If you think you have been discriminated against, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE listen to the following:
DO NOT try and do this yourself!!!
DO NOT rely on an administrative agency to do this for you!!!
An inquiry to an administrative agency IS NOT A CHARGE. It DOES NOT perfect your rights.
Contact an EMPLOYMENT LAWYER right away. Not a personal injury lawyer. Not a bankruptcy lawyer. Not a medical malpractice lawyer. An employment lawyer. Preferably one that is board certified in labor and employment law. Any lawyer can create a fancy-sounding email or advertise about how amazing they are—if they are not board certified in labor and employment law, then chances are THEY ARE NOT employment lawyers! Go to their website—if they don’t mention employment law first thing, then THEY ARE NOT EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS!
Contact an employment lawyer IN YOUR AREA! If you live in Dallas/Fort Worth, there are plenty of employment lawyers in the area that can help you. DO NOT hire some attorney from Florida, or Mississippi, or Michigan.
Generally speaking, you should NOT pay an attorney, especially if it is one that only wants to help you through the administrative process and will NOT litigate your case. First, if you have a good case, a board certified labor and employment attorney will normally take it on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything. Paying an attorney $2,500 to handle the case through the administrative process is most likely a waste of your money. If it’s a good case, someone will take it on a contingency basis. However, there may be times when an attorney is on the fence about the case, or you have a disagreement over what you think the case is worth, and in that situation, it’s reasonable for an attorney to ask you to pay hourly. But there again, that should be for the whole case, not just the administrative process.
DO GET A SECOND OR THIRD OPINION. Even employment lawyers can disagree about a case. Where one might think there is no case, another one might see something the first one missed. Get a second opinion. But if you have called two or three EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS and they are all telling you that you don’t have a case, then you should probably believe them. Or if they say you have a case but they want money up front, then you probably don’t have a case. Don’t throw good money after bad!
Notice how I am not saying “CALL ME!” That’s because the point of this is not to get business — it is to prevent people from getting taken advantage of further by either throwing money away or, worse, losing your right to bring a good discrimination case.
