Peter Whelan

You spend more waking hours at your workplace than you do anywhere else. So when you face discrimination, harassment, or retaliation at work, it affects every part of your life. When your employer fires you for an illegal reason after you've given years of dedicated service to that employer, it is a devastating and humiliating insult to you as a person.

I chose to become an employment law attorney, and chose to represent employees facing discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, because I know how important your career is to your life and to your family. I have the skills and the passion to guide you honestly and carefully through the confusing maze of options available to those seeking to fight for their rights in the workplace. I listen carefully to your needs and your unique situation, and will devise a strategy tailored to those needs.

I have achieved favorable outcomes for numerous clients in the private and public sector in a wide range of employment-related litigation, including individual discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) cases, as well as in severance negotiations and contractual disputes.

Nothing I do will ever eliminate the pain caused by the mistreatment you've endured in the workplace. But I will do my absolute best to help you obtain a result that will enable you to move on to the next chapter in your life, and that gives you the satisfaction of knowing that you stood up for your rights.

• Credit Cards Accepted
• Rates, Retainers and Additional Information
  We consider offering contingent fee arrangments only after we have worked with a client on an hourly-fee basis for several months.

District of Columbia

Since 2010

Virginia

Since 2008

Founding Partner

District Employment Law PLLC

2023 - Current

Partner

Bernabei & Kabat, PLLC

2009 - 2023

George Mason University School of Law

J.D.

2007

magna cum laude, Research Editor, George Mason Law Review

College of William & Mary

B.A.

1999

magna cum laude

First Place

Domenick L. Gabrielli National Family Law Moot Court Competition

2007

Virginia State Bar  # 76224

Member

Current

National Employment Lawyers Association

2011 - Current

Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association

2009 - Current

Q. I was wondering in the state of Virginia is there anything that you can do or Sue your employer if it is a Hostile Work

November 29, 2018

A: If you work for a private employer in Virginia with fewer than 15 employees, then you are not protected by federal anti-discrimination statutes that might otherwise give you a remedy for a "hostile work environment."

However, it sounds like what you are experiencing is not a "hostile work environment" in the legal sense of the term, because it sounds like the harassment is not related to your sex, race, religion, or other similar protected status.

It sounds like you just work for an incredibly difficult and unpleasant manager, so without more, there is no grounds to sue your employer.