Philadelphia Employment Lawyer

It depends on the agency. A complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is due within 180 days. A complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations or a charge with the EEOC is due within 300 days. For a Pennsylvania Human Relations Act claim, you generally have to wait one year after filing with the state commission before you can sue, and after the commission closes your case, you have two years to file in court. Because the state deadline is the shortest, it’s usually the one to plan around.

Yes. The Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance applies to any employer with one or more employees. That reaches businesses too small for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, which starts at four employees, and for federal law, which starts at fifteen. The ordinance also covers characteristics many laws don’t name, including genetic information, familial status and caregiving, and status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence. Complaints go to the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations within 300 days.

Not under Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance, which protects familial status, including caregivers and people becoming parents. Federal law doesn’t list that protection by name. It can apply when an employer passes you over, cuts your hours, or pushes you out because you care for a child, a parent, or another family member. The ordinance covers employers with even one employee, and complaints go to the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations within 300 days.

No. Absences protected by the FMLA can’t be counted under an attendance or points policy, used against you in a performance review, or cited as a reason for discipline or termination. That includes intermittent leave, such as days missed for flare-ups of a chronic condition or a family member’s medical treatment. If protected absences show up in a write-up or evaluation, keep a copy. It can be direct evidence of FMLA interference or retaliation.

Usually not. A severance agreement typically trades a payment for a release of your claims, including discrimination and retaliation claims under federal law, Pennsylvania law, and Philadelphia’s ordinance. If you’re 40 or older, federal law gives you at least 21 days to consider it, or 45 days in a group layoff, and seven days to revoke it after signing. Many employers expect questions or a counteroffer, especially when the circumstances of the separation raise legal concerns. Reviewing it before you sign is how you learn what the release costs you.

Yes. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has confirmed that sex discrimination under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act includes pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding status, at employers with four or more employees. Firing, demoting, or refusing to hire someone for those reasons is prohibited. Employers with 15 or more employees also have to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations under the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. State complaints are due within 180 days.