Disturbing Scenarios

  I attended another legal seminar yesterday entitled, “Employment Law Update” outlining all the pitfalls of Human Resource (mis)Management and the potential cost to an employer for not covering his/her legal bases properly. Here are just a few of the risks presented:

• Improper categorizing as Independent Contractors instead of as employees
• Improper pay to employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (minimum wage, overtime pay calculation, travel time, etc.)
• Improper record keeping
• Improper action with regard to social media in hiring and terminations
• Incomplete or vague employee manuals outlining rules and regulations
• Discrimination issues

This is just a partial list of what was covered yesterday. My head is spinning! How can a business owner possibly shield his/her company from litigation by disgruntled staff, even one? Defending against staff issues can be costly. I learned that recently when an Independent Contractor applied for unemployment after she quit the engagement and the state not only took her side but coached her on how to proceed against us. The cost to defend the (what should be a cut-and-dried) issue is over $15,000 to date! So how do we protect against this? There are two approaches that I can see:

1. Bring in the HR “sledgehammer”, develop rigid policies and procedures requiring all company leaders to “walk on eggs” and treat the staff like dirt! Most large companies do this out of fear which is why I suspect most people hate their jobs. This action creates what I would describe as an unsafe staff environment.
2. Implement common sense and reasonable staffing procedures. Create a team culture including true team-players with everyone working together for the common good of each other, the company clients and the company itself.

At Edoc we endeavor toward the team environment and work hard on this every day. To those companies that choose the former, good luck with that! We simply cannot “bulletproof” our companies enough from government regulations. A disgruntled employee and “predator” attorney will find some misstep someplace to make a case, winnable or not to create havoc to even the most well-intentioned employers.]]>