June 26, 2025 • 35 mins
Need workplace justice? Trust a leading voice in employment law who’s recovered $50M+ for clients!
Gary Martoccio is dedicated to achieving workplace justice for his clients through employment litigation. He focuses on representing employees against employers, ensuring fair work environment for all. With a deep understanding of employment law, Gary is committed to workers rights!
Throughout his legal career, Gary Martoccio (Matossio) has focused exclusively on representing employees against employers. Gary has earned a reputation for his commitment to advocating for workers’ rights and securing justice for his clients. Gary’s practice spans both in State and Federal Court, as well as before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and equivalent State agencies. With a keen understanding of employment law, he navigates complex legal landscapes to ensure that employees receive the representation they deserve. To date, Gary has achieved remarkable success, recovering over $50,000,000 for employees throughout his career. In addition, Gary has achieved successful results for his clients in over 200 Federal lawsuits, all of which he served as lead counsel. Gary’s dedication to his clients and his track record of significant recoveries underscores his role as a leading voice in employment law. His commitment to fighting for employees’ rights remains the cornerstone of his practice.
Martoccio Law Group
Website: https://martocciofirm.com/
Need a free case evaluation? +1 (888) 415-7670
Social Media:
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Gary Martoccio is dedicated to achieving workplace justice for his clients through employment litigation. He focuses on representing employees against employers, ensuring fair work environment for all. With a deep understanding of employment law, Gary is committed to workers rights!
Throughout his legal career, Gary Martoccio (Matossio) has focused exclusively on representing employees against employers. Gary has earned a reputation for his commitment to advocating for workers’ rights and securing justice for his clients. Gary’s practice spans both in State and Federal Court, as well as before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and equivalent State agencies. With a keen understanding of employment law, he navigates complex legal landscapes to ensure that employees receive the representation they deserve. To date, Gary has achieved remarkable success, recovering over $50,000,000 for employees throughout his career. In addition, Gary has achieved successful results for his clients in over 200 Federal lawsuits, all of which he served as lead counsel. Gary’s dedication to his clients and his track record of significant recoveries underscores his role as a leading voice in employment law. His commitment to fighting for employees’ rights remains the cornerstone of his practice.
Martoccio Law Group
Website: https://martocciofirm.com/
Need a free case evaluation? +1 (888) 415-7670
Social Media:
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/company/martoccio-law-group/?viewAsMember=true
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/martocciolawgroup
Instagram - @employmentlawgary
Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.
Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can help you get more visibility on your products and services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Speaker 2 (02:12):
Welcome to Just Minding My Business. I hope you're having
an amazing day and I am so happy to bring
to Just Minding my Visit today. Gary Matasio, who throughout
his legal career has focused exclusively on representing employees against employers.
(02:34):
Gary has earned a reputation for his commitment to advocating
for workers' rights and securing justice for his clients. Gary's
practice spans both in state and federal court, as well
as before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is EEOC
and equivalent state agencies. With a keen understanding of employment law,
(03:00):
he navigates complex legal landscape to ensure that employees received
the representation they deserved. Welcome Gary, thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, yeah, so let me just ask you what made
you go into employment law?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You know, that's a that's a good question. I knew
I wanted to be on.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
The plaintiff side, which is typically the one bringing the claim,
the little guy so to speak. I didn't know what
exact area I wanted to get into, But basically, when
when I got out of law school thirteen years ago,
I was looking around for jobs on the planeff side,
and first one that I got offered was an employment
(03:49):
law and there was a Planet's employment law firm, and
worked with that firm for about twelve years before starting
my own firm last year.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
So it's been it's been great.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
It's all I've ever done, it's all I know, and
it's a really challenging and rewarding area of law, that's
for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes, indeed, because one of the things that most of
these companies have is that at will where they can
get rid of you. I guess if you don't look
right the day to them. Bah, So how do you
get around that?
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
So almost every state in the country is at wealth,
so at well, employment means you can get fired for
good reason, batteries and no reason, any reason. But that
doesn't mean that you're without rights. Employees still do have rights.
There's three main buckets that I tell people this is
(04:44):
where your rights are going to come from. There's anti
discrimination laws in the workplace, so you cannot be discriminated
againswer being a member of a protected class that covers race, age, gender, disability, religion,
national origin, sexual orientation, couple others. So that's the first bucket.
Then you're going to have your anti retaliation statue, so
(05:07):
if you complain about being discriminated against based on one
of those protected categories, you are free from retaliation. So
ope an employer wants the termined issue because you raise
a what's called a protected complaint, you have rights there.
And then you're going to have your medical and pregnancy
related lead statutes, so you cannot be retaliated against if
(05:31):
you take time off due to medical issues under what's
called the Family and Medical Leeve Act. Under certain requirements
as far as time you have to work with an
employer and the amount.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Of employees that an employer has to be eligible for
the Family Medical Leve Act.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
But that offers some protection for employees dealing with medical issues.
FMLA also covers fraternity and maternity leads. So if you
or your spouse is delivering a baby, you have pet
up to twelve weeks off to him. That So there's
you know, that's a I guess a very high level,
(06:07):
you know, outline of exceptions to at well employment. Also,
in that medical related bucket you have eightya accommodations. Employers
have to work with you to grant reasonable accommodations and
if they don't, then their violation of law and they
can't retaliate against you for requesting combinations. So those are
the main buckets where you can have exceptions to Outwell employment.
(06:30):
And I think a lot of employers make mistakes thinking, oh,
we can do whatever we want, but they don't realize
that there are exceptions. It's not the total wild Bob
less Well. Yes, employers so to speak, you know, can
fire for any reason, good reason, bad reason, no reason.
It can't be a discriminatory or retaliatory one based on
one of those buckets that I just touched on. So yeah,
(06:52):
that's a long long way to go about answering your
question is atwell employment does not mean you're without right system?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yes, yes, because there's so much going when the job
and they kind of like discriminate, not directly but indirectly,
right right.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
That's the hardest part, even if you do have a
claim that falls under one of those categories, is proving it, right,
The burner proof lies with us as the employee, as
the plaintiff. And yeah, most employers aren't dumb enough to
come out and say I'm firing you because you know
you're a female or because of your specific race. Right,
No one's that dumb so to speak. Right, Another category
(07:39):
we deal with the sexual harassment.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I think I forgot that out of the.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Last deal, but that is one category, and that made
me just think of that where yeah, sometimes you do
see some very dumb text messages, sexually explicit stuff like that.
