The general assumption is that you can’t land yourself in trouble if you follow the book, are a good person, and don’t do anything wrong… right? No, wrong!
There are plenty of innocent or well-meaning people who end up getting into trouble by no fault of their own. And this is no different for employers. In fact, being an employer can often stand you at a very high risk of getting into legal trouble.
Sadly, there are a lot of dishonest people in this world who make it their mission in life to cause trouble for others. These people can be anywhere.
They’re the type of people who may plant hairs in food at a restaurant or the type of person who will slip at the grocery store and try to blame them and sue them for all they’re worth.
If you are an employer, it’s very important to know absolutely everything about employment law and what you should and shouldn’t do.
These people also exist in the workplace and will look for any opening to sue your company.
It’s also possible to find yourself in legal trouble as an employer if you aren’t up-to-speed on employment law or certain things you should do to cover your back etc.
If you are an employer, it’s very important to know absolutely everything about employment law and what you should and shouldn’t do.
Possibly the number one legal issue in the workplace is sexual harassment. You hear about it every day and oftentimes, it has been taken the wrong way by an employee.
The fact is, however it’s the employer’s job to stop it from even happening in the first place.
All too often, a comment that someone makes that they meant to be harmless can be taken the wrong way. While this is often the fault of the employee, you can get in trouble because of it if you don’t have sexual harassment policies in place.
You should make sure that the employee manual clearly details the policies and what the consequences are for breaking the rules.
Many large companies require their employees to take sexual harassment training. This way they know what is and isn’t acceptable. Did you know that if you try to hug an employee, this can be considered sexual harassment?
You have to be very careful these days to avoid doing anything that might be construed as so.
Well what if an employee brings a sexual harassment complaint against you or your company. A good employer will follow up on the complaint, even if it seems silly.
You should keep a trail of all paperwork and witness statements. If you ignore the complaint, you may land yourself in serious trouble because the employee may take it one step further. Any complaint should be taken seriously, no matter how trivial it may seem.
Similarly to sexual harassment, it is also important to treat your employees fairly and with respect. If you appear to be treating one employee as a favorite, this could cause you trouble. If you have a family member working for you, be sure not to give them preferential treatment.
Also, there are some employers out there who just don’t know how to talk to people or be good managers! These people are often found talking down to their employees as if they are beneath them and making their lives miserable.
While you might be the employer, this can cause you a lot of trouble. Make sure to offer constructive criticism and respect your employers. They might be working for you but they’re also helping to keep your business afloat. You should be grateful.
As an employer you must, must MUST have an employee manual! So many employers don’t and this can cause them serious problems!
If you don’t have an employee manual that means you don’t have anything written about how much vacation the employee is entitled to, what the sick pay policy is, when they get paid etc.
What if an employee suddenly decides to take every day off and when you try to terminate them they claim that you never gave them anything written about what they were entitled to? Well, you can’t blame them if it wasn’t written down.
Similarly, if you fire an employee for doing something you consider to be grounds for termination but you don’t have it written in the employee manual, well, you don’t really have just cause and this employee could file a complaint.
There are classes you can take to find out what should be included in your employee manual but the fact is you should cover everything you can possibly think of. What is the policy on dress?
Are they allowed to use the copy machine for personal use? What is the break policy? You have to be very thorough about your policies so there is no room for speculation.
Or, if you have a customer that you are dealing with and the transaction requires a contract, this is another area that employers find themselves in trouble.
Maybe a customer ordered something from your business that you agreed to ship within 14 days yet you didn’t have this in writing and after 7 days the customer says you agreed to send it. Well, there’s some he says, she says that is going to be problematic for you. Always have contracts in place!
Also, if you ever find yourself in potential legal trouble, you should hire a lawyer regardless. Even if it seems like a trivial issue that you can solve yourself, it’s important to have a lawyer.
Many employers don’t hire lawyers and then find themselves in more trouble further down the road because they tried to solve the issues themselves. This results in a more costly and messier situation. You’ll actually save more money by hiring a lawyer in the first place in this type of situation!
While it’s no surprise that no employer wants the issue of legal troubles on their hands, it’s actually something that happens frequently to those who own and operate businesses and companies.
You might be a well-meaning person and you might think that you are doing things by the book, but even the smallest oversight can cause issues for employers.
As long as you cover everything you possibly can in your personnel manual and you have contracts with everyone you deal with, you shouldn’t find yourself in too much potential trouble.
Also, it’s probably a good idea to hire an attorney in the off chance that you should need legal representation in the future.
Nobody wants to land themselves in legal trouble but it happens every day to the most honest of people. You can’t control what another person is going to do so it is important to be covered before you even get that far.
By outlining absolutely everything you can in personnel policies and with vendors or contractors, you should have your bases covered. Another great thing to do is to find an attorney who you can call at a moment’s notice should something go wrong for you legally.
