Gainey Law, PLLC Seattle Employment Law Attorney

  Five Ways to Get an Attorney to Call You Back You’ve been fired or pushed out because of your race or gender or other protected class status , or after speaking up about sexual harassment, discrimination - that's retaliation. You start contacting attorneys, hoping for help, but no one gets back to you. It's frustrating and it can feel personal. It isn’t. Most employment firms get more messages a week then they can respond to. The ones that get a quick response share one thing in common: clarity and a lack of red flags. Here’s how to make your story stand out and get a call back. 1. Lead With What Happened—Not How It Felt Start with the facts. Attorneys need to know what happened, where, and when before they can evaluate your case. Include: Your full name and contact information (email, and phone at minimum) The employer’s name (Do not leave this out - lawyers need to do conflict checks) Your job title, wage or salary, and start/end dates What you reported ...

 RESOURCES FOR WA WORKERS SUFFERING IN DIFFICULT WORKPLACES When you’re being mistreated at work — targeted, sexually harassed, or punished for speaking up — it can be hard to know where to turn. You don’t have to navigate it alone. Washington has strong worker-protection laws and several organizations that offer free or low-cost guidance, even if you aren't yet ready to hire an attorney. Below are reliable starting points for understanding your rights, finding support, and taking action to protect yourself. Each link leads to a legitimate state or nonprofit resource that can help you make informed choices about your next steps. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries provides comprehensive information on workers' rights in Washington, including wage and hour laws, workplace safety standards, and workers' compensation benefits. Great if you need your former employer to pay out you...

10/25/2025: See the InvestigateWest article, IME providers still in the news, still a massive expense to Washington and still allegedly incompetent or worse - read more: https://www.investigatewest.org/retired-docs-earn-millions-examining-injured-washington-workers/  Labor Retired docs earn millions examining injured Washington workers 'This is a wonderful way to make six figures saying no,' said one attorney about Independent Medical Examiners' role in evaluating workers' comp claims. Gainey Law, PLLC currently represents client(s) related to the wrongful acts of Dr. Douglas Robinson and the Washington State entities that enabled his bizarre and harmful behavior for decades. Despite numerous complaints, the Department of Labor and Industry did nothing to protect Washington workers against Dr. Douglas one of LNI’s highest paid medical examiners. If you received a forced medical exam (IME, independent medical exam) from Dr. Robinson we want to here from you. Please call ...

Don't just watch our Democracy being dismantled, stay informed and do what you can to stop it.     No More Denial.  The Dismantling of Democracy is Underway I am not the first to notice or to say, that our democracy is under attack , but it is alarming how many people who should be saying it aren't saying it. Or maybe getting my news off ads on Instagram is not exhaustive. So, I found democracy docket, with Marc Elias of Perkins Coie (no hissing my plaintiff's attorneys brethren). They are tracking all of the lawsuits against Trump and his regime as well as almost everything else is this quickly evolving hellscape.  Stay informed. The harms are real. (ICE RAIDS, POLITIZATION OF THE DOJ, ) Silence is dangerous. The choice to see clearly, and speak up is still ours. Talk to each other, reason things out, find credible sources of information and share them. Stand up for and with your neighbors.  Stay Strong. In Solidarity, ~Nicole Gainey ...

Most people are unaware that statutory caps apply to damages available in Federal Court. These caps drastically limit the recovery that a plaintiff can receive from a winning lawsuit. To put it simply even if a jury awards Millions of dollars to a plaintiff that was discriminated against in the workplace, in most cases that plaintiff's recovery will be reduced to AT MOST $300,000. Why don't people know this? The media loves an exciting headline that sells the seemingly contradicting ideals that a) that David can beat Goliath - a single person we can speak truth to power and win against all odds and b) there is too much litigation, and people are just out to shake down corporations. Otherwise, headlines would look something like this: Jane Doe wins 127-million-dollar lawsuit against Acme Executive for Racism and Sexual Harassment BUT  Damages awarded will be reduced to the statutory limit of $300,000. Not exactly effective click bait.     But the truth, in this emplo...

  Learn where [the Organization] End Workplace Abuse has been, where we're going, and how you can help We know collaboration, strategy, action, and personal responsibility to the all-volunteer effort are what it will take to pass protections for workers to have psychological safety.  Collective action is the tool of social change. We've been working hard to bring about that change: Leaders in roughly 26 new states and cities are working to introduce the  Workplace Psychological Safety Act  in 2025. And they've been busy! Our Michigan team, led by Amanda Treppa, ran an event in Detroit to build awareness and get the attention of legislators ( Hill Harper of CSI: NY supported it! ). Our Washington, DC, team made the news not  once  but  twice  for the work of mother-daughter duo Kim and Cassi Williams. We'll announce new states and cities with a virtual rally in the new year. 🎉 We created two PSAs, spoke at seven HR conferences about the bill, appe...

The last Trump presidency ushered in a new era of hate. Experts are expecting more of the same now that he has been re-elected. The southern poverty law center is tracking hate crimes (as it has for decades). If you have been targeted please report it to your local officials and also to the Southern Poverty Law Center.   https://www.splcenter.org/send-us-a-tip Stay strong and be careful out there.

  Verizon Maryland to Pay $115,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit Settles F ederal Suit  Alleging  Telecom Giant Refused  A ccommodation  to Manager With Hypertension BALTIMORE  – Verizon Maryland, LLC, will pay $115,000 and furnish significant remedial relief to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a management employee who suffered from hypertension asked his manager for a change to a field position or to an alternate management position to accommodate his disability. There was an opening for a field position which the employee previously held, but Verizon did not allow him to compete for that position, telling him he would have to resign and reapply for the position in six months. The company offered no other accommodation, was not offered opportunities to compete for other vacant management positions, and t...

One of my favorite cases from this year has just been resolved. You might wonder why it stands out to me. Unlike many of my other cases, which often involve unpleasant individuals committing terrible acts while their colleagues cover for them, this situation was different.  In this case, there was prerequisite creepy professional, I know it’s a theme. However,  in this case after some prodding the organization actually did the right thing. They protected my client, put her in a position where she could do her job without having a complete nervous breakdown.  Then with a little more prodding they took actions to terminate the pervy professional and negotiated a settlement with my client. And though it was not the kind of award she could have gotten had the organization done the wrong thing and this case had gone all the way to a jury verdict, it was a fair amount that she was satisfied with, and she got to keep the job she loves. That is a win. MORE ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD DO...