Employment Law
The following information is designed to assist you in determining whether or not you may have legal remedies to compensate you for an unfortunate set of circumstances with your employer. It is by no means a complete list nor should be a substitute for fact specific legal advice an attorney can provide to you with a personal consultation.

Wrongful Termination
The employer-employee relationship in Rhode Island and Massachusetts is "at will" contractual relationship, which means that subject to several important limitations, employees may be fired for virtually any reason - fair or unfair. In certain instances, however, an employee may have a valid claim against his or her employer. For instance, if your employer promised its employee a job for a certain term of time and subsequently fired the employee, the employer may be in breach of its contractual obligation to pay you for the defined term.

Also, by law, an employer cannot fire employees for asserting their rights to minimum wage and overtime pay; initiating or forming a union; firing or discriminating against any employee on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, age (over 40), use of tobacco products outside of work, disability, reporting the employer to a government agency for their possible violations of laws, or other selected reasons.

If your employer has terminated you for any of these reasons you may have a legal cause of action against them for back, reinstatement, front pay, compensatory, and punitive damages.

Age Discrimination
If you are over 40 and are terminated and your job is subsequently given to a person under 40, or if you are at least equally qualified for a job that is given to a person under 40 you may have a cause of action of age discrimination claim against your employer.

Sexual Discrimination
Under both state (Rhode Island and Massachusetts) and federal law, two distinct types of conduct in the workplace constitute a legal cause of action for sexual harassment. The first is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that either unreasonably interferes with your job performance by creating an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive work environment (a "hostile environment"). Or, alternatively when an employee submits to or rejects a sexual advance from another employee at his or her workplace, and that occurrence later affects employment decisions by the employer in regards to the employee. ("quid pro quo").

Victims subject to this type of behavior may have a legal cause of action for damages they sustained. This could include injunctive relief; if fired or employment is terminated it could include backpay, reinstatement, front pay, compensatory (i.e. emotional distress) and punitive damages. In addition, you may also be eligible for unemployment and workers' compensation claims.

Disability Discrimination
Any individual working for a company with 15 or more employees cannot, by law be discriminated against based upon their disability if the individual is otherwise qualified to perform the essential functions of his or her job with or without reasonable accommodation. Therefore, if you have a disability and were denied a request to your employer for a reasonable work accommodation, which results in an adverse employment consequence, including denial of employment possibilities or opportunities, you may have a cause of action. The definition of a disability, which includes not only the legal definition but also if you are regarded as being disabled by your employer, and the determination of what constitutes a reasonable accommodation are usually fact specific and can only be ascertained after personal consultation with an attorney.

Family Medical Leave
If you work for employer that has over 50 employees or if you work for any federal agency, or any Rhode Island state agency or municipality with 30 or more employees and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months you are probably eligible for 12 workweeks of unpaid leave within a 12 month period for the birth and care of your new born baby; the adoption or foster care placement of a child; the care of a spouse, child or parent for a serious health condition; or your own serious health condition that renders you unable to perform your normal work duties. Massachusetts has more liberal provisions for female employees.

Upon your return from leave, with some exceptions, the employer is required to reinstate you in your old position or, if unavailable, a comparable position instead. "Comparable" is defined as equal pay, hours, shift assignment, benefits and responsibility.

Whistleblower Laws
State (Rhode Island and Massachusetts) and federal whistleblower statutes legally protect employees that have the courage to report possible violations of any law regulation or rule promulgated under the state, its political subdivision or the United States by their employer to a governmental body, unless he or she has reason to believe the report is false.

Employer are not allowed to discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate against an employee because the employee reports or is about to report to a public body, verbally or in writing, a violation which the employee knows or reasonably believes has occurred or is about to occur, of a law or regulation or rule promulgated under the law of this state, a political subdivision of this state, or the United States, unless the employee knows or has reason to know that the report is false.

Drug Testing
Under Rhode Island law the scope of employee drug testing is limited to: (i) pre-employment, and (ii) if the employer has reasonable grounds to believe based on specific aspects of the employee's job performance and specific contemporaneous observations, capable of being articulated, concerning the employee's appearance, behavior or speech that the employee's use of controlled substances is impairing his or her ability to perform his or her job. In addition, the federal government has also carved out certain exceptions.

Can We Assist You?
If, after reading the foregoing information (which can only be used as a guide), you believe that you may have a valid legal claim, we invite you to contact us to further discuss. We will assist you in determining whether or not you have a valid claim for at no cost to you.