In these times of economic downturn, employers and employees alike are under stress to make ends meet.  Unfortunately in the employer-employee relationship the boss holds all the cards.  Lay-offs, terminations, and firings are on the rise at an alarming rate. In some cases, employers are so pressured by finances that they let valuable, hard working people go just to save a few bucks.  Benefits that are owed to the employee, such as unused vacation, unused sick time, and profit sharing contributions, are not being reimbursed.  Many of these employers aren't bad people, they are just under tremendous economic pressure and have to make decisions between keeping their business alive or meeting their obligations to their employees.  On the other hand their are those who are simply greedy and don't care about the well-being of those that work for them.  Either way this growing trend is wrong and many people are left to wonder what rights and options do they have to recover this money that is owed them.

Unfortunately, these situations often times require legal advice and/or representation.  Most folks know that attorneys aren't cheap and in fact can cost anywhere from $200 to $400 dollars an hour for their services.  If a stubborn employer wants to put up a fight or has attorneys already on retainer the cost of winning back the $1500 owed to the employee can run up to $3000-4000 easily.  Anyone can see that this simply doesn't add up and will either try to go it alone (in which case they find it extremely difficult and time consuming) or drop it all together (which is what the employer is hoping for).  Many of you right now are thinking back and remembering times where this or a similar incident occurred and you did this exact thing. 

Let's face it, when it comes to legal services, we are not all created equal.  Up until recently there have not been good options for the middle and lower class American when it came to legal protection from economic predators in the work place.  Some feel the cost of the attorney is worth it simply for the satisfaction of forcing the employer to hold up their end, but really there should be a better way.  If some rare instances the employer has done this on several occasions and then several employees can band together and share the cost of the attorney, most of the time however it is going to be one on one and the price tag is too high.  The funny thing is that often times all it would take is for an employer to receive a letter or phone call from an attorney threatening action for them to pay up.  That wouldn't cost too much, right?  But what if they do fight it?  Is that a risk that you are willing to take?

What if there was a way to level the playing field?  What if there really were "Legal services for all".  It would work allot like your health insurance does.  Many people pay a little each month to have access to good legal care whenever they need it.  In our example above, the employee would have unlimited Attorney consultation, free letters and phone calls to the employer, a minimum of 60 hours of pre-trial and trial time if it came to court, and advice on how to handle similar situations. The key would have to be that these services cost only a little each month.  The great thing about this is that it levels the playing field and gives the power to defend oneself against unfair job practices and greedy employers without gobbling up all of the money that is owed to the employee.  Employers would then be forced to do the same math calculations that the employee had to do to determine whether it is worth paying their high-priced attorneys rather than meet their obligations to the employee.  This is the same principle that the health insurance industry is built upon.  By joining forces and each of us contributing a little, as a whole we have a lot more buying power.   

Don't continue to live without legal protection.  The world is becoming more and more litigious every day.  Let's face it, you wouldn't drive your car without insurance; why live your life without legal coverage?