From my sexual harassment cases, it's rare that we have
a smoking gun, absolute in writing proof that the employer
(08:06):
is discriminating. So it's on us to prove that. And
you prove that, you know, circumstantially, you know, by comparing
your treatment to other employees about other different protected classes,
things of that nature. Employers not implementing their policies across
the board to employees of different races or genders or
(08:27):
whatever the claim may be.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
So there are ways to go about proving it, but
it's not easy. You're absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, So, if you find yourself in a position where
you feel as though your company is being discriminatory towards you,
what are the things that an employee should do to
prepare for the fight?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Right?
Speaker 5 (08:50):
You should absolutely document your concerns, especially if it's getting
to the point where you believe that you're likely going
to have to take legal action down the road.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
You want to have documentation. You want to go to
either human.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Resources or upper management, depending on whatever the proper channels
that are within your company, and you want to say
I believe I'm being discriminated against based on X, and
you want to be unequivocal about that.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
A lot of people will complain and.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
They'll be on the right track, but then they'll be
a little afraid to actually say what's going on?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Right? You want to put that employer on.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Notice, because the first thing the employer are going to
do is say, well, we didn't know.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
This may have been a one off, this may have
been their colleague.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
They're not an executive, they're not making decisions, right.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
You want to put them on notice.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
And even in situations where the employer does know, they're
still going to deny it unless you have it in writing,
so you definitely want to send an email outline your
concerns and then that way you're protected if the employer
does retaliate or continue to discriminate against you.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yes, and a lot of people, I think there is
a lot of fear because once you open that cane
of worms, then it begins. They begin to nitpicks speak
on everything that you do right, and how do you work,
And that's stressful because as humans, if we count how
(10:10):
many times we make a mistake in one day, it's
definitely over one hundred times.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Right exactly.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Yeah, the nitpicking is it's something that happens, and that's
something that we use to prove up our cases because
we say, hey, you're not doing this to my colleague
who's made or mistakes, so you're not scrutinizing.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Everyone on my team's work. Right.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
So yeah, I know, I get it can be very
stressful and it's difficult, but I think it's got to
the point where you actually are feeling the discrimination or retaliation.
I mean, I don't think going and raising a formal
complaint is going to make it worse, you know, And
If you don't do that, then you're kind of a
fish out of water. If you're terminated, the bringing up
concerns for the first time upon termination, that's not great
(10:57):
for a case. We can still work with it there,
Like you said, there's the ways to prove it as
far as the differential treatment they're picking and things like that,
but it's much more difficult if you're raising the concerns
for the first time during or after your termination.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know, yes, yes, indeed, So what are some of
the the extual rights in the workplace that an employee
has right?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So those those buckets that I touched on the specific
laws that we're looking at.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Our Title seven.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
That's going to cover a lot of the anti discrimination
statutes and then cover the statutes where where they say
you cannot be retaliate against if you can plain about discrimination.
You have the Age Discrimination and Employment Act covers age
related discrimination.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
That's separate than the Title seven.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Then you're going to have the a d A Americans
Disabilities Act prevents discrimination based on disability, covers accommodations related
to medical conditions, and a bunch hosts of other things.
The eight is a pretty broaduct, but in employment scope
you're looking at accombindation related issues, mostly family medically. Back
(12:07):
in the FMLA, sexual harassments actually covered by Title seven
as well.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
So those are the protections that you have.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Mostly it's surrounding discrimination, retaliation, medical and pregnancy related leaves, disability, accommodations.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
And sexual arrassment. Those are the protections that you're gonna have.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
But unfortunately, you know, just mean treatment in the workplace,
even hostile you hear the word hostile work environment is
not necessarily legal unless it's hostile based on one of
those categories that I just mentioned. So just general, real
harsh and unfair treatment is not illegal unless it hits
on one of those categories that I touched on.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Now in terms of discrimination, okay, I mean as a
black female, I worked in the IT industry over fifty
years and being number one, there wasn't many women in
the field to start with, and definitely not as many
(13:12):
Black women in the field to start with. So I
mean early on in my career it was a situation
where it was on the job training kind of thing,
if you showed aptitude that they would, you know, work
with you, and I really didn't see it until things
(13:33):
started to change where they required a college to degree,
even though I knew the job, I found myself in
a situation where I was training in college students. So
is that considered I don't know how you would, because
a lot of things that happened in the workplace don't
(13:56):
necessarily fall in those.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Groups, but eminations right right on its face. I mean,
situation may be difficult to show that it's unlawful, but
with the failure to advance you or failure to promote you,
if you're qualified and promoting others that are less qualified,
then you that could give rise to a claim as well.
(14:19):
So it doesn't always have to be a termination. You know,
if you were the only one being asked to do
those things, and you know you had the same qualifications
as your peers who were you know, non African American
or male, then yeah, then we can kind of use
what's called disparit treatment. That would be the angle that
(14:39):
I would look at. But yes, there would have to
be some element of discrimination based on sex or race
in that situation.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
And yeah, I'm sure you could probably think of a
million examples.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
To how you're treated to Oh yeah, when you when
you in it, you see it like.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
Death, absolutely and it absolutely exists. And you know.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Sometimes it's it's uh blatant, and sometimes you don't maybe
the bad actor doesn't even realize they're doing it. It's
just like an inherent bias, right, but still still just
as unlawful, you know, as if they're intentionally doing it.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, and then in other situations, I actually brought it
up to my manager about it, and of course nothing
was done. Came the person that's complaining.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
You know what I mean, right, right, right, Yeah, it's
and you did the right thing there by raising concerns
so that you were retaliating against based on that that
would be illegal. But yes, you know, you're right, it's
it's tough. It's a tough spot to be in knowing
when to raise concerns, how to raise concerns.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
But yeah, it's it's difficult. But yeah, I mean, it
sounds like you could have had a case.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Statue limitations probably expired by now, and you're in a
great spots.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I could have had a case from the line of companies.
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna say this because
I'm talking to somebody that probably could have helped me.
