Owning a business is not always easy, especially when you consider the hundreds of constantly changing federal and state employment laws that your company will need to remain compliant with. Overlooking these regulations or not following them correctly could lead to serious penalties or lawsuits being brought against your company. To avoid employee lawsuits against your business, there are four key areas to pay attention to.
Wages:
It’s important to get it right when you are dealing with employee wages. Sure, a small mistake that’s a one-off and is immediately corrected is unlikely to land you in legal trouble, but failing to pay an employee on time or underpaying them consistently could see you in court. It’s important to ensure that all workers are appropriately classified and that all time worked is correctly recorded and paid. Make sure that any deductions that are taken from an employee’s pay are done so with proper authorization and notification.
Contracts:
When drawing up employment contracts for your employees, it is always advisable to have legal assistance. With this, you will know exactly what your rights are and what is required of both you as the employer and the employee that you are hiring. Legal advice will be necessary if you are planning to include a non-compete agreement in an employment contract, which prevents employees from working for certain competitors after leaving your company. Some states do not permit this type of agreement, while others have laws restricting their use.
Discrimination:
Discrimination in the workplace is one of the most common issues that clients bring to a legal firm like lotaslegal.com. Employees have the right to work in a place where they are not discriminated against on the basis of their age, gender, sex, sexual orientation, disability, race, religion, national origin, or skin color. It is important to ensure that your business understands and is fully compliant with laws surrounding harassment and discrimination and the protection that they afford to employees. All employees should be trained on what discrimination is, how to spot it, and what to do if they experience or observe it in the workplace.
Medical Leave:
Family Medical Leave might appear easy to understand on the surface, however, it can be a gray area when not properly administered and could lead to a lawsuit. FMLA provides employees with up to twelve weeks of unpaid medical leave per year where their job is protected. In addition, employees are also able to continue benefiting from any health benefits that they had prior to going on medical leave. Employers are required to identify and designate any FMLA leave as such and give proper notification of this to the employee in question. Failing to do so, which leads to the termination of an employee with FMLA protection, could result in a wrongful termination suit for the business.
Hiring employees is often a necessary part of running a successful business but failing to understand these key areas of employment law could be costly for the company. Pay close attention to these aspects of employment to ensure that employee lawsuits are prevented.
