If your employer has violated your employee rights, allowed workplace discrimination to flourish, failed to pay you for all hours worked, or has engaged in other conduct you think is illegal, you might be considering talking to an employment law attorney to learn about your legal options and potential remedies. Most employment lawyers offer free consultations to allow both of you to determine whether you have a viable claim and if you would work well together. To get the most out of your consultation, you need to prepare. Here are some recommendations from Swartz Swidler about how to prepare for your employment law consultation.
Narrow Your List
Before you schedule consultations with employment lawyers, you should narrow down your list to only a few candidates. Look for an employment firm that represents plaintiffs instead of employers. You can find employment lawyers by asking for referrals from friends or family members who have hired employment attorneys in the past, checking with the New Jersey State Bar, and researching employment lawyers in your area online. Look for an employment lawyer with significant experience handling employment law matters who has a record of success in and out of the courtroom. Schedule consultations with two or three attorneys who appear to be the most promising.
Create a Timeline
Before your consultation, it’s a good idea to create a detailed timeline of every event that happened to you at your job. This timeline should include the dates and locations where each incident occurred and the names of any coworkers who witnessed your mistreatment. If your case involves your employer’s failure to pay for all hours worked or overtime hours, you should gather your paystubs and keep a written record of the hours you worked.
Include information about any significant changes in your job duty imposed on you by your employer with the dates they occurred and how long they lasted. This can be important if you resign from your job because the environment becomes too hostile to remain. Every entry on your timeline should include detailed notes, including your start date, your original supervisor, each subsequent supervisor, and details about everything that you believe was discriminatory or inappropriate.
If you think that your employer treated your coworkers better than you because of your protected characteristics, include details about the treatment they received vs. the treatment you did. If other workers with similar characteristics also were treated disparately, write down that information. Describe how your employer’s actions affected you financially and emotionally and how you reacted.
Keep your chronology in a safe place away from your job. Do not save it on a work computer or store it anywhere in your office. Similarly, you’ll also want to keep the documents you will gather in a safe place outside of work.
Gather Documents
Try to gather as many documents as possible that are relevant to your case. An employment law attorney will want to review your documents to assess the merits of your potential case. If you can, make photocopies of the documents and leave a copy at the attorney’s office before your consultation so that they will have time to review them. You should also keep copies for yourself in a file at home.
Some examples of documents to gather and provide to the lawyer include:
- Your employment offer letter
- Copies of your employee handbook and your company’s policies and procedures
- Performance evaluations dating back to your first one to present
- Your job description
Resume - Emails, text messages, and memorandums relevant to your case
- Pay stubs
- List of individuals who witnessed the incidents with contact information
The attorney might ask you to provide other documents besides these.
What to Do When It’s Time for Consultation
When the day of your consultation arrives, take your file with your documents and chronology with you. Recognize that consultation is your opportunity to interview a potential employment law attorney, and bring a list of questions to ask about their experience, whether they have handled cases similar to yours in the past, their record, trial experience, and preferred communication methods. Make sure to be on time. This demonstrates you value the attorney’s time and are serious about your concerns.
Don’t tell any coworkers about your consultation. What you say to a lawyer is confidential, and your attorney won’t talk about your case without your permission. Similarly, you should avoid telling friends or family members about your consultation so that they don’t tell others. Always go to your consultation alone. While your significant other might go with you for moral support, tell them they will need to wait in the waiting area while you go into the consultation by yourself.
Make sure you are completely honest with the attorney. Don’t embellish anything, and don’t omit anything. Explain everything that happened, including anything that you might think would make others view you negatively. This can help your attorney understand what your employer might argue about you so that they can prepare for it.
Finally, be prepared to hear something you might not like. Not all negative workplace incidents rise to the level of a legal case. If you learn that the lawyer doesn’t believe your case is strong enough to pursue, accept their analysis. If your claim is not legally valid, the lawyer will explain that to you and decline representation.
Speak to an Employment Law Attorney in New Jersey
If you think your employer has engaged in illegal conduct or has otherwise violated your employee rights, you should reach out to the employment lawyers at Swartz Swidler, LLC. We have represented employees for years and have substantial experience handling all types of employment law cases. Call us today at (856) 685-7420.
