Law Blog

LegalMatch just conducted a study looking at age-discrimination issues and found an overall increase in queries over the past 12 months.  Why the sudden increase in people seeking legal help for their age discrimination claim?  And what other trends have recently surfaced in the area of age discrimination law that effect everyday people?

Let’s start with the basis for any age discrimination claim: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).  The ADEA provides that discrimination of individuals over the age of 40 based on their age is illegal and a prosecutable offense.

Currently, the majority of age discrimination cases we see at LegalMatch are employment related: hiring, firing, and forced retirement contexts.  This trend is not limited to one employment sector but rather affects both blue collar and white collar employees alike.

The most obvious culprit affecting these age discrimination numbers is the rising nationwide unemployment rate, currently hovering around 9.1%.  Any time there is an economic downturn, people lose their jobs.  When alternative jobs aren’t immediately available, a layoff that normally would be ignored can turn into an age discrimination lawsuit.

Interestingly enough, the Supreme Court recently made it much harder to win an age discrimination suit by ruling that the employee now bears the full burden of proving that age was the determining factor in his or her layoff, firing or demotion.  This is a significant departure from the previous balancing test the Court employed, and makes this type of lawsuit especially difficult because rarely would an employee be present when their employers are discussing their future- a key piece of evidence.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal looked at another interesting aspect of age discrimination in the wake of layoffs- reverse age discrimination.  The article examined the rise in younger employees being laid off, often times in numbers equal or greater than their older colleagues.  Employees in their 20s and 30s are finding themselves more at risk of a layoff, as employers look to avoid age-discrimination lawsuits by adopting a last-one-in, first-one-out policy.

The LegalMatch study also confirmed this trend as a number of the age-discrimination inquires were disgruntled employees under the age of 40.  One of the big problems with this trend is that this younger age group does not have the same legal recourse.  There is no similar protection as the ADEA in place provided for the younger generation.  Essentially, by laying-off the younger members of the company, employers are shielding themselves from an age discrimination lawsuit.

Although the standard for age discrimination has been raised, the potential for suits is alarming and laying off younger workers is seen as a solution.

Groucho Marx once said that “Marriage is the chief cause of divorce.”  Finding the lighter side of such an emotionally exhausting proceeding is always a good approach.  In America, divorce used to be very difficult to get absent a good reason such as adultery, abuse, or abandonment.  The availability of divorce has changed dramatically.

Today, divorces are granted on request of one party with or without fault (in almost every state) or consent of the other party.  One researcher estimated that the introduction of no-fault divorce laws accelerated divorce rates upwards of 25%.

Whatever the cause, the high divorce rate in America is unlikely to lower significantly from it’s roughly 50% rate.  Divorce is everywhere.  Celebrity and reality star divorces generate a tremendous amount of publicity and often makes those individuals much more famous than when they were married!  Divorce is one subject that celebrity and non-celebrity couples have in common- they are both on the rise.

A study conducted by LegalMatch confirmed this trend as there was a large increase in the number of divorce lawyer requests as well as divorce-related questions within the past 12 months nationwide.  Thousands of inquiries pertaining to getting a divorce and the corresponding issues dwarf the marriage-related searches.

Although this trend may not be a surprise, it should nevertheless be a concern.  Perhaps the answer is in making it a little more difficult to get a marriage.  Either way, it is always a good time to be a divorce lawyer!

It is no surprise that the economy is having a major impact on family life, and more specifically on divorce-related issues.  Child support has been one of the more unfortunate areas to feel the impact of parental job loss and changes in a parent’s financial stability.  One in four divorced Americans is supposed to receive child support payments every month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in a study conducted in 2007.  However there is becoming an increasing discrepancy between what is supposed to happen and what is happening as it relates to child support

Within the past 12 months thousands of clients have come to LegalMatch with child support-related issues.  The top concern among the requests: increased payment, decreased payment, and issues relating to enforcement.  Hundreds of these requests specifically involved people unable to pay due to job loss or changes in financial circumstances.

Courts face a tough process when it comes to these child support modification hearings because, in most cases, the money (and the paying job) is no longer there.  In those instances, the judge is looking for a solution to a problem that will probably persist for a while.

The typical recourse for a non-paying parent is garnishment of wages or jail time.  The problem with these two options, especially in such an economically volatile time like this, is that the first is rarely an option and the latter will produce little if any payments and will likely further prolong the lack of payment problem.  These reductions in payments have forced many families to apply for welfare for the first time, risk eviction, and drastically change the circumstances relating to the family’s living situation.

A recent article about Going to Court for Child Support discussed the top 5 tips to help collect child support:

1.) Find out why the support is not being paid.

2.) Don’t delay the problem

3.) Mediate your child support

4.) Move quickly to get to a courtroom

5.) Get additional help

The one solution on either side of the divide is communication and cooperation with the system that is in place to benefit children.

With the U.S. economy spiraling further down the seemingly endless pit of economic ruin, it’s no surprise that unemployment rates are on the rise across the nation.  Almost every industry has been hurting, especially those in the technology sector.

