Murfreesboro Employment Lawyers

As a worker in Tennessee, you have statutory legal rights meant to ensure fair treatment in exchange for your hard work. Although Tennessee is an at-will employment state (one of 49), many exceptions to at-will employment exist and you should discuss your termination with an experienced employment lawyer if your intuition is telling you something is off.

Our Murfreesboro employment attorneys represent workers in wrongful termination cases throughout Tennessee. Our firm holds employers accountable for their unlawful actions in court and before the EEOC.

If you believe you were wrongfully terminated or are experiencing severe discrimination in the workplace, contact our law firm right away online or at the number above. For many employment discrimination claims you may have 300 days or less to preserve your legal rights, so take action today.

Employment Law Claims in Tennessee

The types of employment claims in Tennessee include discrimination, harassment, retaliation based on a protected class or activity. Employment laws prohibits discrimination and harassment that is based on an employee’s protected class such as race, disability, age, sex, national origin, and color.

There are short deadlines in which you must act to preserve your legal claims. So, if you and/or coworkers are being treated poorly based on your legally protected class, immediately contact our firm online or at the number above.

Legally Hostile Work Environments

Experiencing harassment at work can be traumatic and extremely stressful. However, you do not have to tolerate this type of misconduct by supervisors or coworkers out of fear of losing your job. Federal and Tennessee law prohibit severe or pervasive harassment based on your protected class.

A legally hostile work environment occurs when you are subjected to severe or pervasive offensive harassment (name calling, threats, sexual advances, etc.) that are based on your protected class and prevents you from fully performing your job. Hostile work environment claims are highly nuanced and the first step in determining if you have a legal claim is to contact an experienced Murfreesboro employment lawyer.

Proving Workplace Discrimination Claims

The easiest method to prove discrimination claims is via direct evidence. Direct evidence shows unlawful discrimination in and of itself. For example, if a hiring manager states that he will not hire you because you are pregnant, this statement is direct evidence of sex and pregnancy discrimination. Most decision makers are not dumb enough to say such unlawful statements out loud, but direct evidence does occasionally surface in discrimination cases.

In most cases, the only available means of proving discrimination is through circumstantial evidence (indirect proof), which means showing the underlying claims by logical inference. Basically, the goal is to undermine the veracity of the employer’s reason for your termination. For example, human resources told you that you were let go due to cost-cutting measures and a reduction in force, but you are the only person terminated. Or perhaps the employer’s reason is poor attendance, but you only missed one day of work with advanced notice. These types of inconsistencies can be used as circumstantial proof to show that the company’s stated reason for your termination is untrue in an effort to hide the real (and unlawful) reason.

Indirect proof of employment discrimination or retaliation can be established in several ways, including:

• Timing: You are terminated soon after reporting workplace discrimination or harassment (referred to as close “temporal proximity”);
• Shifting rationales: Human resources provides you with two or more different reasons for your sudden discharge;
• Worse treatment: Male workers are treated better, while females are chastised, not promoted, and paid less;
• Discriminatory comments: Insulting statements by a supervisor can prove hostility against your protected class;
• Failure to adhere to company policy: The employer’s handbook calls for progressive discipline, but the company ignores it.

Our Tennessee employment lawyers serving Murfreesboro can help fight for your workplace rights and file claims in court and before the EEOC.

Protections Against Workplace Retaliation

Employees are understandably fearful of retaliation if they report harassment or discrimination at work. In fact, retaliation claims are the most frequently filed claims every year with the EEOC. The law provides robust protections against such retaliation, but some employers willfully violate the law by targeting employees who sound the alarm on ongoing unlawful employment practices.

This type of workplace retaliation is illegal and speaking with our skilled employment lawyers serving Murfreesboro is a recommended first step.

Common Examples of Workplace Retaliation

Examples of unlawful workplace retaliation include an employer firing an employee after the employee:

• Lodged a complaint about workplace harassment discrimination
• Opposed harassment for oneself and/or coworkers
• Filed an EEOC charge of discrimination
• Filed a lawsuit against the employer
• Participated in a workplace investigation

Protect Your Legal Rights – Contact Us

If you may have employment law claims, our knowledgeable employment lawyers serving Murfreesboro can help you obtain the justice you deserve. You can contact our firm online or at the number above.