Jill: Hi everybody! I'm Jill Bollwerk.
Andy: I'm Andy Pichler.
Joan: And I'm Joan Schwartz.
Jill: Andy and I are from Bollwerk and Associates, and today we have a special guest attorney, Joan Schwartz. Joan and I have been friends for almost 25 years, since she started her own law firm and we shared office space when I first started my own firm.
Jill: I'm at home today with my "Be a Goldfish" mug from Ted Lasso - if you know, you know! That saying means don't let your mistakes get you down, be a goldfish and don't think about it.
Andy: I've got the classic "Greatest Dad" mug, but I'm being told that since I now have two daughters, a new mug should be coming in for the holiday season.
Joan: I have a collection of mugs at home - everybody gives me coffee mugs because they don't know what to get me! But at work, I have my own coffee mug with the logo for Joan M. Schwartz Law Office.
Joan: I celebrate my 25th anniversary on my own March 1st next year.
Jill: You moved in within months of starting - I don't think it was even three months. I had office space and said, "Just move in, we'll figure it out!" A mutual friend introduced us, and the rest is history.
Employment Law Overview
Jill: Joan is an employment lawyer, and sometimes we need employment lawyers to help our workers' compensation clients.
Joan: I'm a plaintiff's attorney, which means I generally represent employees who have problems with their employers. I help people with claims related to:
- Discrimination based on gender, race, age, or disability
- Retaliation for filing workers' compensation claims
- Other workplace issues
These claims are filed with federal and state agencies and in Circuit Court, unlike workers' compensation cases which have their own court. We handle cases both in court and help people with employment problems before and after court proceedings.
Workers' Compensation Retaliation in Missouri
Joan: The law protects people who are retaliated against for pursuing workers' compensation rights. Retaliation can include:
- Termination
- Less favorable work assignments
- Being passed up for promotion
- Isolation or different treatment
- Harder work tasks
Important points about retaliation claims:
- You don't have to have filed a formal claim to be protected
- The law is designed to protect people who get hurt at work
- Retaliation as defined under the law is very broad
- These are separate cases from workers' compensation claims
Proving Retaliation
Common proof patterns include:
- Employee had no prior problems at work
- No previous write-ups
- Good performance history
- Everything was fine until the work injury
- Changes in treatment after filing workers' comp claim
Jill: We usually tell our clients to keep a detailed diary of everything that's happening when they think they're being discriminated against.
Joan: That's great advice. People should:
- Write things down
- Keep track of dates
- Save anything in writing
- Print and email important documents
- Document the cumulative effect of events
Joan: People can reach me at 314-471-2032, or they can find me on the internet.
Jill: If you have a workers' comp claim, call us first, and we'll help you decide whether you also have a retaliation claim.
Joan: And when people call me for workers' compensation claims, I send them to Andy and Jill, as I've been doing for years.
Jill: Your job should be protected while you're on workers' compensation time loss or benefits, but the world doesn't always work the way it's supposed to work - that's why lawyers like us exist.
Joan: It's interesting how different laws can intersect, especially in workers' comp and discrimination cases. Some facts help in one area and don't help in the other, so it can be complicated.
Jill: We know this stuff's complicated, so we're just here to try to help unpack it and figure it out.
All: Thanks for watching! See you next time!
Andy: And yes, I'll send a picture when the new "two babies" mug comes in!
