Staying Legal

• Are your exempt employees classified correctly?
• Has your Employee Handbook been reviewed lately?
• Are your supervisors and managers asking only legal questions in their interviews?
• If the Department of Labor (DoL) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) came to visit, what would they find?
• Do your personnel files contain any documentation they shouldn’t?
• Would your performance appraisals help you or hurt you in a legal situation?
• Do you (or your supervisors) know what to do if an employee, or an applicant, asks for an accommodation?
• Are you using Independent Contractors correctly?

There are a number of potential liabilities in the workplace.

First, there are over 150 laws that affect the employee-employer relationship in the workplace. And they can vary – depending on how many employees you have. As an employer, you are presumed guilty unless you can prove yourself innocent. So if one of your employees accuses you or one of your managers of harassment, or discrimination, or retaliation – you have to prove it didn’t happen – the employee doesn’t have to prove it did!

Second, untrained supervisors, managers, or anyone who leads employees can be a potential liability because of their lack of knowledge of existing laws, and the appropriate way to handle an employee complaint or concern. What should they say (or not say) if one of your employees asks about Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), or Wage and Hour concerns? What should they say (or not say) if an employee accuses them of harassment?

Third, what type of documentation, policies, and procedures do you have to protect yourself if you are accused of some type of employment law infraction? The lack of documentation can hurt you, but so can bad documentation.

Stay Informed & Stay Legal

Bailey Consulting Group can help you stay legal by keeping you informed of employment laws that affect your organization, and by training your supervisors and managers about those laws.