Five Tips To Help You Prepare For An Employment Consultation

Workplace discrimination, wrongful termination, compensation issues, or owed wages are a few reasons to consult an employment lawyer or attorney. Ideally, an experienced employment lawyer will evaluate your situation and determine if there is a viable case for you under the law. 

While it is vital to hire a trusted legal expert who can offer confidential consultation or accurate representation, there is also a degree of preparation needed from your end. With a few tips in mind, you will be in a better position to discuss the issue with your lawyer and may even help speed up the process. To shed some light on the same, Mosson Law, LLC, has listed five tips to help you prepare for an employment consultation. 

Tip #1: Print any evidence before meeting your attorney

If you are an employee facing a legal problem at work, and you plan to meet an attorney, print out and bring the information involved.

This includes any important email, text message, HR handbook, union contract, job offer letter, termination letter, severance agreement offer, FMLA paperwork, doctor’s note, and the like. A lawyer cannot help you by listening to a “verbal summary” of these things, because it is not precise. A court of law will generally not accept emails and text messages, for instance, on phones for consideration unless they are turned into paper “documents.” Do this for your legal consultation too.

Tip #2: Come prepared and be open-minded

A legal consultation is an opportunity for you to educate yourself about your legal rights.

At Mosson Law, LLC, people come for legal consultations on one issue, and sometimes, other issues and workplace rights are involved.

At such times, it is important to come prepared as well as be open-minded.

Tip #3: Invest in yourself

In general, employment in the U.S. is “at-will” unless you have a written employment contract or work under a union contract. Thus, workplace rights involved are limited as well as highly specific to the local, state, and federal statutory laws involved that prevent discrimination based on certain "protected categories," or provide for workplace disability "accommodations" and/or "FMLA leave."  The list goes on.

Maryland common law, also known as jurisprudence, may provide other rights.

Mosson Law, LLC, charges for legal consultations because it is time-intensive, documents must be reviewed, and it is not an issue of “red light, yellow light, green light.” Sometimes, a solution is practical, rather than legal, and it pays off to proceed carefully and accurately.

Thus, investing in a legal consultation to support your working life, career, long-term employment prospects, protect your benefits, etc., makes common sense. Knowledge is power. Get informed.

Tip #4: Union members should carry their union contract

If you are a union member, seeking a legal consultation with a counsel outside your union network, bring your union contract.

Also, find out what your grievance process is. Obtain, if possible, the “grievance form,” if any, that must be used to file a grievance. This will help you generally.  Bring the form and grievance rules (if separate) too.

Tip #5: Gather proof if you’re owed wages

Owed wages? If you are working off-the-clock, waiting to be paid, working shifts and being shorted, or otherwise owed money for work, gather some proof. This proof can include timesheet copies, schedules, emails, and correspondence about ‘asking to be paid,’ emails, and promises of future payment. It can also include your own notes about the times you work if you make those notes the same day as each time that you work, preferably right before and right after your shift starts and ends. For instance, keep a journal in your car, and log when you arrive and when you leave, if you feel you cannot do it onsite. Make a record.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for an employment law attorney in Towson, MD, reach out to Mosson Law, LLC. We focus on representing employees in claims of illegal discrimination, retaliation, disability rights violations, wrongful termination, and owed wages. We consult on a confidential basis in one-hour legal consultations, and in ongoing manners, to help our clients solve workplace problems.

We also represent people in state and federal court, and before administrative agencies, as applicable.

Aside from Employment Law, our areas of focus include Family Law, Legal Consultations and Investigations, and Social Security Disability Benefits. We offer our legal services to clients across Baltimore County, the Baltimore metro area, and including Lutherville, Timonium, Mays Chapel, Monkton, Baltimore City, and Maryland-wide.

To learn more about our services, please click here, or to schedule a consultation with our attorney, get in touch with us by clicking here.