Avoid Legal Trouble With Employees
Can you afford to ignore or mishandle employment problems? Definitely
not. In addition to the negative effects on your business—declining
morale, retention problems and poor productivity, to name a few—a
botched employment situation can cost you millions of dollars if it
turns into a lawsuit. Protect yourself using these common sense tips:
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Treat your workers with respect. Workers who are deprived
of dignity, who are humiliated or who are treated in ways that are
just plain mean are more likely to look for some revenge through
the legal system—and juries are more likely to sympathize with
them. For example, if you march fired workers off the premises under
armed guard, publicize an employee's personal problems or shame
a worker in public for poor performance, you can expect trouble.
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Communicate with your workers. Adopt an open door policy
and put it into practice. This will help you find out about workplace
problems early on, when you can nip them in the bud. And it will
show your employees that you value their opinions, an important
component of positive employee relations.
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Be consistent. Apply the same standards of performance
and conduct to all of your employees. Workers quickly sour on a
boss playing favorites or punishing scapegoats. Successful discrimination
lawsuits start when you treat workers in the same situation differently.
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Give regular evaluations. Performance evaluations are
your early warning system regarding employment problems—and
your proof that you acted reasonably if you end up in court. In
the best situations, they can turn a poor performer into a valued
worker. In the worst, evaluations can be valuable proof in a lawsuit,
illustrating that you put a poor performer on notice and gave him
a chance to improve. You can find detailed information about giving
performance evaluations in Dealing
With Problem Employees: A Legal Guide (Nolo).
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Make job-related decisions. Every workplace decision made
should be guided by job-related criteria—not by a worker's
race or gender and not by a worker's personal life or your personal
biases. Making sure that your personnel decisions are business-related,
make economic sense and will keep you out of lawsuits for discrimination,
violation of privacy and wrongful termination.
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Don't punish the messenger. Employers get in trouble when
they discipline whistleblowers or workers who complain of harassment,
discrimination or unsafe working conditions. Take action to deal
with the problem itself, not with the employee who brought the problem
to your attention.
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Adopt sound policies and follow them. An employee handbook
is an indispensable workplace tool that can help you communicate
with your employees, manage your workforce and protect your business
from lawsuits. But once you adopt policies, you have to follow them.
If you bend the rules, your workers won't take them seriously. Some
courts have found that employers who don't follow the policies set
out in their employee handbook or personnel manual might be on the
hook for breach of contract.
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Keep good records. If a worker sues you, you'll have to
not only explain what happened, but also prove that your version
of the story is accurate. To make your best case, keep careful records
of every major employment decision or event with each worker—including
evaluations, disciplinary warnings and reasons for firing.
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Take action when necessary. Once an employment problem
comes to your attention, resist the temptation to hide your head
in the sand. Take action quickly, before it turns into a real mess.
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Be discreet. Loose lips about employee problems are a
surefire way to bring the law down upon your head. An employee could
sue you for defamation—she could also haul you into court for
causing her emotional distress, for creating a work environment
that is hostile toward her or for poisoning prospective employers
against her. The stakes are high, so protect yourself by giving
information on a need-to-know basis only.
From: Nolo's Legal Tips; Copyright 2003, Nolo
Date Reviewed: 5/10/03
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