Chicago Employment Law — Employee Side Only
If something wrong happened at work — a firing that felt retaliatory, harassment that HR brushed off, a paycheck that never added up — you deserve a straight answer. Not a runaround. Not a form letter. A real conversation with an attorney who works for workers.
This consultation is confidential. Contacting us doesn't put your job at risk.
What We Handle
Employment law is the only work we do, and we do it exclusively for employees. That focus means we know these cases — the deadlines, the agencies, the strategies — better than a generalist firm ever could.
Illinois is an at-will state — but at-will has limits. If you were fired because of your race, sex, age, disability, or religion, or because you filed a workers' comp claim, or because you reported a legal violation, that termination may be unlawful. We investigate the real reason behind the firing.
Federal and Illinois law prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age (40+), disability, pregnancy, religion, and more. Discrimination can look like a passed-over promotion, an unequal pay structure, a hostile performance review, or an outright termination. It is often subtle — and we know how to document it.
No one should have to endure a workplace made hostile by sexual comments, unwanted contact, or persistent harassment tied to any protected characteristic. Whether the conduct came from a manager, a coworker, or a client, you have rights — and they don't disappear because HR did nothing.
Reporting discrimination, wage theft, safety violations, or fraud to a supervisor, HR, or a government agency is protected activity. If you were demoted, disciplined, pushed out, or fired in the months after making a report, that sequence matters. We build retaliation cases carefully, using documentation and timeline analysis.
Being paid a salary does not necessarily mean your employer can skip overtime. Misclassification as an independent contractor when you function as an employee is one of the most common wage violations we see. If your employer has shaved hours, misclassified your status, or called you exempt when you aren't, we can help you recover what you're owed.
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to twelve weeks of protected, unpaid leave for serious health conditions or family needs. Interfering with that leave, denying it outright, or retaliating against an employee for taking it are all violations. Illinois law adds additional protections.
Employers with fifteen or more employees are required to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities, unless doing so would cause undue hardship. Flat refusals and delays that go on for months without good-faith engagement are actionable. We hold employers to the interactive process the law requires.
A severance agreement is a legal contract, and it almost always contains a release of claims against your employer. Before you sign, have an attorney read it. You may be waiving rights worth far more than the severance offered. We review these agreements on a flat fee and negotiate better terms when the facts support it.
Illinois law restricts what non-compete and non-solicitation agreements employers can enforce. If you've been threatened with a non-compete, or fired and warned you'll be sued if you work for a competitor, get a review before you assume the agreement controls your life. Many are unenforceable as written.
Before filing a federal discrimination lawsuit, most employees must first file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Illinois Department of Human Rights. These agencies have strict deadlines — as short as 180 days in some cases. We guide clients through the charge process, respond to mediation, and prepare for right-to-sue letters.
Self-Screen
Five plain-language questions. Takes two minutes. The result is general information — not legal advice — and a clear picture of what you should be thinking about right now.
Before You Talk to Anyone
Evidence disappears. Companies delete emails. HR files get "lost." If something wrong happened at your workplace, the single most important thing you can do today — before you call a lawyer, before you talk to HR, before anything — is preserve your own documentation.
Selected Outcomes
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts, the evidence available, and applicable law.
Client, a senior operations manager, was passed over for promotion in favor of less-qualified colleagues and terminated after raising concerns internally. Confidential settlement reached before trial.
Warehouse supervisor subjected client to repeated unwanted physical contact and explicit comments over fourteen months. HR dismissed the complaint. Federal jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
Client took approved medical leave for a serious health condition and was terminated three days after returning. Settled favorably following EEOC charge and demand letter.
Group of delivery drivers misclassified as independent contractors and denied overtime. Collective action settlement recovered back wages and liquidated damages for the full group.
Client presented with a standard departure agreement containing a broad non-compete. Review identified unenforceable provisions under Illinois law. Negotiated a significantly higher severance package and narrowed the non-compete to a legally defensible scope.
Client terminated during her second trimester after seventeen years of service. Successful EEOC charge led to a right-to-sue letter and subsequent settlement without federal court filing.
The Attorneys
Founding Attorney
Valentina spent six years as a trial attorney for the EEOC before opening her own practice — exclusively on the employee side. She knows how federal agencies investigate charges, what evidence they prioritize, and how employers' legal teams approach these cases. That institutional knowledge shapes how she builds every claim from day one.
Senior Associate
James handles the firm's wage and hour practice, including collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. He has litigated misclassification claims in the gig economy, restaurant industry, and logistics sector. His approach is methodical: document everything, calculate precisely, and let the numbers tell the story.