But I worked for a job for sixteen years that
I was overqualified for never got promoted, and then one
day I got fired because what did they tell me
(16:24):
something about I was forging my time sheet when in
fact I would get up and not even get paid
for it and set up my day before working apps, right, people,
I mean I do it so people would be calling me.
I'd be get a call on my way home from
work and people would be calling me on my cell phone.
(16:48):
Can you help me do this? I'm not even on
the clock, but I'm helping people.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Yeah, that's that's interesting. It's definitely something probably could have
helped them when you you made me think it's something
when you were saying they made up that.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Reason that it was a lot, it was pretext. That's
what we have to prove.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Typically, because an employer is never going to admit that
they discriminated against retaling. It's like I said, and they're
always going to assert what's called the legitimate businesses. And
that's the way the employer defended the case, say this
was not discriminatory, this was our reason, and then we
say no, this is why that was bys and that's
making the pretext argument. So that's what we would have
done in that situation. We would have shown them all
(17:31):
the work you were doing off the clock, and the
employer man said, well, well this is opening up a
whole new can of worms. Now, let's they probably would
have settled that case, right, because now we're talking wage
in our violations and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
So, and I want to say tons of character witnesses.
It's gonna say, I had people that didn't want to
work with nobody else but me, right right, you know,
So I had plenty of character witnesses, but I didn't
pursue it because I didn't want them in my spirit,
because I agree for a year, two years.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
A lot of people, a lot of my clients say that,
you know, you know, they they do feel a weight
lift off, lifted off their shoulders when the case is over.
You know, hopefully it's a positive result. But yeah, I
hear that from a lot of folks to you know,
how good it feels to close that chapter and have
the good part about bringing a claim through our firm.
There's not that much work you have to do at
(18:27):
the beginning. You have to help us collect all the
information and documents that we need.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
We have to sign a couple of things here and there,
such as an EFC charge.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Otherwise it's just kind of a let us do the
work and we'll let you know when we have something
to report to you. So, yeah, it's a totaling situation
going through a legal claim. We try to make it
as stressful as possible.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Well, that's good to know because that was my next question.
What kind of information do you need where you can
just take the rim and just handle the situation. So
you need just answer that question. So if employees want
to work with you, how do they how do they
get in touch with you?
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Yeah, So our website is Martasio Firm dot com m
A R T O C c Io Firm dot com.
It has a couple of different options how we can
evaluate your potential case. You can either call us directly
our numbers on the website there, or there's actually an
online case evaluation form that is, it's a dynamic form
(19:30):
based on how you answer questions it needs to other
questions and then from there, whether you call in and
go through our intight process on the phone or do
it online, we would review the situation and let you
know if we can be of assistance and take it
from there.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
And then once you would retain us. We would obviously
do a deeper dive into the into the.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Case and get all the information and documents that we need.
You wouldn't have to send us all that at once.
We just need some general information to understand if we
can help or not.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, so your track. Can we talk a little bit about.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
That, sure? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
So yeah, I've been practicing, like I said, almost thirteen
years now. I've had I think I'm right at three
hundred federal lawsuits that I've litigated. So, you know, a
lot of cases you can resolve early on in the process,
and that's the hope and the goal. Sometimes you know,
(20:26):
it doesn't play out that way. It takes the other
party to reach a resolution. And while it's usually an
employer's best interest to try to settle, some of them
you know don't for whatever reason, and we have to
push the cases forward into a lawsuit. So, you know,
we've had a lot of success resolving matters shorter suits
being filed. The ones that we've had a file suit on,
(20:47):
you know, the vast majority I have had successful results.
You know, we're we're looking at, i think, you know,
approaching sixty million recovered for plaintiffs over the years now.
I think our website says fifty, that's getting close to
sixty now. And yeah, you know, it's it's been a
really fun and rewarning process to try to help people
(21:10):
get in a better position than they would be without you.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
They're never gonna I don't think it's ever going to.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Be something where you're made whole and account for every
single thing that you lost, you know, monetarily, physically, emotionally.
But you know, we hope that we can help everyone
move forward and put them in a better position, you know,
as they close that chapter from being wrong by the employer. So, yeah,
it's been great, you know. Obviously, look there's no guarantees.
(21:36):
Not every case is a successful one. There's no such
thing as a slam dunk. But the vast majority of
the cases we can into, we're able to reach a
successful revolution.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Oh that's good to hear because most people it's a
very stressful situation because that's your livelihood. You know, you
pay your bills with this company and they not treating
you right. Right, So it's stuff that you take home
every day to your family. You know, you always so
(22:08):
and so did this today. It's and so did that today.
So it gets very very stressful, and I guess working
with an attorney that it's ease that emotional side of.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
That, right, right, Yeah, we try to help help with that.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
We try, you know, as the case goes on in
a client seeing the defenses that employer is raising, it
gets it gets personal, it gets emotional. We try to
take that emotion out of it, help them get through that.
You know, as an attorney, you see a lot of
these cases and you know, while I guess you're fighting
your tail off of your client, you can you can
(22:46):
try to help them take the emotion out of it
and look at this black and white dollars and cents wise,
and I think a lot of people appreciate that, and
they're just helping them, helping them move on. That's it's
more than just about the money, right, It's about seeing
justice and see move on to that next chapter. Like
I said, I can't stress enough that most people just
just want to close that book and move.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
On and do so a successful way. You know that
over the years for a lot of people, and.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Not only that, it also puts the company in check
for the next person as well, because if you go
through with that and they don't know that it's us. Okay,
we had somebody to us this could happen again, so
we need to definitely work on.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Que there'd be no reason for a company to change.
So it certainly does have a that that effect that.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
A lot of people you know, like being a part
of that as well.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yes, yes, indeed, because we have to speak up because
if we don't. You know, in my case, I didn't.
But what happened ended up being a blessing in disguise
for me.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
A favor. Huh.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, they actually did me a favor because you know
how it is. Sometimes you need to go, you need
to move, but you don't move right. So God has
to step in and say, let me just a Buddhist
child because she is definitely not doing it right right,
So it turned out to be a blessing in disguise
(24:21):
for me. Now, do what do you see with future
employment law? What do you think is going to happen?
