Attorneys Who Work for Indiana Employees
If you’ve been mistreated at work, we can demand the money you deserve
As an employee, you have rights. You should be paid for all hours worked, and unless you fit the legal criteria to be considered exempt, you should be paid overtime. You also have the right to a workplace free from unlawful discrimination and harassment. And you shouldn’t be retaliated against for exercising your rights, whether that’s taking FMLA leave or reporting misconduct in good faith.
Unfortunately, too many employers don’t follow the law, and too many workers are left to suffer in silence. Take your voice back with Nilges Draher LLC on your side.
We are experienced employment law attorneys who handle all types of federal cases in Indiana and throughout the Midwest, including:
In Indiana, many workplace discrimination or harassment cases are often investigated by the Indiana Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) or the Indiana Attorney General’s office. The federal government – whether it’s the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the U.S. Department of Justice – might also conduct its own investigation.
But even if there’s an official investigation being conducted by a state or federal agency, it’s important to understand that they’re often only concerned with determining whether your rights have been violated. Their investigation often does not involve making sure you are fairly compensated for lost wages or other financial losses.
If you believe your employer has violated your legal rights, we can help. Contact us today to speak with a member of our team about your situation. Our discussion is fully confidential and there is no obligation to hire us, just answers about your legal rights and options. We may suggest that you pursue relief through a federal agency or a federal court lawsuit, or we may refer you to a licensed Indiana attorney to advise you as to issues of state law.
Wrongful Termination
Indiana is an “at-will” state, but your employer still isn’t allowed to fire you for an illegal reason. You can’t be terminated for a protected characteristic such as race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion, nor can you be fired in retaliation for a protected action like taking FMLA leave or reporting misconduct. If that’s what happened to you, then you have legal recourse. A wrongful termination attorney can help.
We may be able to pursue compensation such as:
- Reinstatement – getting your job back, if feasible.
- Back pay – wages, bonuses, benefits, and overtime pay that you lost because you were wrongfully fired.
- Front pay – compensation for the time before you are reinstated or while you look for a new job.
- Compensatory damages – reimbursement for expenses related to your job loss, such as job search expenses, penalties for missed bills, or medical expenses.
You don’t just have to walk away from a wrongful termination. You have legal rights, and we will work to protect them. Give us a call today to speak with a member of our legal team.
Discrimination
By law, it’s illegal for employers to treat you differently because of a protected characteristic: your race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age (if you are 40 or older), disability, or genetic information. This applies to every aspect of employment, from hiring, to work hours or assignments, to pay, benefits, promotions, and raises, to layoffs and firings.
Unlawful discrimination may be blatantly unfair treatment, like firing or demotion, or it may be subtle: giving you less prestigious assignments or holding you to different standards in performance reviews. Either way, it’s against the law, and your legal rights should be protected. If you’re being discriminated against at work, give us a call today. An experienced discrimination lawyer can help you every step of the way.
Harassment
No workplace is perfect, but every employee can expect a workplace free from unlawful harassment. If you are pervasively harassed at work because of a protected characteristic (race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information), your employer can be held liable. The same is true if you are a victim of sexual harassment (unwanted sexual advances or other conduct of a sexual nature), or if you’re harassed in retaliation for making a complaint in good faith.
Whether the harassment comes from a manager, colleague, client, customer, or vendor, if it’s happening at work, your employer is legally responsible for putting a stop to it. If they don’t, we can help hold them accountable for their actions or inaction. Protect your rights. Get an experienced harassment attorney on your side.
Medical Leave and FMLA
Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you qualify to take unpaid time off if you have worked for your employer for at least 12 months and your employer has more than 50 employees within 75 miles of your workplace. You can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for several reasons, including:
- Receive treatment or recover from a serious injury or illness.
- Care for an immediate family member (such as a parent, spouse, or child) with a serious injury or illness.
- Bond with a new child (whether born or adopted).
Your employer has to give you this unpaid leave, and they can’t retaliate against you for taking it. Under federal and state law, you may be entitled to other types of medical leave as well. And if your employer has their own medical leave policy, they must enforce it fairly, without unlawful discrimination or retaliation against employees who exercise their rights.
If you’re being denied medical leave or retaliated against for taking medical leave, you have legal recourse, and our FMLA attorneys can help. Contact us today to discuss your situation with an experienced member of our legal team.
Wage and Hour Claims
Under both federal and state law in Indiana, you should be paid for all hours worked. That includes time spent traveling as part of your job. It includes time spent putting on or taking off protective gear, answering email, assisting customers, and anything else you do for your employer even if it’s outside your scheduled shift. It includes any breaks shorter than 30 uninterrupted minutes. And if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you are generally entitled to be paid time and a half for those extra hours.
Unfortunately, whether through ignorance or intentional misconduct, many employers fail to follow the law. Nilges Draher LLC has experience representing employees in a wide variety of wage and hour cases, including:
- Unpaid overtime
- Unpaid breaks
- Unpaid travel time
- Misclassifying employees as exempt
- Misclassifying employees as independent contractors
- Unlawful rounding (i.e., time clock punches that always round your hours down) and pay-to-shift practices
- Failure to account for commissions and bonuses in overtime
- Minimum wage violations
If you’re in one of these situations, your employer is stealing money right out of your paycheck – and in all likelihood, you aren’t the only employee being treated this way. Our wage and hour attorneys have recovered millions on behalf of classes of workers who were not paid all the wages they were legally owed. We can help you, too. Give us a call today to speak with a member of our legal team about your case.