As Americans emerge from the pandemic's shadow cast over the past year, you can almost hear a collective sigh of relief across the country. There is a light at the end of the tunnel – albeit a ways off.

The pandemic plunged the U.S. economy into a deep recession, leaving many employees in its financial wake. Maybe it's a spouse who lost their job for several months (or forever), medical bills piling up, rent that is long overdue, or credit cards that were maxed out just to keep the lights on. Many of today's workers face a tough financial battle, at least in the immediate future. Consider this:

• Mortgage delinquency rates jumped almost four percentage points to more than 8 percent during the second quarter of 2020, as the economic fallout from the coronavirus really began taking hold.
• While 43 states passed moratoriums on evictions last year, between 2.4 million and 5 million American households were at risk of eviction in January alone, and millions more will be vulnerable in the months after, according to estimates from the investment bank and financial-advisory firm Stout Risius Ross.
• Even before the pandemic, many employees were already experiencing financial insecurity and were not prepared for short-term cash needs. A 2019 report by the Federal Reserve showed that 37% of adults could not cover a $400 expense with cash or a cash equivalent, while another 12% of adults said they would be unable to pay the expense by any means.
• While there's been a surprising, yet welcome 28% year-over-year drop in Chapter 7 consumer bankruptcies, a September 2020 "Bankruptcy and the COVID-19 Crisis" report suggests it may be a double-edged sword: attorney fees, which cost roughly $2,000 for a Chapter 7 filing, is a price tag that potentially shuts out consumers and small businesses when they need debt relief the most.

What these statistics suggest is that financial hardships employees face often have the potential to grow into unexpected and expensive legal issues. Like overdue credit cards that ramp up into debt collection, unpaid rent devolving into an eviction notice or canceled event plans that lead to a vendor dispute.