Employment Law Tips for Companies

Running an organization can be a very difficult thing to do, especially when you are dealing with in-house counsel. If your company can follow the five guidelines outlined in this article, you should not have any problems with unhappy former or current employees who might sue the company, according to Texas Lawyer.

The first tip is not to worry so much about the technicalities of the law and just do what you know is the right thing. Some counsel will follow the letter of the law so much that they forget to check their moral standards. Not focusing on moral obligations and too much on employment law can cause grave consequences for the company’s image and in the courtroom. Too many times counsel will be too involved in the letter of the law, which can cause counsel to even shove aside his or her moral standards in an effort to win a case for the company.

The second tip is to take a definitive stand when it comes to dealing with an employee. This means that you should not give some of your most inept employees multiple chances when they keep messing up at the office. Giving an inept employee a fourth, fifth, or sixth chance can be disastrous for your company. Your company should be enforcing its standards as much as possible in an effort to make sure everyone on the payroll knows what type of work is expected. Some companies will enforce a guideline here and a guideline there, which when it comes time to firing an inept employee, that employee might wind up filing a complaint against the company.

The third tip, and one of the most important tips, is to document as much as possible. Juries, no matter the type of case, love documented evidence. A company that documents things will face less risk and exposure when a trial occurs. A company with strong documentation will have a better shot of winning their employment case than those who do not record events involving employees.

Do whatever you can to weed out the bad apples in your office. Plenty of companies will keep their top producer on the payroll even if that person is a bad seed. They could have engaged in any type of inappropriate behavior in the office from sexual harassment to theft, but since he or she is a top moneymaker, they stay on the payroll. The employer probably fears short-term problems from firing such an employee but removing the person from the payroll will prevent problems for the company in the long-run.

The fifth and final tip is to fix any problems in the office as quickly as possible. The reason for this is that most employment laws require employers to remedy these situations as quickly as they can. It is paramount for the employer to separate the accuser from the accused as soon as possible and launch an investigation into the situation. Massive damages against companies can be assessed by judges and juries when it is found that the company delays an investigation into a confrontation between two employees.