Greenville, SC Government Workers Attorney
There’s a system in place for local, state and federal employees who have been victims of employment injustices
Workplace injustices aren’t limited to the corporate world. They happen in local, state and federal government agencies, too.
We have represented U.S. Postal Service workers, public school teachers, police officers and other government employees in administrative hearings, local school board hearings, and state and federal courts in cases including:
- Wage and hour
- Discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Wrongful termination
Government workers’ lawyers in South Carolina understand the specific laws and procedures for government employees that don’t apply to private sector employees. State workers who feel they’ve been wronged in the workplace can file complaints with the State Employee Grievance Committee in the South Carolina Office of Human Resources. Federal employees with work complaints should follow a similar path with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The proceedings can be incredibly time-consuming and require filing reams of paperwork. An experienced government discrimination attorney at Mann Law Firm can help you navigate this bureaucratic process.
South Carolina Employee Grievance Committee
There are specific steps that a state employee must follow if he or she wants to file a grievance.
- You have 14 days from the adverse action to file a complaint with the agency where the violation took place.
- After 45 days, if there has no decision or if you don’t agree with the agency’s decision, you can appeal to the State Human Resources Director.
- The director can then make one of several decisions that could eventually lead to mediation, arbitration, a hearing before the grievance committee or an appeal in an administrative law court.
A government workers’ attorney in South Carolina will know how best to approach these procedures. For more than 30 years, John P. Mann has been helping state workers through what can be a long and frustrating process.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Whether you’re an employee of or an applicant to a federal agency, you have the right to file a complaint with that agency if you feel that it has discriminated against you.
Similar to state workers, federal employees who have experienced employment injustice have a procedure to follow:
- Within 45 days of the discriminatory action, contact the Equal Employment Opportunity counselor at the agency where the action happened.
- Take part in counseling or alternative dispute resolution (ADR), if the agency offers ADR. If neither works, you may then file a complaint with the agency.
- If the complaint isn’t dismissed, the agency must conduct an investigation. You may request either a hearing before an Equal Employment Opportunity administrative judge or an immediate final decision from the agency.
- If a hearing is requested and discrimination is proven, the administrative judge must issue a decision within 180 days and order relief. The decision becomes the agency’s final action if the agency doesn’t issue a final order within 40 days of receiving the judge’s decision.
- You can appeal the agency’s final action if you disagree with it.
Contact the Mann Law Firm now for government employee disputes
As an employee of a local, state or federal agency, you have a special path for finding justice if you’ve been wronged at work.
But that path can be tricky to navigate. Call the Mann Law Firm located in Greenville, SC at 864-326-0535, email [email protected] or contact the firm online for an experienced and hard-working legal guide.