Speaker 5 (24:31):
You know a lot of the laws that touch on
employment laws, they've been in place for a while. You know,
the Title seven going back to the sixties. You got
like the ADA and the FMLA going back to the
early nineties. So I don't foresee those laws changing much
one way or the other. It will be interesting to
(24:54):
see what happens in the employment law world, as a
lot of companies are using AI and there's going to
be I think the workforce is going to see some
major changes, you know, as far as the amount of jobs,
type of jobs. So that is one thing that I'm
keeping an eye on seeing the impact of that in
(25:14):
the workplace. I don't see that there's going to be
many changes to laws, honestly, I think it's going to
kind of be status quo with that, hoping that they're
long standing laws that are you know, they're statutes that are.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Very difficult to change.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
You can see some expansions, like recently there was a
something called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Sack that expanded on
some of the pregnancy related protections of the standing laws.
So you know, you're you're getting certain things here and
there to help advance the current laws. But I think
just the principles are probably gonna remand status quo. But yeah,
I'm very interested on, you know, the impact of AI
(25:56):
on what we do.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I'm certainly cential monitoring.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yes, yes, and that's definitely something to watch because you know,
a lot of people say that it's not going to
affect workers, but it is going to affect workers in
some way because it just is. Because companies are all
about the bottom line, speed, efficiency, right, things like that.
(26:23):
So it's definitely going to affect employees.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
But what I'm hoping for is that, you know, people
will be able to use AI as a tool to
assist the employee, not to place.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
And it can be absolutely because.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
At the end of the day, a I ain't gonna
buy nothing.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Yeah right, it's you definitely is so many people. We're
seeing it as attorneys. You know, it's changing the game.
But there's always going to be an for mitigators, negotiators,
you know, those facing you know, I guess what you
call an adversarial position you're gonna need You're gonna mean
(27:12):
an attorney. Clients want to talk to attorneys. But there's
a lot of work behind the scenes that I can
help with. And oh yeah, even our own law firm,
we've been using it to help some things behind the scenes.
You know, it can be used as a tool. So
so yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
So let me just ask you what was one of
your most difficult cases that you want that you were
able to be successful with.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Oh yeah, there's so many come to mind.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Probably, you know, when you're talking difficult, that means there's
probably one that went into a federal lawsuit.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
You know, we it's it's it's.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Across the board. I will say that probably the most
rewarding one was a class action that we did for
workers in Illinois a factory that closed down. There was
a violation of something called the Warn Act. That wasn't
one of the laws I talked about before. This is
a you know, a law that rarely comes into play.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Honestly.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
It's if a factory of a certain size is shutting down,
employees are owed either sixty days of pay or sixty
days of advanced notice that that the factor is going
to shut down. And these these employees received.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
The notice, but a week later doors were closed.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
They didn't get paychecks, I believe, if I remember right,
it was right around the holidays. It was a very
troubling time for them to just have the doors closed, and.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
You know, they thought they had sixty days, which is
what the law said.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
You know, we brought a case on behalf of those workers,
and there are exceptions to that law and the employer
trying to use those exceptions as a defense, and we
eventually were able to get a fair settlement for those folks.
It was a class action claim, and that's yeah, that's
probably the most It's memorable, you know, just because you're
able to help so many people, being that it was
a it was a class it was an entire workforce.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, so wow, And I mean we see that going
on right now, people closing their doors and just right
right right, just come to work the next day and
it's locked some door.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Yeah, that's that's that's exactly what happened in this case,
that people were locked out no notice. Well they got
to sit. They were told you will be closing in
sixty days. We're complying with the Warn Act. And then
I forgot it was like five or seven days later,
locks on the door. So they were all like whatever,
fifty some days worth of place.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So wow, that's that's terrible. Yes, wow, that is so again,
how do people connect with the employees connect so that
they if they have issues, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
So I'll give that.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
I don't get the phone number reports eight A eight
four one, five seventy six, seventy. That's how we can
do a case valuation over the phone, or you can
visit our website and I won't repeat it as a
long name, Martassia Firm dot com. You can click on
there for a free case evaluation. There's a link on
the main page of our website and you can fill
out the form online if you prefer that to calling us,
(30:16):
and yeah, email my director email is Gary at.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Martassia Firm dot com.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I feel free to email me directly and I can
send you in the right direction as far as the
case evaluation may be a concerned.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Okay, so what states do you practice them?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
So nine states Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania,
and Georgia.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Yep, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Okay, okay, Wow, so you got a pretty broad territory.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
Yes, absolutely, And if it's in a state that we
don't practicing, weed sometimes get calls, you know, people come
across the.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
You know, maybe they'll you know, they're close to one
of the state lines.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
Of a state that we're in and for whatever reason
they came up on an Internet search or whatnot. We
can help on in the right direction. Even if it's
something that we can't handle if we if we see
a valid case, we've got, you know, some referral sources,
so always happen to help, even if you're outside of
one of those states.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Okay, cool, I'm gonna ask this question. With the carerent
situation in the government in terms of law is concerned,
do you see this affecting what you do as as
an attorney.
Speaker 5 (31:42):
No, federal government government employees would be different. I don't
handle any cases for federal government employees, but any private
employees or employees of state or local governments. I don't
see any impact the federal government employees. Yes, unfortunate, there's
you know, been some impact there, But I am the
(32:06):
only thing I'd say about some of the de I
or anti DEI initiatives how it relates to private companies
is the eeo C. Anytime there's a new administration, the
EOC is going to change leadership, just like most government agencies.
You know, it's an executive power the president there. So
they named a new director and that one of that
(32:26):
director's initiatives is to say de programs are discriminatory.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
So we're going to try to find.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Cases that are followed with our agency and attack companies
that have aggressive DEI policies in their eyes that they
say our discrimination, which you know, it's it's going to
be a double edged sword for companies because you know,
I could see on one end, people that are minorities arguing, well,
(32:56):
now I'm being discriminated against because you don't have to
fall you.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Know, your DEI program.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
But then on the other side, people are gonna argue, well,
I'm a white male and you said you had to
hire a minority.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
For that position. I think that's discrimination, which I think
that's a good argument that it could be as well.
So it's it's gonna be a double edge order for companies.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
That actually probably creates more work and more potential cases
for the employee for folks to do what I do.
