Law

What Employees Should Know About Rights in the Workplace and How They Can Protect Them

What Employees Should Know About Rights in the Workplace and How They Can Protect Them

Around the world every year, thousands of people are injured on the job and some injuries even prove to be fatal. For this reason, unions and countries alike have created rights for workers in order to protect them. That being said, a lot of companies try to hide these rights and try to prevent you from using them. While you might feel like you are fighting an uphill battle, it is important that you get yourself the rights that you are guaranteed. Here are a few things you should know about your rights at work and how you can go about protecting them.

How to Protect Your Rights

The best way to protect your rights in the workplace is to be vocal about them and stand up to the corporation. If you find yourself in a position where you have had your rights violated, you should not sit back and be silenced. There are some cases where the company might even work to fight back and either look to eliminate you from the company or deny you the compensation that you deserve. If you find yourself in that position, you need to contact a workers compensation attorney to get you the support that you need. Not only will they fight for you and organize your case, but they can also get you more compensation than you thought. Because your company is going to be fighting back in situations like this, you can’t afford to represent yourself, even if you think you have an easy case.

If you want to ensure that your rights are protected, you need to look for an expert that is going to do so. Hiring an attorney is the best way to ensure you get justice when your rights are violated. Now that we know how to protect our rights, it is now time we talk about what our rights are in the workplace and what we should know in order to ensure we are working safely each day.

The Right to Know

The first major right you have in the workplace is the right to know about any potential hazards. It is up to the employer to ensure that all areas that are unsafe are clearly marked and proper procedures are in place to not only handle these hazards but also to solve them. What does this look like? If you are working with chemicals, each chemical should have a label detailing how it should be handled and what you should do if you come into contact with it.

In the case of wet floors, it is up to the employer to display a wet floor sign warning people that they can slip. If at any point during your job you find yourself doing something that has the potential to be hazardous and you have not been informed about it, your rights are being violated. You have the right to know about dangers so you can safely work.

The Right to Participate

You also have the right to participate in conversation with the company in order to devise safety precautions and procedures. In these situations, the employer also is legally required to respond to you. If they have not responded to your claim in 21 business days, they are violating your rights as a worker.

The Right to Refuse Unsafe Work

What Employees Should Know About Rights in the Workplace and How They Can Protect Them

Finally and most importantly, you have the right to refuse work that you consider to be unsafe. Should you ever be put in a position where you feel you don’t have the proper equipment to do the job or the job simply is unsafe, you have the right to refuse it without consequence. Simply inform your employer of this and they will work to investigate the issue and make changes as necessary.

If the changes they made are not adequate enough or they did nothing, you can still refuse to work. In those cases, a safety committee will be brought in to evaluate the situation and see if your complaint is viable. Under no circumstances should you ever find yourself doing work that you can see yourself getting injured doing. Sometimes making a hassle at work is worth it if it can keep you living a healthy life.

These are your three main rights as a worker no matter the workplace you are in. If at any point your workplace is in violation of these things, feel free to call a committee to come to make an investigation. Should you find yourself injured because your rights were violated, you should seek an attorney to get the compensation you deserve. How do you plan on making your workplace safer?

 

 

 

South Florida Caribbean News

The SFLCN.com Team provides news and information for the Caribbean-American community in South Florida and beyond.

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