Phoenix Employment Lawyer

Skilled Employment Attorney in Arizona

Are you a worker who has been wrongfully terminated by an employer, harassed, or retaliated against for exercising your rights?

Salwin Law Group is here to help. An honors graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, Stewart Salwin is a hard-hitting employment attorney in Scottsdale and Phoenix. He represents employees in cases of wrongful termination, hostile work environment, employment discrimination, and retaliation.

Mr. Salwin learned employment law by first working on the other side, representing large companies as a big firm defense litigator. Now he uses his insider experience to help individuals take on large employers… and win!

Salwin Law Group has successfully represented employees in cases against some of the world’s largest employers. No employer or litigation team is too large for us to confront.

Mr. Salwin knows the ins and outs of Arizona employment law litigation–from settlement negotiations, to EEOC representation, and litigation to jury trial. Level the playing field and put an elite employment law attorney on your side.

Fighting for Employee Rights

Employment litigation can often seem like a David v. Goliath struggle.

Employees are often everyday people who might depend on the income from their jobs to for their livelihood. Employers are usually corporate entities with large resources and a group of attorneys on-call. Employer regularly use overbearing attitudes and intimidation tactics to try to scare an employee who dares to assert his or her rights — hoping that the employee will just go away.

That’s where Salwin Law comes in.

We know that employment law has provisions to protect employees from illegal employment actions, something that your employer might want to ignore. And we know the best way to use the state and federal employment laws to give YOU the advantage.

Types of Employment Cases We Handle

Salwin Law Group helps employees in a variety of legal disputes arising under Federal and State employment law, including the following issues:

Wrongful Termination

Arizona is what is known as an “at will” employment state. This means that generally, Arizona employers can fire an employee for almost any reason.

However, employees can claim wrongful employment if an employer fires an employee:

• In breach of an employment contract
• In violation of state or federal law

If an employer fires you in violation of the law or an employment contact, you may have the right to compensation.

Workplace Harassment

The Arizona Civil Rights Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protect employees from harassment in the workplace that is based off of certain legally defined categories.

Many people have heard of workplace harassment in the context of “sexual harassment.”

But harassment in Arizona employment law covers a broad range of categories, andharassment is prohibited on the basis of:

• Sex/gender
• Race or ethnicity
• Religion
• National origin
• Sexual orientation
• Age
• Disability

Stewart Salwin has successfully pursued claims by employees who have experienced sexual harassment and other forms of harassment in the workplace. We can advise you on how best to proceed if you are being harassed at work to make it stop and to pursue your rights.

Employment Discrimination

The Arizona Civil Rights Act and Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against it employees based on their

• Race or ethnicity
• National origin
• Disability
• Religion
• Age
• Sex
• Gender, or
• Sexual orientation

Harassment differs from discrimination because harassment or “hostile work environment” involves behavior throughout the workplace that is outside of the norm and alters the workplace experience for the employee.

Discrimination, on the other hand, involves an “adverse employment action” that an employer takes against an employee on the basis of a protected category. An “adverse employment action” can include such things as failing to hire, firing, or setting working conditions to the detriment of the employee.

At Salwin Law Group, we can help you navigate the process of filing a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Civil Rights Division.

Arizona employers are not allowed to retaliate against an employee who takes action in response to discriminatory treatment or a hostile work environment.

Employment Contract Disputes

If you are an Arizona employee who has signed an employment contract for a specified time period with your employer, then you have an enforceable agreement with your boss that both you and the company must honor.

It is vital to carefully review your employment contract if your employer has taken action against you. Your company may have breached the employment contract it entered into with you in regard to termination, employee discipline, job expectations, working conditions, or payment. If this is the case, you have the right to take action to enforce the contract in court.

We are experienced in reviewing and analyzing employment contracts and counseling employees on how to protect their rights when a company violates its contractual obligations.

Employment contracts can even attempt to restrict your freedom to work after you quite a job or your company terminates you. Non-compete clauses, for example, prohibits employers from working with a competitor within a certain geographic region for a period of time.

If you are terminated from your employment, you need to know whether the employment contract can be enforced against you by your former employer. Stewart Salwin is experienced in employment contract review and can provide you the advice you need to move forward in your career with confidence.

Severance Agreements

If you have been terminated by an employer, you might be asked to sign a severance agreement. A severance agreement is a contract where the employer usually gives the terminated employee a sum of money in exchange for the employee giving us certain rights.

Any employee who is offered a severance package from their employer needs to understand the rights they are giving up and whether they are giving up any important opportunities to seek monetary compensation for legitimate employment law violations. Nobody wants to be in the position where they sign away important rights only to later find out they had legitimate employment claims that they could have pursued for much more.

Employers are not required by law to give severance pay to terminated employees, and companies are usually not in the habit of giving out money without a good reason to do so.

The Salwin Law Group can review a severance agreement that is offered by your employer before you sign it to make sure that it is fair to you. You might have legitimate employment claims that are worth much more than the amount of settlement the company is offering you in the severance package. We can determine whether a severance offered by an employer is fair, and if it’s not we can negotiate on your behalf with the company.

Don’t sign away your rights to legitimate employment claim for far less than it is actually worth.

Your employer has lawyers on their side preparing and negotiating the severance agreement, and so should you. We will help you level the playing field and make sure your interests are protected.

EEOC Mediations

If you have brought your case before the EEOC and your employer has agreed to mediate the dispute, then one of the best investments you can make in your case is hiring a skilled employment attorney who has experience with the mediation process. Valuing what an EEOC case is a difficult process that takes legal knowledge and experience with settlement negotiations. You don’t want to be steamrolled by the attorney on the other side so that you settle your claim for too little. On the other hand, you don’t want to pass up a good offer because you don’t know what your case is worth and then lose the chance for a fruitful settlement and final resolution of your case before the time and expense of years of litigation take their toll.

An experienced Phoenix employment attorney can help you navigate this difficult balancing act so that you get the best possible outcome for your situation. Don’t go it alone! Get somebody on your side of the bargaining table that can maximize the benefit you receive from any employment negotiation.

Legal Fees & What to Expect

Potential clients often call us and ask about the fees for our services. We believe in being as transparent as possible about what you can expect and what it might cost so that you can make an informed decision. While it is impossible for us to give an exact answer because employment law cases can vary, here is a guide to our fees and what you can expect when you contact the employment lawyers at Salwin Law Group.

Initial Flat-Fee Consultation

When you call Salwin Law you will have the opportunity to schedule an initial employment law consultation for a reduced flat rate fee (typically $300). During the consultation you will speak with an employment law attorney about your situation, what your rights are as an employee, and the strengths and weaknesses of your employment law case. After the initial consultation, you and the attorney will then decide what nexts steps are available.

Taking on the Case

If both you and the attorney agree to move forward with representation, then you will develop a legal game plan so that you understand the next steps that we will take on your behalf. This part of the representation may be based on either an hourly fee (our typical hourly rates are $325), a contingency fee, or a mix of hourly fees and contingency fees. The fee structure depends on the nature of your legal matter and will vary on a case-by-case basis.