So so yeah, that's opened up a whole another can
of worms there. I believe that you can see a
lot of cases flushed out through the system and the
courts will ultimately.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Decide on it. Yeah, you know, and we'll see where
it goes.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yes, and I'd like to stay in touch and we
definitely get together again and talk about just that piece
of right getting busy, I'm sure, so again, Gary how
can people connect with you? This has been amazing. I've
learned so much.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Let me poured my situation out here as well.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
That's right, that's right, it's so eight eight eight four
one five seventy six seventy that's the line you'll call.
We'll put you through our case evaluation process and then
let you know if we can help them there.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yes, yes, indeed, and I'll have all of that information
in the show notes. So thank you so much, Gary,
because employees need you, you know, because people are always
not treating each other right, that's right. It's just it's
just a way of the world. You know. If you
have any kind of power, then it's like step on
(34:34):
the little guy.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Yeah, that's that's the biggest I guess the reason why
I love what I do, it's you fighting for the
little guy.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
It's it's not easy, but it's definitely rewarding. Yes, thanks
so much for Scotford. I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
It's been unbelievable and if you are ever have any
questions or any issues, just let me know.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
I happy to talk again.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Absolutely, thank you and thank you all the instituning and
we appreciate ciate you as well. All right, thank you
to our guests and you our values audience. Let's stop
you by. We truly appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
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Welcome to Just Minded My Business Media LLC, where you
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Speaker 2 (02:12):
Welcome to Just Minding My Business. I hope you're having
an amazing day and I am so happy to bring
to Just Minding my Visit today. Gary Matasio, who throughout
his legal career has focused exclusively on representing employees against employers.
(02:34):
Gary has earned a reputation for his commitment to advocating
for workers' rights and securing justice for his clients. Gary's
practice spans both in state and federal court, as well
as before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is EEOC
and equivalent state agencies. With a keen understanding of employment law,
(03:00):
he navigates complex legal landscape to ensure that employees received
the representation they deserved. Welcome Gary, thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, yeah, so let me just ask you what made
you go into employment law?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You know, that's a that's a good question. I knew
I wanted to be on.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
The plaintiff side, which is typically the one bringing the claim,
the little guy so to speak. I didn't know what
exact area I wanted to get into, But basically, when
when I got out of law school thirteen years ago,
I was looking around for jobs on the planeff side,
and first one that I got offered was an employment
(03:49):
law and there was a Planet's employment law firm, and
worked with that firm for about twelve years before starting
my own firm last year.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
So it's been it's been great.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
It's all I've ever done, it's all I know, and
it's a really challenging and rewarding area of law, that's
for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes, indeed, because one of the things that most of
these companies have is that at will where they can
get rid of you. I guess if you don't look
right the day to them. Bah, So how do you
get around that?
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
So almost every state in the country is at wealth,
so at well, employment means you can get fired for
good reason, batteries and no reason, any reason. But that
doesn't mean that you're without rights. Employees still do have rights.
There's three main buckets that I tell people this is
(04:44):
where your rights are going to come from. There's anti
discrimination laws in the workplace, so you cannot be discriminated
againswer being a member of a protected class that covers race, age, gender, disability, religion,
national origin, sexual orientation, couple others. So that's the first bucket.
Then you're going to have your anti retaliation statue, so
(05:07):
if you complain about being discriminated against based on one
of those protected categories, you are free from retaliation. So
ope an employer wants the termined issue because you raise
a what's called a protected complaint, you have rights there.
And then you're going to have your medical and pregnancy
related lead statutes, so you cannot be retaliated against if
(05:31):
you take time off due to medical issues under what's
called the Family and Medical Leeve Act. Under certain requirements
as far as time you have to work with an
employer and the amount.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Of employees that an employer has to be eligible for
the Family Medical Leve Act.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
But that offers some protection for employees dealing with medical issues.
FMLA also covers fraternity and maternity leads. So if you
or your spouse is delivering a baby, you have pet
up to twelve weeks off to him. That So there's
you know, that's a I guess a very high level,
(06:07):
you know, outline of exceptions to at well employment. Also,
in that medical related bucket you have eightya accommodations. Employers
have to work with you to grant reasonable accommodations and
if they don't, then their violation of law and they
can't retaliate against you for requesting combinations. So those are
the main buckets where you can have exceptions to Outwell employment.
(06:30):
And I think a lot of employers make mistakes thinking, oh,
we can do whatever we want, but they don't realize
that there are exceptions. It's not the total wild Bob
less Well. Yes, employers so to speak, you know, can
fire for any reason, good reason, bad reason, no reason.
It can't be a discriminatory or retaliatory one based on
one of those buckets that I just touched on. So yeah,
(06:52):
that's a long long way to go about answering your
question is atwell employment does not mean you're without right system?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yes, yes, because there's so much going when the job
and they kind of like discriminate, not directly but indirectly,
right right.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
That's the hardest part, even if you do have a
claim that falls under one of those categories, is proving it, right,
The burner proof lies with us as the employee, as
the plaintiff. And yeah, most employers aren't dumb enough to
come out and say I'm firing you because you know
you're a female or because of your specific race. Right,
No one's that dumb so to speak. Right, Another category
(07:39):
we deal with the sexual harassment.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I think I forgot that out of the.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Last deal, but that is one category, and that made
me just think of that where yeah, sometimes you do
see some very dumb text messages, sexually explicit stuff like that.
From my sexual harassment cases, it's rare that we have
a smoking gun, absolute in writing proof that the employer
(08:06):
is discriminating. So it's on us to prove that. And
you prove that, you know, circumstantially, you know, by comparing
your treatment to other employees about other different protected classes,
things of that nature. Employers not implementing their policies across
the board to employees of different races or genders or
(08:27):
whatever the claim may be.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
So there are ways to go about proving it, but
it's not easy. You're absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, So, if you find yourself in a position where
you feel as though your company is being discriminatory towards you,
what are the things that an employee should do to
prepare for the fight?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Right?