To the lucky few fortunate enough to have dodged the wave of layoffs, as they say, go the spoils.  Only in this case instead of getting those same old boring rewards, this elite group gets the extra special gift of actually keeping their menial soul-draining jobs, but without all that unnecessary stuff, like shorter hours or, you know, more money.  At least they’ll get yolked (it’s slang people, get with it) since they’ll have to do the work of three people just to keep said soul-crushing job.

But with being fired inevitably comes the stages of job loss (which by the way seem suspiciously similar to some other grief process – I think the Kübler-Ross estate might have a lawsuit).  There’s no better feeling than finally getting over being let go, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, and then hiring an attorney to file a wrongful termination suit against your old employer.  Ahhhh, sweet revenge, I’ve missed you…

All joking aside, wrongful termination is a real and serious issue.  Homelessness is on the rise and as this economy continues to tank, more and more people will likely be fired from their jobs.  Unemployment doesn’t only destroy a person’s financial livelihood.  It can also damage a person’s self-worth, not to mention obliterate a marriage.  Finding out whether you’ve been wrongly terminated from your job can be difficult, especially in a bad economy where an unjust firing can easily be passed off as a cost-cutting layoff.  But if there’s one thing that is certain, when people are pushed into a corner, they’ll likely fight back.

In fact, according to our client case database, in the month of June alone LegalMatch.com has seen a nearly 100 percent increase in the total number of wrongful termination cases brought by our clients when compared to the same month in 2008.  Furthermore, the average number of wrongful termination cases handled by LegalMatch.com has consistently increased by approximately 20 percent over the past four fiscal quarters.  Those employed under at-will contracts in the retail, transportation, or manufacturing industries were most likely to bring a claim for wrongful termination, making up nearly one-third of all wrongful termination cases LegalMatch.com received.  These figures increased in portion to the sagging US economy.

So what can you do if you think you’ve been wrongly terminated from your job?  First thing would be to see if you qualify under any of these exceptions:

• Discrimination – The employer cannot terminate employment because the employee is a certain race, nationality, religion, sex, age, or in some states, sexual orientation.
• Retaliation – An employer cannot fire an employee because the employee filed a claim of discrimination or is participating in an investigation for discrimination. This “retaliation” is forbidden under civil rights law.
• Contractual Employees – Generally, an employee with an employment contract can only be terminated for the reasons stated in the contract. Employment contracts for specified periods of time or permitting terminations only for specific reasons are rare today.
• Illegal Acts -An employer is not permitted to fire an employee because the employee refuses to commit an act that is illegal.
• Family or Medical Leave – Federal law permits most employees to take a leave of absence for specific family or medical problems. An employer is not permitted to fire an employee who takes family or medical leave for a reason outlined in the Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Not Following Own Termination Procedures – Often, the employee handbook or company policy outlines a procedure that must be followed before an employee is terminated. If the employer fires an employee without following this procedure, the employee may have a claim for wrongful termination.

However, the best way to find out whether your termination was wrongful would be to consult with a qualified employment lawyer who can sit down with you and walk you through your options.  Otherwise you might end up like this guy.

Lawyers get a bad rap.  The public often sees attorneys as conniving opportunistic people who are only out to make a quick dollar by capitalizing on the misery of others.  Ask most people to describe what they think the typical attorney is and you’ll likely get the stereotypical view of the fast-talking imposing dark-suited figure with slicked back hair and a total lack of morals.

The media doesn’t help this image either.  For every Atticus Fitch, there is a multitude of Lilah Morgans.  It’s no wonder then why so many distrust attorneys.  With a reputation like that, who would ever want to deal with one, let alone be forced to hire one to represent them?

Though as bad as a Lilah Morgan can be, what hurts the image of attorneys more are the Lionel Hutzes, the incompetent lawyer who takes your money and does absolutely nothing in return.  This image is in many ways much worst then the evil money-grubbing one.  Chances are most people would rather have an amoral competent attorney than an amoral idiotic attorney.  Couple this fear with the terrifying prospect of actually being involved in a legal dispute where the only way out is to retain a lawyer, and you’ve just described hell.

This fear can be described in two simple words: legal malpractice.  This horrible phrase inevitably lingers in the back of the mind of every person who has hired a lawyer.  Because poor representation not only means you’ll likely lose whatever legal issue you’re involved in, but it also means that you’ll probably have to deal with the expensive headache of cleaning up your lawyer’s mess afterward.  Not to mention the additional nightmare of bringing a new lawsuit against your old attorney.  To some people, this prospect is enough for them to want to represent themselves rather than to retain a lawyer.

But is legal malpractice really something you should be afraid of?  Yes, it is.  But is it really all that likely to occur?  Probably not.

Legal malpractice isn’t as common as the public may think.  Lawyers are subject to constant scrutiny, from the court, their respective state bars in the form of continuing education, and their clients.  Furthermore, the process of becoming a lawyer is no easy task in of itself.  To be admitted into law school takes top grades and a high LSAT score, not to mention the three years it takes just to finish law school.

In fact, the total number of legal malpractice cases handled by LegalMatch.com in California alone is on average 50 percent less then the number of medical malpractice cases handled in just the northern half of California.  This statistic is true almost uniformly across the board.  Personal injury, family law, even wrongful termination cases on average total more in number than legal malpractice cases.  In a sense, it’s much easier to find a good attorney, than it is to locate a good doctor, employer, or spouse!