My job often terminates or force African Americans to quit by harassment or unfair practices on the job. I left my job after a work related injury and went out on stress leave because I was written up after I reported the injury to my supervisor. While on medical leave I was terminated. Myself and several others have been done this way and treated poorly even with no write-ups or disciplinary actions in our files. There is about 8 of us and we would like to know if we can speak to someone about filing a case.
Class actions have a "numerosity" element that requires probably more than 35 similarly situated people with practically identical problems. Your situation is not going to qualify for a class action. That's okay, because class actions are not all they are cracked up to be for people in your situation. Your best move is to get a few of the people who have been discriminated against and present the facts to experienced employment law attorneys who take multiple plaintiff cases. An 8 person multiple plaintiff case is not impractical. However, before you do that, consider consulting with an attorney just yourself to determine if having more plaintiffs is better or worse for you.
Good luck to you.
Eric LechtzinClass Action AttorneyPhiladelphia, PA ·
You may have an individual claim for discrimination based on the practices and events you describe. An experienced employment lawyer will be able to advise you on that. Use 's "Find a Lawyer" feature at the top of this page to find an employment lawyer in your area. They will usually handle cases on a contingent fee basis.
Whether this situation would be appropriate for treatment as a class action is more complicated. In legal terms, to have a class certified, it must meet the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a), which mandates that: (1) the proposed class be sufficiently numerous (at least 30-40 persons); (2) there are issues of fact and law that are common to all members of the proposed class; (3) the claims of the proposed class representative are typical of the class; and (4) the proposed class representative is adequate, meaning that his/her claims are not antagonistic to those of the class and he/she has retained counsel that is sufficiently experienced in prosecuting class actions.
In addition, the proposed class action must meet the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b). For a situation like yours, where you would be seeking monetary damages, the proposed class would come under Rule 23(b)(3), which requires that the common issues predominate over individual issues and that a class action is superior to other methods of resolving the dispute.
Finally, you will need to retain an experienced employment attorney.
Class action lawsuits are commonly misunderstood. They usually involve hundreds, if not millions of victims and in almost all cases, the attorneys get paid most of the money because they have to work so many hours to represent such a huge group of victims. If you believe you were fired BECAUSE of your race or BECAUSE of your on the job injury, call an employment law attorney to discuss the facts as they apply to YOU. If others have been discriminated against because of their race or workers' comp injury, that is helpful to your case because it shows a pattern of illegal discrimination. When you speak to an employment law attorney, focus on your case. He/she will want to know dates, all possible reasons for termination, how long you were on stress leave, your expected return to work date, etc., etc. Find employment law attorney contact info on .com.
