Subscribe to my Feed
« Business Apology Tip #9 - Make amends | Home | Is it ethical to breed fluorescent monkeys? »
Hard financial times can provoke employment lawsuits
By Lauren | June 1, 2009
As the recession continues and unemployment rates stay above 10% in some regions, it’s no surprise that America’s businesses are seeing an uptick in employment lawsuits. Claims against employers were on the rise anyway, with wage-and-hour suits in particular becoming increasingly common. The recession has only made things worse because, when people lose their jobs these days, it’s a lot harder for them to find new ones. Consequently, where laid-off employees might once have said “I don’t want to sue my former employer and develop a bad reputation, so I’ll just go elsewhere,” now they decide that they might as well sue because they’ve got nothing to lose.
What’s an employer to do?
It’s important to keep your company policies in line with federal and state employment laws. Make sure your employees’ jobs are correctly classified, so that you don’t withhold overtime pay that they’re entitled to receive. And, if you’re forced to let employees go, be careful not to discriminate against older workers, women, minorities, disabled employees, or anyone else who’s in a protected class. (Anti-discrimination laws differ from state to state, so consult your attorney to see who’s covered in your state.)
Most important, once you’re comfortable that your employment policies are good, make sure that you follow them. Breaching the policies that your company voluntarily adopted can be a great way to demonstrate that you not only made a mistake, you knew perfectly well that what you did was wrong. Careful compliance with thoughtful, well-written personnel policies can go a long way toward keeping an employer out of court, even in these recessionary times.
Topics: Business Ethics, Corporate Governance, corporate responsibility, ethics |
June 3rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Companies can be sued for many different reasons. A lay off can provoke an employee to find a reason to sue. Compaines need to be in compliance with all the current laws and personnel policies.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Hi Shannon,
You’ve got that right!