Main 10 Frequent Work Law Errors Done By Enterprises
The contemporary American workplace is susceptible to numerous federal, state, and local legislation that impose strict obligations on businesses (e.g., wage and hour laws, nondiscrimination legislation, etc.). Many organisations, especially smaller organizations, usually do not know the scope of such obligations and, therefore, frequently (albeit inadvertently) violate legislation. These violations can result in costly lawsuits, in addition to civil and criminal penalties. In my experience as being a defense attorney in addition to being a plaintiff’s lawyer, the most typical employment law mistakes done by businesses are the next (in no particular order):
- Misclassifying staff members as independent contractors. Generally, only workers who operate their particular separate organizations are “independent contractors.” Few workers meet this test; in reality, most personnel are considered “employees” for the law, which suggests these are eligible for the entire variety of workplace protections.
- Misclassifying non-exempt staff members as exempt. Generally speaking, all personnel are eligible for minimum wage and overtime pay, unless these are “exempt” under state and federal law. The exemption rules (e.g., for executive, administrative, and professional staff members) only apply in limited circumstances, however; consequently, many staff members that are claimed by businesses to become “exempt” in reality have entitlement to minimum wage and/or overtime pay.
- Not complying with state wage payment laws and regulations. i.e. New York imposes several specific rules regarding how businesses be forced to pay their personnel. These rules include providing new employees with written notice of these rate of pay and regular pay date; prohibiting deductions from wages unless to the employee’s benefit and authorized in writing; requiring written contracts for commissioned salespersons; and providing terminated employees with written notice of the last day’s work, their last day’s benefits, and their right to submit an application for unemployment benefits
- Not owning a laborer handbook. A personnel handbook is a vital tool for effective employer-employee relations. It notifies workers of the company’s values, policies, and procedures; promotes compliance with labor and employment legislation; so it helps create an orderly, efficient, and transparent workplace.
- Not documenting personnel job performance. A well-managed business clearly communicates its employees’ duties and responsibilities (e.g., through written position descriptions), trains and supervises personnel to be sure they are meeting these requirements, and supplies regular, objective, consistent feedback (e.g., through written evaluations and, where necessary, disciplinary actions). A deficiency of accurate, complete, contemporaneous documentation can result in liability in the eventuality of a case by a staff member.
- Not training supervisors regarding EEO legislation. Federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (EEO) legal guidelines prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against employees (e.g., demotion, termination) for reasons not in connection with an employee’s job performance, including those according to an employee’s race, color, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and marital status ( to mention the most frequent “protected characteristics”), along with retaliation for an employee’s good faith complaints of discrimination. It is imperative that supervisors learn the way to manage workers without violating (or appearing to violate) these law regulations.
- Not providing reasonable accommodations for disabled workers. Most EEO law regulations prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against staff members according to certain protected characteristics, but disability discrimination legal guidelines also impose an affirmative obligation on businesses to “reasonably accommodate” disabled personnel in order to make them perform the fundamental functions of the jobs. Such accommodations might include restructuring job duties, modifying work schedules, or providing assistive devices. Businesses have to give a disabled worker with needed accommodations unless the process would cause an “undue hardship” for the organization (e.g., too costly, too disruptive).
- Not obtaining releases from terminated personnel. When terminating a worker, businesses need to get a release that waives the employee’s potential legal claims against the company. The proper way to get a release is in exchange for an offer of severance (where appropriate). Normally, businesses are not essential to pay for severance to employees (unless necessary for an employment contract or possibly a collective bargaining agreement). If they opt to achieve this (e.g., associated with layoffs), they need to require staff members to sign a release in substitution for the payment.
- Not protecting confidential company information. Every corporation is dependent upon certain vital, often confidential, details about its enterprise operations, including trade secrets, marketing and advertising practices, and customer and client lists. Access to this information ought to be limited by personnel with a “need to know” and really should be protected by appropriate non-disclosure, non-compete, and/or non-solicitation agreements (depending on the nature of the information and also the employee’s position).
- Not consulting an experienced employment law attorney. Perhaps the only most significant point to take away from this discussion is always that businesses must consult a certified employment lawyer to ensure they are in compliance with all the increasingly numerous and complex laws and regulations that carpet businesses just like a minefield. Large organizations most often have attorneys and recruiting professionals working to aid them in this field. Small- and medium-size companies often don’t. Their biggest mistake is attempting to navigate this minefield independently.
- So you? What exactly are your top mistakes made in employment law?
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About the Author: Stacia W. Abner writes for http://www.employmentlawtraining.org, her personal blog where she writes about her experience as defense attorney to assist workers and businesses cope with the elements of employment law.