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Answer the questions below and they come straight to attorney Brett Duke. Please read the pages on this site before you begin — they explain what the law does and does not protect, and a few minutes spent there will tell you whether this form is worth your time.

First, where did you work?

This office handles New Mexico cases anywhere in the state, and Texas cases in El Paso County. Brett Duke is licensed in New Mexico and Texas only. If you worked somewhere else, he cannot bring your claim — employment cases are brought where the work happened, under that state’s law, and a lawyer who is not licensed there cannot file it. You are welcome to send this anyway, but we would rather tell you now than after you have spent an hour on it.

Second, please read the site before you start.

This form asks a lot of you, and we would rather be honest about that up front than waste an hour of your time. Before you fill it out, please read the pages on this site — above all what retaliation actually is and the questions this office asks before taking a case. They are written in plain English and they are candid about what is not a case. Many people who read them first decide this is not their situation, and they are glad they found that out in ten minutes rather than after an hour of typing.

If, having read them, you believe something unlawful was done to you, then this form is the right next step — and what you put into it is what we have to work with. A form filled out carefully, with real dates, real names, and the actual sequence of what happened, can be evaluated. One filled out in a hurry usually cannot, and the most common reason a promising inquiry goes nowhere is that there was not enough in it to tell.

So please take your time. Give us specifics rather than conclusions, get the dates as close to right as you can, and describe the order in which things happened. It is worth doing once, properly.

The timeline of events is the most important thing you can give us, and this is the place to give it. You will be asked when you complained, who you told, what happened afterward, and when. Take the time to set it out in order, earliest first, with dates and with people’s own words where you remember them. Retaliation cases are proved and lost on chronology: what you did, when your employer learned of it, and what happened to you afterward. Nothing else you tell us carries as much weight, and these questions are built to take it.

One distinction is worth understanding, for your own protection. What you tell this office during intake is a communication to a lawyer about your situation. Notes kept at home to jog your own memory — a diary, a running log, a file of your own — are a different thing entirely, and in litigation they can end up being read by your employer’s lawyers. So put the effort into your answers here rather than into a record you keep on the side.

Set aside a quiet half hour if you can.

There are no wrong answers. This is not a test, your writing is not being graded, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. What we need is for the answers to be true and as complete as you can make them. Where a question asks for something you don't know, say so — "I don't know" is a real answer and it is far more useful to us than a guess. Where you are estimating a date, say that too. Your responses are confidential.

① Fill it out online

Complete the form below and it's sent directly to our office. We'll review it and reach out — the fastest way to get started.

② Or call us

Prefer to talk? Call (915) 875-0003. We'll ask you these same questions, so it helps to read through them and be ready to discuss them.

Office intake — phone or walk-in You are on the staff version of this form. Nothing is saved between callers, so finish one intake before starting the next. Read the caller the disclaimer at the bottom before you submit.
01

About you and how you found us

02

Your job

Give the full name as it appears on your paycheck or W-2 — not a nickname or store number.
If you worked remotely, give the city you worked from.
Your best estimate is fine if you don't remember the exact day.
03

Your employer

Pick the one that best describes who issues your paycheck.
An hourly rate or an annual salary — whichever you were paid. For example: "$18.50 per hour" or "$62,000 per year."
If you don't know, say so.
04

What you did

This is the heart of it. Nearly every case this office takes begins with something the employee did that the law protects. What that was, who knew about it, and when — those answers matter more than anything else on this form.
Please check at least one — "None of these" is a valid answer.
05

What happened to you afterward

Check everything that applies.
Please check at least one.
If more than one thing happened, give the date of the most serious one.
Use their words, and say whether you got it in writing.
A clean record that suddenly is not clean is one of the most telling facts in these cases, so please answer it either way.
One reason at the meeting, a different one in writing, a third one to unemployment.
06

Were you also treated differently because of who you are?

Separate question, and "none of these" is a perfectly good answer. Retaliation does not require it — but where it is present, it is normally pleaded alongside.
Please check at least one — "None of these" is a valid answer.
Give names and job titles if you can, and say what happened to them.
07

Agency filings and deadlines

These dates matter more than anything else on this form. Employment deadlines are short and cannot be extended. If you are not sure of a date, say so rather than guessing.
08

Money and where you are now

09

Anything that could affect your case

Answer these honestly. None of them automatically means you have no case — but each one changes how the case has to be handled, and finding out late is far worse than finding out now.
10

Your story, in date order

Please write what happened in the order it happened, starting with the earliest event. Put a date at the start of each item, and where someone said something to you, use their words. A dated list is far more useful to us than a paragraph — it is the single most helpful thing you can give us.

March 3, 2026 — I emailed HR (Angela Ruiz) saying my supervisor was making comments about my age. I have the email.
March 11, 2026 — My supervisor told me "you're getting too old for this job" in front of two coworkers.
March 19, 2026 — I was written up for the first time in six years, for something I did not do.
April 2, 2026 — I was fired.
Disclaimer: Calling us or submitting information through this website, using the contact forms, or sending an email does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship is formed only after we have conducted a conflict-of-interest check and a formal, written representation agreement is fully executed by both you and an authorized attorney of Brett Duke Employment Law.

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Prefer to Talk?

Call and we'll walk through it together.

We'll ask the same questions above, so it helps to have them in mind. Free, confidential, and no obligation.

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