Speaker 5 (08:50):
You should absolutely document your concerns, especially if it's getting
to the point where you believe that you're likely going
to have to take legal action down the road.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
You want to have documentation. You want to go to
either human.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Resources or upper management, depending on whatever the proper channels
that are within your company, and you want to say
I believe I'm being discriminated against based on X, and
you want to be unequivocal about that.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
A lot of people will complain and.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
They'll be on the right track, but then they'll be
a little afraid to actually say what's going on?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Right? You want to put that employer on.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Notice, because the first thing the employer are going to
do is say, well, we didn't know.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
This may have been a one off, this may have
been their colleague.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
They're not an executive, they're not making decisions, right.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
You want to put them on notice.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
And even in situations where the employer does know, they're
still going to deny it unless you have it in writing,
so you definitely want to send an email outline your
concerns and then that way you're protected if the employer
does retaliate or continue to discriminate against you.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yes, and a lot of people, I think there is
a lot of fear because once you open that cane
of worms, then it begins. They begin to nitpicks speak
on everything that you do right, and how do you work,
And that's stressful because as humans, if we count how
(10:10):
many times we make a mistake in one day, it's
definitely over one hundred times.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Right exactly.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Yeah, the nitpicking is it's something that happens, and that's
something that we use to prove up our cases because
we say, hey, you're not doing this to my colleague
who's made or mistakes, so you're not scrutinizing.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Everyone on my team's work. Right.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
So yeah, I know, I get it can be very
stressful and it's difficult, but I think it's got to
the point where you actually are feeling the discrimination or retaliation.
I mean, I don't think going and raising a formal
complaint is going to make it worse, you know, And
If you don't do that, then you're kind of a
fish out of water. If you're terminated, the bringing up
concerns for the first time upon termination, that's not great
(10:57):
for a case. We can still work with it there,
Like you said, there's the ways to prove it as
far as the differential treatment they're picking and things like that,
but it's much more difficult if you're raising the concerns
for the first time during or after your termination.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know, yes, yes, indeed, So what are some of
the the extual rights in the workplace that an employee
has right?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So those those buckets that I touched on the specific
laws that we're looking at.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Our Title seven.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
That's going to cover a lot of the anti discrimination
statutes and then cover the statutes where where they say
you cannot be retaliate against if you can plain about discrimination.
You have the Age Discrimination and Employment Act covers age
related discrimination.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
That's separate than the Title seven.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Then you're going to have the a d A Americans
Disabilities Act prevents discrimination based on disability, covers accommodations related
to medical conditions, and a bunch hosts of other things.
The eight is a pretty broaduct, but in employment scope
you're looking at accombindation related issues, mostly family medically. Back
(12:07):
in the FMLA, sexual harassments actually covered by Title seven
as well.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
So those are the protections that you have.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Mostly it's surrounding discrimination, retaliation, medical and pregnancy related leaves, disability, accommodations.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
And sexual arrassment. Those are the protections that you're gonna have.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
But unfortunately, you know, just mean treatment in the workplace,
even hostile you hear the word hostile work environment is
not necessarily legal unless it's hostile based on one of
those categories that I just mentioned. So just general, real
harsh and unfair treatment is not illegal unless it hits
on one of those categories that I touched on.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Now in terms of discrimination, okay, I mean as a
black female, I worked in the IT industry over fifty
years and being number one, there wasn't many women in
the field to start with, and definitely not as many
(13:12):
Black women in the field to start with. So I
mean early on in my career it was a situation
where it was on the job training kind of thing,
if you showed aptitude that they would, you know, work
with you, and I really didn't see it until things
(13:33):
started to change where they required a college to degree,
even though I knew the job, I found myself in
a situation where I was training in college students. So
is that considered I don't know how you would, because
a lot of things that happened in the workplace don't
(13:56):
necessarily fall in those.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Groups, but eminations right right on its face. I mean,
situation may be difficult to show that it's unlawful, but
with the failure to advance you or failure to promote you,
if you're qualified and promoting others that are less qualified,
then you that could give rise to a claim as well.
(14:19):
So it doesn't always have to be a termination. You know,
if you were the only one being asked to do
those things, and you know you had the same qualifications
as your peers who were you know, non African American
or male, then yeah, then we can kind of use
what's called disparit treatment. That would be the angle that
(14:39):
I would look at. But yes, there would have to
be some element of discrimination based on sex or race
in that situation.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
And yeah, I'm sure you could probably think of a
million examples.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
To how you're treated to Oh yeah, when you when
you in it, you see it like.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
Death, absolutely and it absolutely exists. And you know.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Sometimes it's it's uh blatant, and sometimes you don't maybe
the bad actor doesn't even realize they're doing it. It's
just like an inherent bias, right, but still still just
as unlawful, you know, as if they're intentionally doing it.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, and then in other situations, I actually brought it
up to my manager about it, and of course nothing
was done. Came the person that's complaining.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
You know what I mean, right, right, right, Yeah, it's
and you did the right thing there by raising concerns
so that you were retaliating against based on that that
would be illegal. But yes, you know, you're right, it's
it's tough. It's a tough spot to be in knowing
when to raise concerns, how to raise concerns.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
But yeah, it's it's difficult. But yeah, I mean, it
sounds like you could have had a case.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Statue limitations probably expired by now, and you're in a
great spots.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I could have had a case from the line of companies.
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna say this because
I'm talking to somebody that probably could have helped me.
But I worked for a job for sixteen years that
I was overqualified for never got promoted, and then one
day I got fired because what did they tell me
(16:24):
something about I was forging my time sheet when in
fact I would get up and not even get paid
for it and set up my day before working apps, right, people,
I mean I do it so people would be calling me.
I'd be get a call on my way home from
work and people would be calling me on my cell phone.
(16:48):
Can you help me do this? I'm not even on
the clock, but I'm helping people.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Yeah, that's that's interesting. It's definitely something probably could have
helped them when you you made me think it's something
when you were saying they made up that.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Reason that it was a lot, it was pretext. That's
what we have to prove.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Typically, because an employer is never going to admit that
they discriminated against retaling. It's like I said, and they're
always going to assert what's called the legitimate businesses. And
that's the way the employer defended the case, say this
was not discriminatory, this was our reason, and then we
say no, this is why that was bys and that's
making the pretext argument. So that's what we would have
done in that situation. We would have shown them all
(17:31):
the work you were doing off the clock, and the
employer man said, well, well this is opening up a
whole new can of worms. Now, let's they probably would
have settled that case, right, because now we're talking wage
in our violations and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
So, and I want to say tons of character witnesses.
