Zachary Zawarski is an employment lawyer located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The three largest areas of employment law are wrongful termination, employment discrimination, and unemployment benefits. Zachary Zawarski is currently only taking on clients for unemployment compensation appeals or individuals seeking an attorney review of a separation agreement or severance agreement. Zachary Zawarski is not currently handling wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, or harassment cases.
Unemployment Benefits
In Pennsylvania, an employee who is involuntarily terminated without cause can obtain unemployment benefits. A claim must first be filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry. The Department of Labor & Industry will determine your eligibility by seeing if you earned sufficient wages during the time that you were employed and whether the loss of your job qualifies you for unemployment compensation benefits. Our law office can help you appeal a claim if it has been denied. If you would like representation for an unemployment compensation appeal, please call me at (610) 417-6345.
Wrongful Termination
Pennsylvania is an at-will employment state, which means that employers may terminate an at-will employee for any reason or no reason at all. However, there may be certain circumstances which may make your termination wrongful. You may find that you’re not an at-will employee because your contract was for a specific term. You may also find that your contract states that you can only be terminated for cause.
Additionally, there may be other grounds which make your termination wrongful such as discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, or age. Certain terminations are also considered against public policy and are considered wrongful. Some examples of a wrongful terminations based on public policy are if you are terminated for missing work due to serving jury duty or you refused to commit a criminal act when your employer requested you to do so. The public policy exception generally applies when the employee is terminated for exercising a federally-recognized right.
Employment Discrimination
The protected classes against employment discrimination are race, color, national origin, religion, sex, and age. Employment discrimination applies not only to employee terminations or refusing to hire someone, but it also applies to other employment acts such as raises, promotions, vacation time, and other employment-related benefits or privileges. Therefore, if you were denied a raise or promotion because of your race or sex, you may have a claim for employment discrimination.
Sexual Harassment
If you were terminated or forced to quit due to sexual harassment in your workplace, seek the counsel of an attorney immediately. An attorney will be able to advise you concerning the procedure that must be followed to file a sexual harassment claim.
Whistleblower Cases
If you were terminated or retaliated against for reporting wrongdoing or waste to an appropriate authority, you may be protected by Pennsylvania’s Whistleblower Law. Although Pennsylvania’s Whistleblower Law only applies to public employers, some private employers fall within the scope of the act if they receive funding from a public body.
