Should I get a lawyer?

I work for a small hospital, though we are run through a large corporation with hundreds of hospitals across the nation. I am recently going through a very messy divorce and my husband has ruined me financially. I had been homeless and living in my car until I moved in with a friend for a short time. I had to move since her house went into foreclosure. I was finding myself with no place to go again when a coworker ask if I wanted to stay with her for a few months until I got on my feet.





I am a nurse and she is a doctor, but there is no romantic relationship. Our chief of staff had no problems with our arrangement and everyone on our staff is very close and we are all good friends. Our arrangement/friendship does not effect our working environment. And although she is a doctor, she is not my boss and I do not answer to her.





A recently problem developed yesterday at a large staff meeting within our region when the big wigs at the company found out we were roommates. I was told later that night that if I did not find new living arrangements by today (my day off), I was not allowed to come into work tomorrow. If they find out I come to work and I am still living with her then we will both be fired. They basically stated if I want to stay with the company they are going to force me to transfer to a different hospital.





One of my friends told me that I should not sit down and take this. Since there is no romantic relationship, I should demand copies of company policy and I should speak to a lawyer and let them know that I will pursue legal means.





Obviously I do not want to be homeless again, but I very much enjoy my team and do not want to be transferred out. I think this is a punishment that I do not deserve.





Should I seek a lawyers advice and threaten the company with this?|||IF they have a no fraternization policy (romance has nothing to do with fraternization between levels of employment) then they can enforce it.


the question is are they enforcing it equally and if not why.





speak with HR explain your situation ask for an explanation and a workable plan to resolve this.


IF you can not resolve this and you are employed "at-will" there is not much you can do unless that afore mentioned "why" is a discriminatory one.


in that case contact the EEOC at http://www.eeoc.gov for assistance. this site also has valuable information about what is and is not discrimination, retaliation and protected activities.


at this point an attorney is not needed and making threats is never a good idea. get all the facts and pursue this one step at a time.


as noted earlier no attorney works for free, even those who will represent you for "free" if you don't win (contingency) still actually charge you for all out of pocket expenses, which add up fast,


only their "fee" is paid out of the settlement.





if all else fails and you have followed all the steps to resolve this then seek out the counsel of a qualified attorney.|||This sounds like an American labor situation. Firstly, an Employee Handbook is not a contract -- which shocked me when I found that out. This fact about handbooks I learned from my Texas Workforce Commission (a fancy name for Employment Agency). That is my advice, the state where you live employment agency will have the general laws. The Federal laws only help on matters related to discrimination.





No lawyer will take your case for free. Know that.