Here are a few of the laws we use to fight for our clients.

Title VII: Prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, gender, religion, national origin, or pregnancy in employment settings.

Equal Pay Act: Requires that employees performing generally the same job receive equal pay no matter their gender.

Americans with Disabilities Act: Prohibits discrimination against employees with physical or mental impairments serious enough to substantially affect one or more of their major life activities.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act: Prohibits workplace discrimination based on age against workers 40 and older.

Private Sector Drug Testing Law: Requires employers to follow strict rules if they perform drug or alcohol testing.

Family Medical Leave Act: Allows employees to up to 12 weeks off work per year for personal or family illnesses, or to care for new children.

Fair Labor Standards Act: Provides nonexempt employees with minimum wage and time-and-one-half pay for overtime.

Title IX: Prohibits sex discrimination by educational institutions against students, student-athletes, and employees.

USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act): Prohibits discrimination at the workplace against those who serve in the military.

Iowa Civil Rights Act: Prohibits discrimination and harassment based on age, sex, race, color, national origin, disability, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law: Guarantees that employees get paid for their work and reimbursed for work-related expenses.

Nebraska Fair Employment Act: Prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), disability, and marital status.

Nebraska Age Discrimination in Employment Act: Prohibits workplace discrimination based on age.

If you think you are being harassed or discriminated against, you should tell everyone you can think of that you want it to stop. This is easier said than done, because you may be worried about retaliation. But people who don’t try to actively stop harassment may find that the law does not give them a remedy.

Reports in writing are best, especially via email because those leave a record of dates and times you complained. Complain to your supervisor, your supervisor’s boss, human resources, and any corporate hot-line. Keep complaining—even if it doesn’t seem to be doing any good. Documenting your complaints will help protect you from retaliation.

Ask for an up-to-date copy of your personnel file. You are entitled to it under Iowa law. Your employer can charge you copying costs similar to what a copying store would charge.

Save evidence, including copies of:
Offensive or other relevant emails
Gifts, letters, or cards given to you by the harasser
Any physical evidence—we’ve seen nooses, written “jokes,” panties, offensive pictures, lewd calendars, etc.
Photographs of offensive graffiti or other visual harassment
Notes or diary entries you’ve made about the harassment or discrimination
Complaints you’ve made, with your employer’s response
Documents showing how good you are at your job, such as compliments from a customer or boss

Contact a lawyer as soon as possible to make sure you don’t miss any legal deadlines. Deadlines for filing employment cases vary. For example, you must file a civil rights complaint within 300 days for most cases of harassment, retaliation, and discrimination in the workplace. Federal employees only have 45 days to contact their EEO officer with a complaint. Some claims have a two-year statute of limitation. Race discrimination or harassment claims may have a four-year deadline.

The best course of action is to ask for legal advice as soon as you feel your rights may have been violated. All communication with our office is confidential, and you can seek help without your employer knowing.

At your initial meeting, we will help you determine what legal or administrative actions you can take, if any. We will also figure out if Fiedler Law Firm is qualified and able to help with your case. If we can’t help you, we will gladly refer you to other law firms in the area who we know and trust, or to a government agency that may be able to help.

Most of the time, we take employment cases on a “contingency fee basis.” This means our fee is a percentage of what we’re able to recover for you. If you don’t recover damages, you don’t owe us any attorney fees.

Win or lose, you will have to pay for the expenses of the lawsuit, like filing fees, photocopying, investigative costs, deposition expenses, and other administrative costs that come up. Because we understand that you may have just been fired, we will work with you to make financial arrangements that are fair and feasible.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this one. Each case is unique, and its length will depend on a variety of issues, like if the case can be settled without a trial, how many people are involved, and how complicated the legal issues are. Generally, after a lawsuit is filed, it takes anywhere from 12 to 24 months to get to trial, depending on the court.

Without sounding too much “like a lawyer,” there is no foolproof way to predict what a case is worth. There are too many variables that affect the final outcome, and it’s impossible to predict what a jury will decide on any given day.

Examples of what our clients commonly recover include medical and counseling expenses, past and future lost wages and employment benefits, and damages for emotional distress.

Punitive damages are also sometimes awarded. Punitive damages do not exist to compensate you, but rather to punish those who violate the law and to deter others from doing so.