morgan is here for you for all of your employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation needs. We have been handling employment discrimination cases for decades, and we know exactly what to do to ensure that you get the justice and compensation you’re entitled to. Our discrimination lawyers in PA will handle your case competently with compassion and care because we understand how difficult of a time this is for you. 

Remember, you don’t pay us anything until we successfully handle your case. You never have to pay us any money directly out of your own pocket. We’ve recovered more than $25 billion dollars for our clients, and we want to make sure we get you what you deserve. If you have concerns about workplace discrimination, contact Morgan & Morgan for a free case evaluation today.