Florida employees may have questions about the employment contract they have on file with their employers. This is especially true if a problem or disagreement erupts on the job.

By turning to the contract, most employees can determine where they stand under the law, how they should negotiate the matter to reach agreement with their employers and whether they should pursue a lawsuit if an agreement cannot be made.

When reviewing an employment contract, a little bit of background information can be very valuable in understanding the types of clauses and information the average employee will find. There are some common things found in many Florida employment agreements.

Confidentiality agreements. These agreements require an employee not to share inside information regarding business dealings, secret processes, data, machinery or formulas with others. This confidentiality will extend beyond the time when the employee works for the employer. However, a confidentiality agreement will not apply to reporting illegal activity.

Noncompete agreements. These agreements prevent employees from going to work in the same industry or working for a competitor at a later time. These agreements are usually subject to time limitations of several months to a year, and they will also have geographic limitations. However, they are not always enforceable against an employee in all cases.

Termination clauses. Termination clauses will usually set the standards and protocols by which an employee may be terminated. They may also outline severance. If an employer fails to follow these guidelines, the termination could be unlawful.

There are numerous other parts and components of employment contracts. In order to make sure they avoid the potential of employment lawsuits or disagreements with their employers, Florida employees should make sure they understand the legal implications of any contract they sign.

Source: Gary A. Costales, PA, “Representation for Employees,” accessed March 09, 2018

When a Miami employer chooses to fire or terminate a worker, the employer must carry out the firing in a certain way. Failure to do so may result in an unlawful termination, which would give the employee the right to pursue a lawsuit to recoup his or her financial damages in court.

What follows are five examples of typical wrongful termination situations. Did you lose your job in one of these ways?

• A termination that violates state or federal anti-discrimination protections, such as a termination because of your age, race, gender, national origin or religious affiliation.
• A termination in retaliation against an employee’s rebuff or complaints regarding sexual harassment, or as a part of sexual harassment.
• A termination that violates the written or oral agreements under which the worker was hired.
• A termination that violates state or federal labor laws, such regulations that govern collective bargaining.
• A termination in retaliation against an employee’s complaints or other claims against the company, firm or employer.

In certain instances, the unlawful termination examples above come with statutory penalties for the employers that commit them. Meanwhile, others will give the employee the right to seek financial damages pertaining to lost wages, mental anguish, psychological turmoil and other categories of damages. Some scenarios could also result in the employer paying punitive damages.

If your termination from your job was suspicious. You may want to look into how the firing happened, who decided to fire you and why. Depending on the facts of your case, the law very well could be on your side.

When a woman or man is victimized by sexual harassment at the workplace, he or she will have the right to appeal to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for assistance in defending his or her civil right to a workplace that is free of such abuse. The EEOC, however, protects workers from a lot more than sexual harassment. It comes to the aid of workers suffering from all manner of injustices including:

• The enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlaws all forms of employment discrimination based on color, religion, race, sex and national origin.
• Enforcing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act which makes it unlawful to discriminate against women on the basis of pregnancy or the medical effects of pregnancy and childbirth.
• Defending workers who are 40 years old and up against age-related discrimination in the workplace.
• Enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which ensures that individuals with disabilities receive reasonable accommodation, fair treatment on the job and are not discriminated against.
• Ensures that women and men receive equal pay.

The EEOC has obtained just compensation and other remedies on behalf of innumerable Americans who were wronged at their workplaces. However, it’s not uncommon for an individual with a viable lawsuit to get rejected by the EEOC because they did not appropriately frame their situation with an understanding of applicable employment laws.

As such, individuals who have been wronged at their workplaces, will want to fully understand the employment and civil rights laws that apply to their situations to ensure that their EEOC complaints have been appropriately crafted.

If you’ve been seriously victimized by sexual harassment, there’s no reason why you should continue to put up with the abuse. First of all, the law is on your side, and you can speak up to make the abuse stop. Secondly, the law will protect you from any kind of negative retaliation in response to your bringing attention to the abuse.

There are important steps you can take if you’ve been victimized by a sexual harasser at your workplace.

Confront the abuse head on. Don’t shyly put up with any kind of sexually harassing behavior. Instead, tell your abuser to stop the behavior immediately and that you find it offensive. In a lot of situations, this will be sufficient to make the behavior stop. If the harasser continues, it’s time to consult your workplace employee manuals.

Follow corporate sexual harassment procedure. The next step is to read your employee manual to determine the course of action you should take after an instance of sexual harassment. This will usually involve speaking to HR, talking to a supervisor or going to some other designated person to report the continued harassment. It will then be your employer’s responsibility to make sure the abuse comes to an immediate end. If you don’t have a procedure to follow, then speak to your supervisor or someone who holds a position above your harasser.

File an EEOC complaint. If your employer doesn’t take action to stop the abuse, then you may want to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC will review the situation and determine if you have the right to sue. After receiving a “right to sue” letter, you can then pursue a formalized lawsuit to seek compensation in court.

