Every employer wants to do their best by their employees and sometimes that can be harder than one might imagine. Even when employers try their best and believe they aren’t breaking any employment laws they might be surprised to learn that their are some things they are overlooking. There are several common workplace lawsuits that might surprise you! Staying up to date on various state and federal laws that could potentially affect employer and employee is crucial to avoiding common workplace lawsuits. Below are some common workplace lawsuits and some helpful hints to avoid them. Of course this is no substitute for real legal advice, be sure to consult with your attorney before making any decisions.
Some of the most common lawsuits in the workplace include; wrongful termination, discrimination, personal injury, overtime infractions, and harassment. Laws can be fairly nuanced in these areas making it not-so- straightforward when attempting to avoid such lawsuits. For many employers personal injury lawsuits are a nightmare and something that is often on their minds. However they are quite preventable. In order to avoid these nightmarish lawsuits an employer needs to carry worker’s compensation insurance, at the very least! If an employer responds quickly to safety concerns brought to their attention by the staff they can also help to avoid personal injury lawsuits. Other ways to avoid such lawsuits would be to follow published safety guidelines, train employees on how to conduct themselves safely in the workplace, and keenly monitor potential safety hazards.
Overtime lawsuits are ones that employers don’t often think of or put too much effort into researching, however these laws can be tricky if not properly researched. In order to avoid such lawsuits employers need to put in place either systems or processes that correctly track the amount of time an employee has worked. This could all come down to the system you chose your employees to clock in and clock out on. If a technical error occurs and you aren’t able to accurately keep track of the hours that your employees have worked the chances for an overtime lawsuit dramatically goes up! Be diligent about such things and you should be good to go.
Of course if you’re concerned about the well being of your employees, then you’re concerned about the wellbeing of your business. And if you’re a small business owner you know the troubles of finding the right payroll system. Thankfully Intuit offers amazing payroll services that have been perfected. With Intuit you’ll get accurate, reliable tools that are designed to take the pain out of payday!
Remember that the above information is in no way a substitute for legal advice but hopefully it has given you, a caring and responsible employer, a lot to think about.
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