When you go to work, the last thing you expect to happen is that another employee is going to harass you. Instead, you want to put in your hours, work hard on your projects, and come home after a successful day. However, discrimination and harassment can happen in any line of work, including federal employment. If you believe that someone at your office is harassing you or discriminating against you, please contact a workplace retaliation lawyer from a law firm like Davie & Valdez, P.C.
All employees have the right to be able to go to work in peace. If someone is harassing you, it can make it nearly impossible for you to do your job and that is not the environment you should be in. You should feel safe and comfortable when you go to work each day.
What kind of harassment can there be with federal employees?
Unfortunately, harassment and discrimination can come in many forms. Any kind of employment decisions that someone makes about you (such as hiring, firing, and a promotion) cannot be done based off of:
- Your age
- Your race
- Your religion
- Your gender
- Your sexual orientation
There are many examples of how your employer or colleagues can harass you or discriminate against you. You may have experienced one of the following problems at your work or a similar situation.
- Your boss denied you equal pay for equal work.
- Your employer and/or other employees retaliated against you for whistleblowing or activities before EEO activities.
- Someone at work is making sexual statements or physically touching you in inappropriate ways.
- Someone is verbally harassing you.
If any of these statements sound familiar to you or you were in similar situations, you should not hesitate to contact a workplace retaliation lawyer to get any help you might need. You should never feel uncomfortable or unsafe going to your place of work.
Helping Initiate an Equal Employee Opportunity (EEO) Claim
If someone is harassing you, you may wish to initiate an EEO claim. It is important to know what the deadlines are for filing a claim and you should speak with your attorney quickly to ensure you get your claim in on time. Unfortunately, even though you were placed in a bad situation does not mean that the policies regarding time limits for applications are less strict. Depending on the agency you are in, the EEO complaint must typically be filed within 45 calendar days of when the discrimination or harassment took place. Once filed, the agency decides if they will begin a formal investigation of the alleged harassment or if they will dismiss it.
Reaching out to a workplace retaliation lawyer could be the help you need to understand your legal options further.