Associate Attorney
Priya represents employees facing discrimination and harassment, with particular focus on pregnancy discrimination, disability accommodation, and FMLA claims. She works directly with every client she represents — taking calls, explaining every filing, and making sure people understand what is happening in their case at every step.
How We Get Paid
Confusion about legal fees stops people from getting help they're entitled to. Here is exactly how this works.
For wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, FMLA, and most wage claims, we work on contingency. That means we do not charge you an hourly rate or require a retainer. Our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you. If we don't win anything, you owe us nothing for attorney time. We advance litigation costs — filing fees, expert expenses, deposition costs — and recover those from the settlement or verdict if we succeed.
For severance agreement review and non-compete analysis, we charge a flat fee agreed upon in advance — no surprises. You receive a written analysis and a consultation explaining what you're being asked to give up, what rights remain, and whether negotiation is advisable. If you engage us to negotiate on your behalf, that is addressed separately, clearly, and in writing before we begin.
If you're still employed and thinking about your options, we can still help. Some consultations are available on an hourly basis for ongoing workplace situations.
Client Voices
These accounts reflect individual experiences and do not constitute a guarantee or prediction of outcome in any other matter. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
"I sat on this for eight months because I was convinced no one would believe me. My boss was well-liked. I was new. Marchetti's office was the first place I felt like someone actually listened and didn't try to talk me out of what I knew happened. I wish I had called sooner."
"I had a non-compete in my separation papers and I thought I just had to live with it. Priya read the whole thing and told me in plain English which parts were enforceable and which weren't under Illinois law. We renegotiated it. I was back in my field in two months."
"James walked me through exactly how the overtime calculation worked — what I was owed and why. I had been working those hours for two years without questioning it because I thought being salaried meant no overtime. That is not the law. We recovered two years of back pay."
The deadlines are short and strict. To pursue a federal discrimination claim under Title VII, the ADEA, or the ADA, you generally must file a charge with the EEOC within 300 days of the discriminatory act — and in some circumstances within 180 days. For claims under the Illinois Human Rights Act, the deadline is 300 days. Waiting even a few months can eliminate options that would otherwise exist. Do not wait.
It is a legitimate concern, and we take it seriously. Federal and Illinois law prohibit retaliation against employees who report discrimination, file charges, or participate in investigations. But the law's prohibition doesn't make retaliation impossible — it makes it unlawful, and it gives you a separate legal claim if it happens. We talk through this with every client who is still employed. How you proceed, and whether and when to make formal reports, is a strategic decision we work through together.
Possibly not entirely. Under federal law, a valid waiver of ADEA (age discrimination) claims requires that employees 40 and older receive at least 21 days to review the agreement (45 days in a group layoff) and 7 days to revoke after signing. If those requirements weren't met, the waiver of age claims may be unenforceable. Certain rights — like the right to file an EEOC charge — generally cannot be waived by a private agreement at all. Have an attorney review what you signed before assuming your options are gone.
The label your employer put on the relationship is not the end of the analysis. Illinois uses an economic reality test to determine whether workers are actually employees or independent contractors for purposes of wage and hour law. If you had a fixed schedule, used company equipment, worked exclusively for one company, or had no real independence in how you did the job, you may have been misclassified. Misclassification can mean you're owed back overtime, benefits, and other compensation. Discrimination protections also extend to some workers classified as contractors depending on the facts.
Most employment cases settle before trial — through mediation, EEOC proceedings, or direct negotiation. Settlement terms are typically confidential. The option to go to court is what gives a well-documented claim leverage in settlement negotiations, but the decision to file suit is always yours. We explain options at each stage. Some employers respond to a well-crafted demand letter before any agency charge or lawsuit is filed. Others don't. We build the case so that you have real choices.
That is exactly what a consultation is for. Employment law involves federal and state statutes, agency regulations, and decades of case law that most people — understandably — have never had to think about. You do not need to come in knowing the legal theory. You need to describe what happened. We assess whether the conduct is actionable, what law applies, and what the realistic options are. The consultation is confidential and there is no obligation to retain us afterward.
Filing an EEOC charge is a prerequisite for most federal discrimination lawsuits — it is not itself a lawsuit. After a charge is filed, the EEOC notifies the employer, may offer mediation, and investigates the claim. If the investigation supports the charge, the EEOC may pursue the matter itself or issue a right-to-sue letter allowing the employee to file in federal court. Filing a charge is protected activity — meaning any employer retaliation for filing it creates a separate, independently actionable claim. The charge itself is not public in the way a lawsuit is.
Confidential Intake
Consultations are free and strictly confidential. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship, but everything you share in the intake process is treated with the same discretion as privileged communication.
What you share here is confidential. Do not include information that could put you at risk if discovered — a brief description of your situation is enough for us to assess next steps.
