Chiquita Hall-Jackson, FounderIn conversation with Manage HR Magazine, Hall-Jackson shares her insights on how the company provides superior legal representation to clients.
Building a strong case through shared experiences
At Hall-Jackson & Associates P.C., our primary focus is representing employees with marginalized identities who experience unequal treatment, discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination in Chicago and Illinois. We represent employees who face retaliation from higher-ups as a result of whistleblowing, forming a union, filing workers’ compensation claims, or reporting bad actors in the workplace. Our services include representation for severance package negotiations, attendance at arbitration hearings, and FINRA hearings. We also assist at the administrative level with EEOC, OSHA, and the Illinois Department of Human Rights to ensure safe and healthful working conditions.
At Hall-Jackson & Associates P.C., we build strong relationships with clients. Our diverse staff, which includes members of the protected classes, understands client problems through shared experiences. I always like to say that ‘we are a team of protected classes representing members of the protected class.’ No matter the nature of the claim, someone in our firm has experienced a similar situation.
Identifying Legal Procedures
The most difficult challenge our clients face is identifying the procedure and the requirements to file an incident report in the workplace. This includes identifying if the case is just a petty offense or something that falls into a category in which the court can actually rule on or engage in.
Seamless Onboarding Processes
We follow an MPEG process where our potential clients are instructed to visit our website and fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire is designed to collect demographic information as we take into consideration not only your age and gender but also your race, disability status, national origin, and sexual orientation. A variety of questions are asked to determine the protected class that the case may fall under. In addition, we ask them to provide a summary or a detailed timeline of the incident, along with salary history.
Once the information is collected, a confirmation message is sent by one of the representatives from the intake team, who contacts the individual within 24 to 48 hours. The representative conducts a follow-up with the client, asking relevant questions, to understand the nature of the incident thoroughly. Once we have a complete understanding, we evaluate whether or not a legal claim can be filed in court. A fee agreement will be drafted once we decide if the firm can handle the legal process. The administrative process begins by recognizing the department approached by the client to receive the right-to-sue letter, which is then followed by the draft of the complaint and court proceedings.
The litigation process begins by identifying the defendant and getting them served immediately. To agree upon an early settlement and resolve the issue prior to trial, a counter is offered to the defendant. If the defendant disagrees with settling, we continue with the discovery process, which includes depositions. Depending on the ruling of the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, we proceed to trial.
In the event of a severance package negotiation, where the offer has been made in accordance with the amount of the package, we will require the client to complete the intake process. Evaluating the claims hands us the leverage to negotiate on the client’s behalf. Based on the set of facts and pieces of evidence, we look into various avenues where our clients receive the best severance package and insurance coverage from their company. If this fails, it is the client’s decision to accept the severance package as is or waive their right to severance and begin litigation for an employee who has not been made a severance offer. We usually demand fair compensation for our client who is willing to let go of their position on a specific date.
At Hall-Jackson & Associates P.C., our primary focus is representing employees with marginalized identities who experience unequal treatment, discrimination, harassment, and wrongful
We had a young lady subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace. Due to the severity of the ongoing harassment that she was receiving on a daily basis, the plaintiff spent 14 days in the Psychiatric wards. The harassment began with one employee touching and following her to her car and the checkout clock at different times. Once reported to human resources, they did very little to support the plaintiff, which did not make her feel safe at work. Instead, they actually isolated her by posting her in the middle of a plant, where everyone could have eyes on her at all times. As a result, the plaintiff faced more humiliation and embarrassment, as more employees were now aware of the incident. After the failed attempt by the employer, the situation became worse as a supervisor, as well as a female co-worker, began harassing her, which added up to three bad actors. The human resource department downplayed the incident and never took her claim seriously, making her feel that she was just being sensitive and over-analyzing things each time she raised a complaint. These claims were assessed the most in summary judgment, which resulted in a six-figure settlement for our client, who was overjoyed.
