- Criminal DefenseIf you are facing criminal charges in Florida or Ohio, I will not just represent you, I will fight for you. I am a fighter who cares about my clients and their Constitutional rights.
- DUI/DWI
- Wrongful DeathExpert testimony is often needed in police misconduct cases. For example, accepted standards of police conduct or appropriate levels of force in a given set of circumstances may be at issue. In cases of wrongful death due to police misconduct, the professional opinions of toxicologists, pathologists, and coroners may play vital roles in litigation. In dealing with cases of police misconduct in Toledo and throughout Northwest Ohio and the Midwest region, I have worked with some of the most renowned experts in these and other scientific fields to help bring about recovery for my clients.
- Drug Crimes
- Assault
- Workers CompensationWhether you've just been wrongfully fired from your job, are the victim of harmful false accusations, are being subjected to a hostile work environment, or have otherwise been treated unlawfully, your diligence in acting quickly and sensibly is a key factor in the likelihood of your achieving the relief to which you may be entitled under the law. A prompt consultation with an attorney experienced in handling your kind of case may be very helpful in preserving your rights. Many of the areas in which I practice have short statutes of limitation, which refers to the time by which you must file any lawsuit or take certain preliminary steps such as filing with an administrative agency or providing notice to potential defendants. Just as one example, Ohio's Whistleblower Act, which is intended to protect workers from retaliation for their reporting of fraudulent or criminal activity by their employer, requires that certain timely actions be taken by the reporting employee in order to be protected from retaliation by his or her employer. Similarly, while employees are protected under Ohio law from retaliation for filing a workers' compensation claim, preservation of that right requires timely and proper notice to the employer of claimed violations, and the filing of any lawsuit within an unusually short limitations period. In addition to advising you regarding statutory time limits and the legal validity of your case, an experienced attorney can often offer advice of a more practical nature designed to minimize hardship and maximize the likelihood of ultimately achieving a positive result, should you decide to pursue legal or administrative action against your employer. In my 30 years of practice, I have dealt with a virtually limitless array of circumstances faced by employees or former employees, and I consider giving you useful, practical, doable advice to be an important part of my total representation of you.
- Wrongful TerminationSimply put, wrongful discharge, or wrongful termination, two terms signifying the same act, is any discharge from employment which is in violation of law. For example, as most people are aware, the statutes (written laws) of both Ohio, including the Toledo area, and the United States prohibit employers from discharging (or refusing to promote or hire) an employee on the basis of the employee's race, gender, national origin, religion, disability, or age. These and several other specific examples of wrongful discharge are discussed in detail in their own articles located on this web site. In addition, the courts of Ohio, including of course the courts in Toledo, Ohio, and other States have found that public policy prohibits employers from terminating their employees for certain reasons even when those reasons are not specifically prohibited by state or federal statutes. Additionally, even where the employer has not violated any statute or public policy, his or her words or actions may constitute an express or implied, contractual promise of continued employment terminable only for cause. Some specific examples of these statutes, public policies, and contractual issues are listed below. But first, let's discuss another term: "at will" employment.
- Employment DiscriminationEmployment discrimination laws generally seek to prevent employment discrimination based on race, gender, age, religion, national origin, and physical or mental disability. Such laws also prohibit harassment based upon gender or other statutorily-protected characteristic. Individual states and localities may prohibit discrimination on other bases as well. The Ohio Fair Employment Practices Law prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age and ancestry. Federal statutes prohibiting discrimination include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the American with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Uniform Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act.
- Employment ContractUnless you are a union member working under a collective bargaining agreement, or are otherwise working under an employment contract, your employment is probably "at-will." This means that you serve at the will of your employer, just as your employer has your services only for so long as you choose to serve him. If you are an at-will employee, you are free to leave your job at any time, for good reason, bad reason, or just because you feel like it. However, by the same token, your employer is generally free to terminate your employment anytime he or she wants, whether for good reason, bad reason, or for no reason at all, unless you come under one of the exceptions to the employee-at-will doctrine. Additionally, your employer generally may change the terms or conditions of your employment, such as your job description, wages, or location, at any time and for any reason. We say "generally," because there are exceptions to the at-will employment rule. We have already briefly mentioned some of those exceptions in the previous section. In subsequent sections, we will list (and in some cases discuss) a number of specific exceptions to the rule. As you read those sections, however, you should keep in mind that the list is not necessarily exhaustive. The field of employment law is complex and ever changing. What was permissible employer behavior yesterday may not be permissible today, and what is permissible employer behavior today may be found by a court to be impermissible tomorrow. Or circumstances may arise that have not even been previously considered by a court. Therefore, you cannot assume that just because you cannot pigeonhole the circumstances surrounding your termination into one of the below categories, you are without remedy for your termination. Again, however, just because your employer did not have a good reason to terminate you does not mean that in doing so he violated the law. Only an experienced employment attorney, after carefully considering the facts of your case and applying the law to those facts, can tell you whether those facts would support a claim for wrongful termination.
- Non-compete Agreement
- Severance Agreement
- Sexual HarassmentSexual harassment refers to sexual behavior that is unwelcome and/or inappropriate for the workplace or other environment. Sexual harassment may include verbal harassment; visual harassment, such as derogatory cartoons or sexually oriented pictures; physical harassment such as inappropriate touching; or the request, demand, or even subtle hinting for sexual favors. It can also include gender-based animosity or a sexually charged work environment.
- Eminent DomainBesides employment law, I practice in several other areas of law that are logically related to employment law, or to which many of the principles of employment law are applicable. Those areas of law include libel and slander, collectively known as defamation; invasion of privacy; education law; and constitutional law, which refers to the protection of your rights as guaranteed by our Constitution, including especially those rights guaranteed by our Bill of Rights. Constitutional law includes, among other things, freedom of speech, police misconduct, prisoners' rights, and eminent domain (briefly, the taking of private property by the government for public use). A more complete list of my areas of practice can be found here. Many of my areas of practice are linked to short, informative articles designed to give you a brief, easily understood overview of law and practice in those areas of law.
- Citizenship and Naturalization
- Disability DiscriminationFill out the form below with as little or as much information as you like to contact Thomas A. Sobecki, Attorney at Law regarding Disability Discrimination or explore other ways to contact Thomas A. Sobecki, Attorney at Law.
- Bankruptcy