by Torrence
(Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.)
I represent employees in disputes against their employers in areas such as employment discrimination, wage and hour issues, labor union arbitration and grievance handling, and FMLA related matters.
A related area I also specialize in is the unemployment hearings and appeals.
I have seen, read, and heard stories where employers have been âless than honestâ during these hearings; this is a common practice for many employers in these hearings.
An employee should not have to be a legal professional. or become legally trained in order to ensure fair and decent treatment on any job.
Employers should treat all employees with dignity and respect and a working environment free from harassment, discrimination, or intimidation and retaliation, when an employee chooses to exercise their rights.
I believe employers should display these same ethical characteristics during hearings, but unfortunately, many do not.
With regards to unemployment hearings, there are rules of procedures which may serve to be helpful to employees in appeal hearings.
The statutes and case law give Appeals Referees certain latitude to resolve credibility determinations and unless the refereeâs decision is clearly in err, those findings of fact will be upheld.
Many times Appeals Referees overstep their boundaries of the law and those actions can often warrant a remand or the overturning of their decision for procedural errors or defects if an employee is aware of those procedures.
I have been very successful in representing employees in these types of hearings and I have been doing so since 1990. Itâs unfortunate that many employees are not able to afford competent legal representation in these types of cases.
I have made it my business practice that I will not charge an employee an outrageous fee; I believe that an employee/claimant should not have to lose out on benefits they are entitled to because they cannot afford to pay legal fees or if fees are paid, the fees are close to what the claimant would win. My fees are very reasonable and you are free to compare them.
If my services can be of assistance to anyone, please do not hesitate to contact Chris, the owner of this website for a referral to my services.