December 3, 2022
Workplace laws are vitally important to understand and use to protect yourself and your friends at work.
Employment laws include the following protections:
If you are injured at work, workers’ compensation laws provide you with lost wages, pay for all your medical services and provide you a lump sum payment called a permanent partial disability payment. The Hurm Law Firm is a perfect firm to protect your workers’ compensation rights and you should contact us right away at (216) 860-1922 with any questions.
Every worker contributes to unemployment insurance and should not hesitate to use it when necessary. Unemployment insurance pays you a percentage of your wages when you are laid off or fired without cause.
All Americans are legally protected from negative employment actions taken because of discrimination on the basis of the workers’ race, color, nation of origin, gender, sex, religion, age, disability, or many other reason.
Employers cannot fire or discipline you because you exercised your rights above including your right to protection from filing a claim for discrimination, your right to file workers’ compensation claims, or other lawful actions.
Employees are protected from reporting dangerous or illegal actions by their employer.
Employees are protected from an unsafe or unhealthy workplace.
Employees can enforce their right to overtime and minimum wage through the Fair Labor Standards Act and/or the Ohio Constitution.
These are the key employment laws and they apply to everyone. If you are an at-will employee, as are most employees in Ohio, then those are all the workplace protections you have.
If you work under a collective bargaining agreement or you are a union member you get additional protections. These additional protections are labor laws and they govern both your rights as an employer and govern your employer and union’s actions and relationship. The key federal and Ohio labor laws:
The law governing union workplaces whether the employer is not the government. All union workers employed by the private sector are governed by this Act.
O.R.C. 4117- The law governing Ohio government workers
If you work under a collective bargaining agreement or you are a union member you still have the protection of employment laws, but the first question is whether the issue you face is contractual or statutory. Most issues workers have with their bosses are covered by the collective bargaining agreement and therefore contractual. That said, many discrimination and retaliation laws are not covered by the collective bargaining agreement and are wholly separate and can only be enforced by statute and in the courts.
Whether you are a regular at-will employee and want to enforce a right under the employment laws above or you are a labor union or its member and want to enforce a right under the labor laws, the Hurm Law Firm is an experienced and exceptional law firm that can give you the upper hand to get a good result.
Address: 135 Southwood Road, Akron, OH
Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Phone: (216) 860-1922 | Fax: (216) 820-4347