Were you victimized by any kind of on-the-job sexual harassment? Learn about your legal rights and options to make the abuse stop, and you may be surprised just how much you’re actually in the power seat.

Countless American employees live in fear of losing their jobs as a result of testing positive for marijuana. With numerous states legalizing pot for medical and recreational purposes, the question of whether employers can base hiring and firing off the use of marijuana is certainly called into question. In Florida, though, employers can still fire their employees if they test positive for using marijuana. However, this differs from state to state. Whilst cannabis might be illegal in Florida, it has been legalized in states like California. This means that those employed in California wouldn’t have to worry about failing one of these drug tests. As long as they abide by the California METRC system, people living there are able to enjoy marijuana or cannabis whenever they want. States like Florida, however, still see the drug as illegal.

AutoNation, a Fort Lauderdale-based car seller, has taken a different stance on the matter. The car seller, which has over 26,000 employees throughout the United States, has officially changed its policy regarding marijuana — saying that its employees are free to use the substance.

AutoNation is not alone. Numerous corporations throughout the United States are choosing to ignore the results of a failed drug test when it comes to marijuana. Other companies have simply stopped testing for drugs completely.

The move makes sense, considering that 29 states, including the District of Columbia, have legalized medical marijuana and nine states, including the District of Columbia, have legalized recreational pot. However, other drugs detected on the Countrywide Testing results will likely still be highlighted and cause issues.

Employers are also loosening their standard regarding marijuana use because of the tight labor market. Corporations want to hire the best talent available, and many of these individuals might happen to be marijuana smokers. And in some cases, these marijuana smokers may have received a medical marijuana card from somewhere like Green Health Docs Huntington, to help manage a health condition that is severely affecting their life, like chronic pain. It has been known to work, and if smoking this substance can help them to work to their highest ability, then it shouldn’t be called into question. The AutoNation CEO said, “We are looking to attract talent to our company, and putting this barrier in place, that’s not where society is at today.” He also echos a popular sentiment stating that marijuana is often misunderstood due to actions of the past. Employers are trying their best to understand and learn more about marijuana and its many positive qualities, especially in terms of health and wellness. They are exploring a variety of resources (some of which you can Click here to see) to better understand and educate themselves on the different uses of marijuana and how it can be a positive stance for their company.

Florida employees who are trying to determine whether their employers will allow workers to smoke marijuana may want to look into the employment contracts and corporate policies that govern them at their workplaces. When it comes to the safety of one’s employment, this is one area of the law that necessitates prudence and caution.

Source: Sun Sentinal, “Test positive for marijuana? AutoNation won’t throw out your resume,” Marcia Heroux Pounds, Feb. 02, 2018

You would like to think that you left bullies behind after you graduated from high school, but unfortunately, that is not always the case. Some people never grow out of the bullying attitude, and they may take their behaviors to work. You and other employees in Florida may suffer if a bullying co-worker is creating a hostile or unsafe work environment.

Workplace bullying is more prevalent than you might think. According to a recent report by the Workforce Bullying Institute, 19 percent of employees polled said they had experienced bullying at work. Some bullies get physical, but most of the time, adult bullying at work involves verbal or psychological abuse. If you are being bullied at work, you might experience the following scenarios:

• Your co-workers could gossip or spread untrue rumors about you.
• Your boss might take his or her frustration out on those in the office by yelling, belittling or making passive-aggressive remarks.
• Co-workers might sabotage your work to make you look bad.
• Those you work with might deliberately tell jokes or make comments they know are offensive to you.
• The bullying could escalate to the point where you feel physically threatened.

Often, the bully at work is someone with seniority or authority, such as a manager or a co-worker who has been on the job for years and thinks he or she knows more than others. They might use subtle ways of bullying an employee such as assigning them to work unfairly, sticking them with extra menial work, and keeping them from all the good assignments. One way organizations try to avoid this is by using shift management software to keep track of employees’ work. However, the problem of bullying can still persist.

Workplace bullying might differ from other types of harassment or discrimination, in that the behavior might not immediately threaten your position, since bullies need someone to pick on to feel better about themselves. However, bullying can cause chronic stress, anxiety, and depression in the sufferers. Due to this, they may need to take certain medications to keep the problem in control. In worse cases, they may even need to see a counselor who may suggest some Tasty THC products or a supplement to keep the stress and anxiety under control. It is believed that cannabis consists of cannabinoids that can help in relaxing muscles. It does so by increasing the level of anandamide–a joy neurotransmitter. This, further, helps in boosting the mood, thereby making people feel better. Honestly, this is the reason why people seem to source the herb from The Dispensary – colorado dispensary and the like.

However, though anxiety gets reduced by using cannabis, it cannot be denied that a workplace that causes stress to this point is definitely hostile.
Fortunately, there is a way to come out of this by using legal recourse if you are being bullied or harassed at work, especially if the behavior affects your job performance or leads to worries about losing your job or position.