Employee Rights:

• Defamation: Any propaganda of lies or false statements against another person is called defamation. Written defamation is known as ‘libel’ and oral defamation is known as ‘slander’. No employer can engage in defamation of any employee, and if they do so, the employee can assert his right and take legal action against his employer. Petty talk such as water cooler talk and office gossip does not qualify as defamation.
• Discrimination: Employees have the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of their caste, religion, race, nationality, sex, and age. But not being hired if you do not qualify for a particular position does not constitute discrimination.
• Sexual Harassment: Any unwelcome and unsolicited sexual behavior or sexual advances can be termed as sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes, sexual remarks, inappropriate body contact, flirting, sexual jokes and innuendos, and displaying of any sexually explicit material. If an employee encounters sexual harassment at the workplace, they are within their rights to sue the perpetrator of such unwelcome behavior.
• At Will Employment: This means that the employment is at the will of both parties and the employee is not bound under contract and can quit the job at any time for any reason whatsoever. This also means that the employer can fire the employee for any reason and the employee then has no right under ‘at will employment’.
• Minimum Wage: All employees have the right to receive at least minimum wages for their work. Under the federal law, the minimum wage for eligible employees is $5.15 per hour but this might be different under individual state laws. Employees need not be paid on an hourly basis but their pay divided by the number of hours of work should be up to the minimum wage level. In the first 90 days of work, employees do not have the right to minimum wage but after the 90-day period is over, they can assert this right. There are certain restrictions to this rule such as people who receive tips or commissioned employees, but by and large employees have to be given minimum wages.
• Overtime Benefits: If any employee works more than 40 hours in a week, they may be entitled to overtime pay. Typically, overtime pay is one and a half times the regular hourly pay of an employee. They can be paid on a monthly or annual basis, but the rate of overtime pay has to be calculated according to per hour of overtime duty. Employees who are at an executive or managerial level are not entitled to overtime pay.
• Whistleblower Rights: An employee is termed as a whistleblower if he tells on his employer. The law protects whistleblower employees and it is illegal for any employer to retaliate against any employee who blows the whistle on him. An employee cannot be fired, suspended, demoted, or harassed for telling on his employer, and this encourages employees to report on any illegal or fraudulent activity that their employers might be involved in.
• Wrongful Termination: Employees cannot be wrongly discharged or unfairly terminated. But not every unfair termination can be deemed a wrongful discharge.

If employees find that any of their employment rights have been violated, they can avail the services of a specialized lawyer and can file a lawsuit against their employers. Care should be taken to see that they have an actual case and that their rights have been violated and is not just a case of retaliation against the employer for any reason.

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