Three Tips for Avoiding the Courthouse in 2014

Posted on January 22, 2014 in Consulting, Employment Litigation

I help employers avoid the courthouse.  Keeping in the spirit of my mission, I decided my first newsletter of the year should provide three simple steps employers should take now to make 2014 a positive workplace experience. 

  1. Conduct Sexual Harassment Training

After 20 years of practicing employment law, I am never surprised by the stories of inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.  In just the past few months, I have had some pretty crazy fact patterns on my docket.  Without sharing the crude detail, I will say that cell phone cameras have created a whole new dimension of lewd behavior.   Text messaging adds a new, seemingly uncontrolled medium for flirtation, innuendo, and uninhibited expression.  

Employers must get in front of evolving technology and take more aggressive steps to police harassment at work.  The first, obvious step in that process is sexual harassment training.  Compelling managers to attend sexual harassment training  should motivate, if not just scare, supervisors to be mindful of their obligations to monitor and confront harassment.  Additionally, training provides a great defense to a subsequent claim of discrimination.   Should your company face a sexual harassment lawsuit, you can be sure that the jury hearing the case will expect the business to have conducted harassment training before, not after, the incident that created the lawsuit.  An employer who has failed to conduct training or has not conducted training in a few years sits in a very bad position when later facing a claim of sexual harassment. 

We can help.  Call or write me if you are interested in us assisting with sexual harassment training.

  1. Study your Payroll Practices

Overtime claims are prevalent and will continue to be a serious challenge to employers in 2014 and beyond.  In the past six months alone, we have taken many calls from employers fighting claims for overtime.  Google “overtime” or “FLSA violations” and see the litany of plaintiff lawyers advertising on the Web trying to claim their share of the overtime legal market.   The stakes can be big, and, so not surprising, the lawyers swarm like vultures.  Even employees seeking small dollar overtime claims have no problem finding a lawyer willing to sue. 

The best defense to an overtime claim is avoidance.  Employers must periodically — annually at minimum — review their payroll practices for FLSA compliance.  A quality review of payroll practices may reveal serious problems or minor needed adjustments.   The real trick is how to fix the problem without sounding alarms.  Good legal counsel can help guide employers through the process.  We have done this successfully for years.

Please let us know if you would like assistance in reviewing your payroll practices.  I will assure you of this: I have never had a client regret being proactive with payroll practices.

 

  1. Review Bonus and Commission Agreements

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a client remark that they cannot recall the terms of their bonus or commission plan, or, admit to me that they have never reduced the agreement to writing.   Too many employers prefer a handshake understanding or unwritten rule.  Perhaps putting an agreement into writing takes too much time and effort.  Legal formality has a low priority right until the point that someone sues.    

Sometimes an employer has some form of written bonus and commission policy.  Too often, however, the agreement or policy takes one of two opposite extremes: (i) over simplified and leaves out key terms, or (ii) too complex and misunderstood. This later scenario arises frequently when a manager plagiarizes from the Internet without seeking a lawyer’s assistance.

The terms of bonus and commissions should always be memorialized.   It is the only way to avoid a dispute and thereby the courthouse.

Take the time in 2014 to read the company’s bonus plan and commission agreements to ensure it accurately reflects the deal.  If there is nothing to read, then the answer is obvious.   

Let us know if you would like our assistance in helping to avoid the courthouse in 2014.  We can provide in-office training, payroll reviews, and help draft easy to follow bonus and commission agreements.

 


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