Employment Law
The attorneys at Hipes Law LLC represent employers and employees in disputes involving all aspects of the employment relationship. We routinely handle disputes involving the following:

Even if your issue is not listed here, please call us. We can handle practically any issue involving the employer-employee relationship. 

The following is a brief overview of some of the most common types of employment-related claims:

Wrongful Termination

The term "wrongful termination" is misleading because in Georgia and most other states, unless there is an employment agreement for a specified term, all employment is "at will." This means an employer can terminate an employee for any reason, or for no reason at all, unless:

1. The termination is based on unlawful discrimination or retaliation, or it violates public policy or some other employee rights law; or
2. There is an employment contract providing that the employee cannot be fired without just cause for a specific period of time.

An employer may fire an "at-will" employee because it does not get along with him/her, or even because it does not like the clothes the employee is wearing. In other words, it is not illegal for an employer to be "unfair" or "wrong" when it fires an "at-will" employee.

Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against employees, former employees, and applicants for employment based on their race, color, sex, national origin, or religion. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Title VII covers employers with at least fifteen employees.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) prohibits discrimination against employees over forty years old based on their age. The ADEA covers employers with at least twenty employees.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees. The ADA covers employers with at least fifteen employees.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination. The EPA does not have a minimum threshold number of employees for coverage.

Depending upon the jurisdiction, state and local fair employment laws may exist which impose different, and often stricter, requirements. In Georgia, public sector employees are protected by the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap, or age. Employees within the City of Atlanta are also protected by the Atlanta Human Relations Code, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, domestic relationship status, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, and physical disability. Unlawful discrimination may occur in any aspect of the employment relationship, including:

Discriminatory practices also include harassment or a hostile work environment based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability, or age.

Retaliation

Retaliation occurs when an employee complains about unlawful or discriminatory activity in the workplace, or participates in an investigation of unlawful or discriminatory activity, and the employer takes an adverse action against the employee in response to his/her actions. The law encourages employees to assert their employment rights when they genuinely believe their rights are being violated, and prohibits employers from penalizing them for doing so. Most of the laws protecting employees' rights have retaliation provisions.

Examples of retaliatory behavior include:

• An employee complains that his supervisor has been making racist jokes or sending emails containing such jokes at work. After learning of the employee's complaint, his supervisor starts giving him unfavorable work assignments.
• An employee's manager learns that she is participating in an investigation of a sexual harassment complaint against him. Shortly thereafter, the manager gives the employee an unusually negative evaluation even though her performance has remained consistently satisfactory.
• An employee takes maternity leave. When she returns, her employer strips her of her most important job duties, which, in turn, causes her to receive a lesser bonus.

Medical Leave

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), qualified employees are entitled to take up to twelve workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during any twelve-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

1. For the birth and care of the employee's newborn child;
2. For the placement with the employee of a child for foster care or adoption;
3. To care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition;
4. When the employee is unable to work because of his/her own serious health condition; or
5. For qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee's immediate family member (spouse, child or parent) is on active duty or has been called to active duty status as a member of the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation.

A covered employer also must grant an eligible employee who is a spouse, child, parent or next of kin of a current member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, with a serious injury or illness up to a total of 26 workweeks of unpaid leave during a "single twelve-month period" to care for the servicemember.

The FMLA applies to public sector employers and private sector employers with at least fifty employees. To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must:

• Work for a covered employer;
• Have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months;
• Have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months; and
• Work at a worksite within 75 miles from the employer.

The FMLA requires employers to restore employees who return from FMLA leave to the same or an equivalent position with pay, benefits and responsibilities similar to the level that existed when leave began. The FMLA also prohibits retaliation against employees for exercising, or attempting to exercise, their FMLA rights.

Overtime

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) requires covered employers to pay employees at least a minimum wage, as well as overtime pay for hours worked in excess of forty in a workweek at a rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay. Most private sector employers whose annual gross sales are at least $500,000 are covered by the FLSA.

The FLSA, however, contains a number of exemptions from the overtime pay requirement. The most common exemptions are the so-called "white collar" exemptions, which apply to employees employed as bona fide executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees. Certain computer employees are also exempt. To qualify for these exemptions, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $455 per week. Job titles alone do not determine exempt status.

Some of the more common traps under the FLSA include the following:

• The common misconception that all salaried employees are exempt from the overtime pay requirement;
• The mistaken belief that all employees with the title of "supervisor" are exempt from the overtime pay requirement;
• The failure to pay for all hours worked during the work day in situations where the employee clocks in early, or out late, or works through a mandatory lunch break;
• "Shaving" of hours or requiring employees to work "off-the-clock" to avoid overtime;
• The misclassification of employees as independent contractors;
• The failure to include certain forms of compensation, like non-discretionary bonuses or incentive compensation, when calculating the overtime pay rate;
• The misconception that an employee can agree to waive the overtime pay requirement and accept straight time pay for hours worked in excess of forty.

Remedies

The remedies available for violation of these and other employee rights laws may include:

• Reinstatement
• Back pay
• Front pay
• Emotional distress damages
• Compensatory damages
• Punitive damages
• Attorneys' fees
• Litigation expenses
• Court costs

Injunctive relief, requiring some affirmative action by the employer, may also be available. For example, the court may require the employer to administer sensitivity or diversity training, or to develop programs to monitor its hiring and promotion practices.