What if you need to talk to people you work with about a problem at work? Maybe you want to talk to other women about a boss’s sexist comments. Or maybe you want to tell a woman that she makes less money than a man with the same job. You have the right to talk about these things to people you work with. Your employer cannot legally punish you for it.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a law that protects your rights to fair pay and work conditions. The FLSA allows you to talk to people you work with about pay or work conditions. The FSLA also allows you and your coworkers to join together to bring up these issues to your employer.

Here are some examples of how the FLSA has protected workers.

A group of women learned that their boss touched some of them in a sexual way. They asked for a meeting with their employer to talk about the problem. Their employer refused to meet with the women. The employer also fired many of them just for speaking up. Because of the FLSA, the employer had to give the women their jobs back. The employer also had to pay them for their time off work.

Workers privately complained to their boss about unfair treatment. Their employer fired the boss because he refused to tell the employer which workers complained. Because of the FLSA, the employer had to pay the boss for his time off work.

An employer fired a woman for talking about her pay to people she worked. Because of the FLSA, the employer had to give the woman back her job and pay for her time off work.

Getting FLSA Protection

Like the people in the examples, you can file an FLSA claim if your employer punishes you for talking about pay or work conditions. But you will need proof. Here are some ways you can gather proof.

Keep Records of Your FLSA-Protected Actions

Keep a journal of your FLSA-protected actions. If you talk to people you work with about wages, you should write down what you said, the date, and who you talked to. If a group of you tell your boss about an unfair condition, you should write notes about that meeting. A good way to keep a journal is to send yourself personal emails. Keeping emails is good because it shows the date and time that you made the record.

Keep Records of How Your Employer Treats You

If you think your employer is punishing you, keep a journal of how your employer treats you every day. Start saving any texts, emails, letters, or voicemails from your boss. You must make sure that these will not be erased if they fire you. You can send these records to your personal phone or computer, or you can print them out.

You must show how your employer punished you for FLSA-protected actions. Here are ways your employer may try to punish you.

They may give you a bad job review.

They may give you a worse job.

They may fire you.

They make start paying you less.

They may keep you from getting training.

They may refuse to promote you even when you are doing a good job.

An employer will usually give a fake reason for punishing you so that they won’t get in trouble. You should always have a record of the official reason why they punished you. If they fired you, ask them for a termination letter. If they won’t give you a letter, make a record of who fired you, the date you were fired, and the reason they gave for firing you. Don’t sign anything that releases your employer from legal claims, even if they offer you money to sign it.

Keep records showing that you are a good employee. Keep good reviews or emails praising your work. Keep contact information for any coworker or supervisor who can say you were good at your job.

Keep records showing that your employer:

lied about why they punished you

did not follow their own company policy when they punished you

did not keep records showing why they punished you

gave a reason for punishing you that does not make sense or keeps changing

Reporting Your FLSA Claim

Report your FLSA claim to the National Labor Relations Board. You can report your claim online by clicking here. You usually have two years to report your claim. Sometimes you have three years. Make sure you report your claim by the deadline, even if you think you don’t have all the proof you need. You can show more proof later.

If you have any questions about how to record or report your FLSA claim, please contact us at lfigaro@metooreporter.com or mmonaco@metooreporter.com.

Disclaimer: This information is not legal advice.