November 17th, 2015. If you work in human resources, you have a lot of responsibilities. But one small, simple misstep by HR or supervisors could cost your company hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars.
So what are the biggest HR legal risks? Here are the top five:
The Hiring Process:
Mistakes in this area often start at the beginning, with discriminatory words in want ads. Too many employers still use terms such as “recent college grad” in their advertisements. Also, make sure everyone involved in interviewing knows not to ask about the applicant’s personal characteristics, such as age, race, gender, pregnancy or disability status.
Wage and Hour Issues:
People can perform work now from anywhere at any time. You may get stuck with a big bill for this “off the clock” work unless you set clear ground rules. When employees work unapproved overtime hours, you do have to pay them, but you can discipline them in some other way. Another big wage issue: Wrongly classifying certain employees as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, and thus, ineligible for overtime pay.
Training and Performance:
Supervisors who are not trained properly are more likely to trigger HR troubles. They may say racist or sexist things, or discriminate in some way. Because they are in a supervisory position, the entire company is on the hook. Companies get into the most trouble by having performances evaluations that are inconsistent or overly rosy. So what happens when that employee who was fired for poor performance digs out his exemplary review? He’ll suspect discrimination … and a court will, too. So keep evaluations consistent and grounded in reality.
I-9 Form Mistakes:
In the past three years, the Obama administration has ramped up audits of I-9 employment eligibility forms. Complete an I-9 for each new employee within three days of his or her arrival. Don’t ask new hires for any particular identity documents. Instead, let them choose one from the I-9 list. Keep those I-9s on file for at least three years after the employee’s hire date or one year after his termination, whichever comes later.
Terrible Terminations:
Messy firings are the biggest cause of employee lawsuits. To protect yourself legally, follow these tips for that last meeting:
• Bring another supervisor to act as witness.
• Write a memo right after the meeting summarizing what was said on both sides.
• Avoid surprises. Employees should never be completely surprised by a termination as long as their managers have been giving them regular feedback.
• Don’t be too kind. You may feel compassion for the person, but your overly kind comments about a person being fired for substandard work could have him suspecting a different reason.
Finally, don’t discuss the reasons for terminations with other employees. A simple “Kevin won’t be working here any longer” will suffice.
Provided by Business Management Daily