It's gonna say, I had people that didn't want to
work with nobody else but me, right right, you know,
So I had plenty of character witnesses, but I didn't
pursue it because I didn't want them in my spirit,
because I agree for a year, two years.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
A lot of people, a lot of my clients say that,
you know, you know, they they do feel a weight
lift off, lifted off their shoulders when the case is over.
You know, hopefully it's a positive result. But yeah, I
hear that from a lot of folks to you know,
how good it feels to close that chapter and have
the good part about bringing a claim through our firm.
There's not that much work you have to do at
(18:27):
the beginning. You have to help us collect all the
information and documents that we need.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
We have to sign a couple of things here and there,
such as an EFC charge.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Otherwise it's just kind of a let us do the
work and we'll let you know when we have something
to report to you. So, yeah, it's a totaling situation
going through a legal claim. We try to make it
as stressful as possible.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Well, that's good to know because that was my next question.
What kind of information do you need where you can
just take the rim and just handle the situation. So
you need just answer that question. So if employees want
to work with you, how do they how do they
get in touch with you?
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Yeah, So our website is Martasio Firm dot com m
A R T O C c Io Firm dot com.
It has a couple of different options how we can
evaluate your potential case. You can either call us directly
our numbers on the website there, or there's actually an
online case evaluation form that is, it's a dynamic form
(19:30):
based on how you answer questions it needs to other
questions and then from there, whether you call in and
go through our intight process on the phone or do
it online, we would review the situation and let you
know if we can be of assistance and take it
from there.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
And then once you would retain us. We would obviously
do a deeper dive into the into the.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Case and get all the information and documents that we need.
You wouldn't have to send us all that at once.
We just need some general information to understand if we
can help or not.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, so your track. Can we talk a little bit about.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
That, sure? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
So yeah, I've been practicing, like I said, almost thirteen
years now. I've had I think I'm right at three
hundred federal lawsuits that I've litigated. So, you know, a
lot of cases you can resolve early on in the process,
and that's the hope and the goal. Sometimes you know,
(20:26):
it doesn't play out that way. It takes the other
party to reach a resolution. And while it's usually an
employer's best interest to try to settle, some of them
you know don't for whatever reason, and we have to
push the cases forward into a lawsuit. So, you know,
we've had a lot of success resolving matters shorter suits
being filed. The ones that we've had a file suit on,
(20:47):
you know, the vast majority I have had successful results.
You know, we're we're looking at, i think, you know,
approaching sixty million recovered for plaintiffs over the years now.
I think our website says fifty, that's getting close to
sixty now. And yeah, you know, it's it's been a
really fun and rewarning process to try to help people
(21:10):
get in a better position than they would be without you.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
They're never gonna I don't think it's ever going to.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Be something where you're made whole and account for every
single thing that you lost, you know, monetarily, physically, emotionally.
But you know, we hope that we can help everyone
move forward and put them in a better position, you know,
as they close that chapter from being wrong by the employer. So, yeah,
it's been great, you know. Obviously, look there's no guarantees.
(21:36):
Not every case is a successful one. There's no such
thing as a slam dunk. But the vast majority of
the cases we can into, we're able to reach a
successful revolution.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Oh that's good to hear because most people it's a
very stressful situation because that's your livelihood. You know, you
pay your bills with this company and they not treating
you right. Right, So it's stuff that you take home
every day to your family. You know, you always so
(22:08):
and so did this today. It's and so did that today.
So it gets very very stressful, and I guess working
with an attorney that it's ease that emotional side of.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
That, right, right, Yeah, we try to help help with that.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
We try, you know, as the case goes on in
a client seeing the defenses that employer is raising, it
gets it gets personal, it gets emotional. We try to
take that emotion out of it, help them get through that.
You know, as an attorney, you see a lot of
these cases and you know, while I guess you're fighting
your tail off of your client, you can you can
(22:46):
try to help them take the emotion out of it
and look at this black and white dollars and cents wise,
and I think a lot of people appreciate that, and
they're just helping them, helping them move on. That's it's
more than just about the money, right, It's about seeing
justice and see move on to that next chapter. Like
I said, I can't stress enough that most people just
just want to close that book and move.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
On and do so a successful way. You know that
over the years for a lot of people, and.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Not only that, it also puts the company in check
for the next person as well, because if you go
through with that and they don't know that it's us. Okay,
we had somebody to us this could happen again, so
we need to definitely work on.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Que there'd be no reason for a company to change.
So it certainly does have a that that effect that.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
A lot of people you know, like being a part
of that as well.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yes, yes, indeed, because we have to speak up because
if we don't. You know, in my case, I didn't.
But what happened ended up being a blessing in disguise
for me.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
A favor. Huh.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, they actually did me a favor because you know
how it is. Sometimes you need to go, you need
to move, but you don't move right. So God has
to step in and say, let me just a Buddhist
child because she is definitely not doing it right right,
So it turned out to be a blessing in disguise
(24:21):
for me. Now, do what do you see with future
employment law? What do you think is going to happen?
Speaker 5 (24:31):
You know a lot of the laws that touch on
employment laws, they've been in place for a while. You know,
the Title seven going back to the sixties. You got
like the ADA and the FMLA going back to the
early nineties. So I don't foresee those laws changing much
one way or the other. It will be interesting to
(24:54):
see what happens in the employment law world, as a
lot of companies are using AI and there's going to
be I think the workforce is going to see some
major changes, you know, as far as the amount of jobs,
type of jobs. So that is one thing that I'm
keeping an eye on seeing the impact of that in
(25:14):
the workplace. I don't see that there's going to be
many changes to laws, honestly, I think it's going to
kind of be status quo with that, hoping that they're
long standing laws that are you know, they're statutes that are.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Very difficult to change.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
You can see some expansions, like recently there was a
something called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Sack that expanded on
some of the pregnancy related protections of the standing laws.
So you know, you're you're getting certain things here and
there to help advance the current laws. But I think
just the principles are probably gonna remand status quo. But yeah,
I'm very interested on, you know, the impact of AI
(25:56):
on what we do.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I'm certainly cential monitoring.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yes, yes, and that's definitely something to watch because you know,
a lot of people say that it's not going to
affect workers, but it is going to affect workers in
some way because it just is. Because companies are all
about the bottom line, speed, efficiency, right, things like that.
