Five Ways to Avoid Employment Litigation: For Employers

Running a business is not easy, especially if you have employees. Whether you have a few or thousands of employees, you are bound to face some challenges that can jeopardize your business. For example, employers are at a high risk of employment litigation. Unfortunately, employment litigation can be quite expensive. Usually, the cost of defending an employment lawsuit is measured in thousands of dollars. Also, employment litigation can tarnish your company's reputation and adversely affect employees' morale. The good news is that, as an employer, there are several steps you can take to avoid employment litigation. The following are five of these steps:

The first step toward avoiding employment litigation is learning about labor laws. You can find labor laws governing the employment of California employees in several places, and the good news is that this information is easily available online.

As an employer, it is best that you work with a qualified employment attorney if you are looking to learn about applicable labor laws. An experienced employment lawyer can help identify what laws apply to you and explain how these laws operate. Indeed, you can learn a lot online by, for example, visiting the DLSE's or EEOC’s websites, but a qualified employment attorney can be quite helpful.

Not only should you learn about the laws that pertain to your business, but you should also ensure you create policies and procedures aimed at helping your company adhere to them. For instance, create a written sexual harassment policy. You may also need a minimum wage policy, a rest period policy, or a meal period policy. Additionally, ensure your internal procedures uphold and enforce regulatory compliance with respect to your workers.

Training employees is another way you can prevent employment litigation as an employer. For instance, it could help if you trained all your employees, not just managers, on things such as safety, wage and hour regulation, discrimination, and harassment.

One of the best ways to avoid potential employee lawsuits is to treat employees well from the time you hire them. Your employees should not be your enemies. On top of treating your employees well, you should set clear expectations. For example, let your employees know what you consider as success so they understand what you expect from them.

Additionally, it is best that before you terminate an employee, you give them a warning. When an employee is fired without warning, they may feel like they have been mistreated, which may lead to them taking legal action.

Lastly, you can discourage or even defeat employment lawsuits if you take the time to define dispute resolution procedures before disputes arise. In other words, preparation is key to handling employment disputes.

If faced with an employment lawsuit, the experienced employment attorneys at SAC Attorneys LLP are here for you. We can help you determine how best to proceed. You can reach us by calling (408) 436-0789 or filling out our online contact form.