Nebraska Employment Discrimination Attorneys

Serving Fort Wayne, Omaha & all of Nebraska

Are You a Victim of Workplace Discrimination, Harassment, or Retaliation?

Have you been Denied Pay for Work Performed?

If you have been a victim of workplace discrimination, harassment or retaliation, call the highly skilled attorneys at Powers Law to discuss your legal rights. Powers Law has represented hundreds of employees who have been subjected to unlawful treatment at the workplace. Employment discrimination and retaliation is a highly complex and ever-changing area of the law. Timely exhaustion of administrative remedies is required under law. With decades of experience litigating employment cases, the lawyers at Powers Law can assist you with understanding your rights, evaluating your case, and providing you with strong advocacy.

While Nebraska is an at-will employment state, employers cannot discriminate against or harass employees due to their membership in a protected class. Legally protected classes include gender, pregnancy, age (40+), race, religion, disability, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, active-duty military, veterans, and marital status (marital status is protected under Nebraska law only). The law dictates that similarly situated employees be treated the same.

Discrimination can be obvious or subtle and may take many forms. Some common forms of discrimination include not hiring or failing to promote a qualified individual or disciplining, applying the workplace rules or paying similarly situated employees differently or denying employees job related benefits due to their protected class status or failing to provide reasonable accommodation to a disabled employee. Harassing an employee due to their protected class status, such as sexual or racial harassment, may also be actionable under the law. The law also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who have engaged in a protected activity, such as reporting or opposing harassment or discrimination, or participating in an investigation involving alleged EEO violations. Whistleblower laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who oppose or report violations of state or federal law, such reporting abuse or neglect of nursing home residents or other vulnerable persons, OSHA or Wage and Hour violations.

For many employees, State and Federal laws require that employees be paid a minimum wage for each hour worked and for non-exempt employees, an employer must pay time and one-half to employees for hours worked over forty (40) in a week.

Some federal laws which protect workers are highlighted below.

* TITLE VII of the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

It shall be unlawful employment practice for an employer to:

• fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileged of employment because of such individual’s race, color religion, sex or national origin; or
• to limit, segregate, or classify employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect that individual’s status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

* AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES AMENDMENTS ACT of 2008

The ADAA provides in relevant part:

“No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of a disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions and privilege of employment.”

The Act prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of disability against qualified individuals with disabilities. An individual is considered to have a disability if he or she (1) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of that person’s major life activities, (2) has a record of such impairment or (3) is regarded by the employer as having such an impairment.

The ADAAA also protects any qualified individual, whether or not that individual has a disability, from discrimination because that person is known to have an association or relationship with an individual with a known disability.

The ADAAA also requires an employer to make reasonable accommodation for an individual’s disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer.

* THE EQUAL PAY ACT of 1963

The EPA provides in relevant part:

(d) No employer having employees subject to any provision of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit systems; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex and an employer who is in violation of this subsection shall not (in order to comply with this subsection) reduce the wages rate of any employee.

* PREGNANT WORKERS FAIRNESS ACT of 2024

The PWFA requires covered employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to a qualified worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an “undue hardship.” An undue hardship is defined as causing significant difficulty or expense.

* PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION ACT of 1978

PDA amended section 701 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. It provides in part: “(k) The terms’ ‘because of sex’ or ‘on the basis of sex’ include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, ore related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefits programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work….”

* 42 U.S.C. SECTION 1981

All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, to be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens.

* AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT of 1967

It is unlawful for employer to fail or refuse to hire or discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, privileges of employment because of such individual’s age (40 years or older);

It is unlawful to limit, segregate or classify employees in any why which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee because if such individual’s age;

It is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against any employee who has opposed unlawful practices, participated in investigations, proceedings or litigation.

* FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:

• the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
• the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
• to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
• a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;
• any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
• Twenty-six work weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

Nebraska’s anti-discrimination laws are similar to the federal laws noted above. Additionally, Nebraska’s Whistleblower law protects employees from retaliation for opposing or reporting the alleged illegal actions of their employer.

STATE and FEDERAL LAWS REQUIRE COMPENSATION FOR WORK PERFORMED

• NEBRASKA WAGE PAYMENT AND COLLECTION ACT
  Employers must pay eligible employees a minimum wage for each hour worked.


• The FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
  For non-exempt employees, the FLSA requires that the employer pay one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for hours worked over forty in any workweek.