(26:23):
So it's definitely going to affect employees.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
But what I'm hoping for is that, you know, people
will be able to use AI as a tool to
assist the employee, not to place.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
And it can be absolutely because.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
At the end of the day, a I ain't gonna
buy nothing.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Yeah right, it's you definitely is so many people. We're
seeing it as attorneys. You know, it's changing the game.
But there's always going to be an for mitigators, negotiators,
you know, those facing you know, I guess what you
call an adversarial position you're gonna need You're gonna mean
(27:12):
an attorney. Clients want to talk to attorneys. But there's
a lot of work behind the scenes that I can
help with. And oh yeah, even our own law firm,
we've been using it to help some things behind the scenes.
You know, it can be used as a tool. So
so yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
So let me just ask you what was one of
your most difficult cases that you want that you were
able to be successful with.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Oh yeah, there's so many come to mind.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Probably, you know, when you're talking difficult, that means there's
probably one that went into a federal lawsuit.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
You know, we it's it's it's.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Across the board. I will say that probably the most
rewarding one was a class action that we did for
workers in Illinois a factory that closed down. There was
a violation of something called the Warn Act. That wasn't
one of the laws I talked about before. This is
a you know, a law that rarely comes into play.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Honestly.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
It's if a factory of a certain size is shutting down,
employees are owed either sixty days of pay or sixty
days of advanced notice that that the factor is going
to shut down. And these these employees received.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
The notice, but a week later doors were closed.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
They didn't get paychecks, I believe, if I remember right,
it was right around the holidays. It was a very
troubling time for them to just have the doors closed, and.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
You know, they thought they had sixty days, which is
what the law said.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
You know, we brought a case on behalf of those workers,
and there are exceptions to that law and the employer
trying to use those exceptions as a defense, and we
eventually were able to get a fair settlement for those folks.
It was a class action claim, and that's yeah, that's
probably the most It's memorable, you know, just because you're
able to help so many people, being that it was
a it was a class it was an entire workforce.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, so wow, And I mean we see that going
on right now, people closing their doors and just right
right right, just come to work the next day and
it's locked some door.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Yeah, that's that's that's exactly what happened in this case,
that people were locked out no notice. Well they got
to sit. They were told you will be closing in
sixty days. We're complying with the Warn Act. And then
I forgot it was like five or seven days later,
locks on the door. So they were all like whatever,
fifty some days worth of place.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So wow, that's that's terrible. Yes, wow, that is so again,
how do people connect with the employees connect so that
they if they have issues, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
So I'll give that.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
I don't get the phone number reports eight A eight
four one, five seventy six, seventy. That's how we can
do a case valuation over the phone, or you can
visit our website and I won't repeat it as a
long name, Martassia Firm dot com. You can click on
there for a free case evaluation. There's a link on
the main page of our website and you can fill
out the form online if you prefer that to calling us,
(30:16):
and yeah, email my director email is Gary at.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Martassia Firm dot com.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I feel free to email me directly and I can
send you in the right direction as far as the
case evaluation may be a concerned.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Okay, so what states do you practice them?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
So nine states Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania,
and Georgia.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Yep, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Okay, okay, Wow, so you got a pretty broad territory.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
Yes, absolutely, And if it's in a state that we
don't practicing, weed sometimes get calls, you know, people come
across the.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
You know, maybe they'll you know, they're close to one
of the state lines.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
Of a state that we're in and for whatever reason
they came up on an Internet search or whatnot. We
can help on in the right direction. Even if it's
something that we can't handle if we if we see
a valid case, we've got, you know, some referral sources,
so always happen to help, even if you're outside of
one of those states.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Okay, cool, I'm gonna ask this question. With the carerent
situation in the government in terms of law is concerned,
do you see this affecting what you do as as
an attorney.
Speaker 5 (31:42):
No, federal government government employees would be different. I don't
handle any cases for federal government employees, but any private
employees or employees of state or local governments. I don't
see any impact the federal government employees. Yes, unfortunate, there's
you know, been some impact there, But I am the
(32:06):
only thing I'd say about some of the de I
or anti DEI initiatives how it relates to private companies
is the eeo C. Anytime there's a new administration, the
EOC is going to change leadership, just like most government agencies.
You know, it's an executive power the president there. So
they named a new director and that one of that
(32:26):
director's initiatives is to say de programs are discriminatory.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
So we're going to try to find.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Cases that are followed with our agency and attack companies
that have aggressive DEI policies in their eyes that they
say our discrimination, which you know, it's it's going to
be a double edged sword for companies because you know,
I could see on one end, people that are minorities arguing, well,
(32:56):
now I'm being discriminated against because you don't have to
fall you.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Know, your DEI program.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
But then on the other side, people are gonna argue, well,
I'm a white male and you said you had to
hire a minority.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
For that position. I think that's discrimination, which I think
that's a good argument that it could be as well.
So it's it's gonna be a double edge order for companies.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
That actually probably creates more work and more potential cases
for the employee for folks to do what I do.
So so yeah, that's opened up a whole another can
of worms there. I believe that you can see a
lot of cases flushed out through the system and the
courts will ultimately.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Decide on it. Yeah, you know, and we'll see where
it goes.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yes, and I'd like to stay in touch and we
definitely get together again and talk about just that piece
of right getting busy, I'm sure, so again, Gary how
can people connect with you? This has been amazing. I've
learned so much.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Let me poured my situation out here as well.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
That's right, that's right, it's so eight eight eight four
one five seventy six seventy that's the line you'll call.
We'll put you through our case evaluation process and then
let you know if we can help them there.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yes, yes, indeed, and I'll have all of that information
in the show notes. So thank you so much, Gary,
because employees need you, you know, because people are always
not treating each other right, that's right. It's just it's
just a way of the world. You know. If you
have any kind of power, then it's like step on
(34:34):
the little guy.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Yeah, that's that's the biggest I guess the reason why
I love what I do, it's you fighting for the
little guy.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
It's it's not easy, but it's definitely rewarding. Yes, thanks
so much for Scotford. I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
It's been unbelievable and if you are ever have any
questions or any issues, just let me know.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
I happy to talk again.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Absolutely, thank you and thank you all the instituning and
we appreciate ciate you as well. All right, thank you
to our guests and you our values audience. Let's stop
you by. We truly appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Many blessings to you and yours
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