Daily Archives: June 26, 2008

Small Employers May Have it Easier

Personnel Policies

            I’ve been dispensing legal advice to employers for 21 years now. In all that time, I can thankfully say I’ve never been sued by an employee. I’ve never faced a gender discrimination claim, a disability problem or a termination under the Family and Medical Leave Act directed at me. No employee has ever accused me of racial harassment or complained to the EEOC about my employment practices.

            Is that because I diligently follow my own advice? Do I have the world’s greatest employee manual, does every employee get an annual written evaluation and do I use progressive discipline to give every employee an opportunity to cure a problem before it becomes a termination?

            Actually, I don’t. Why? I keep my business small. I only have one employee right now. Sometimes I bulk up to as many as three employees, but never have I needed more than that.

Continue reading Small Employers May Have it Easier →

Technology in the Workplace

Personnel Policies

“For a list of all the ways that technology has failed to improve our lives, please press three now.” – Alice Kahn

 

            When I began practicing in the area of employment law in Amarillo 21 years ago, no lawyer or secretary in my law firm of 40 attorneys had a personal computer in his or her office. We had a 4-person word processing center in which the only firm computers resided.

            Fast forward 21 years and I presently own five computers. Most of my client communications are done by e-mail and I can access all of my files electronically with my laptop while on a camping trip.

I know I’m showing my age, but I am still astounded by the rate at which technology has taken over the legal business and every other industry with which I work.

My friend, insurance agent Julie Hulsey, and I were just exclaiming over the exponential rate at which the technology universe is expanding as we had lunch today. On the table beside both of us were smart phones, enabling us to check e-mail, schedule appointments and send ourselves reminders about a conference we were planning as we ate our salads at Baker Brothers. No paper or pens were in sight; only styluses and touch screens.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the information age. But inevitably, technology brings to the workplace problems and situations that have to be addressed. Some of them are starting to be considered by the courts. As always, I encourage you as an employer to think about the consequences of these digital changes on your workplace now to avoid a visit to the courthouse later. Continue reading Technology in the Workplace →

Required Employee Posters

Employee Rights

            As I told you last month in this column, the federal minimum wage is increasing as of July 24, 2007. As an employer you will be required to pay your employees at least $5.85 per hour. One year from now, on July 24, 2008, the minimum wage will increase to $6.55 per hour and then on July 24, 2009 and thereafter, you will have to pay your employees at least $7.25 per hour. 

            One of the other requirements that goes along with this increase is the obligation of employers to post a notice of the new minimum wage on your employee bulletin board. As of July 3, that notice is available for free at https://www.dol.gov/compliance/topics/posters.htm.

            No matter how small your workforce, you must post this notice on your employee bulletin board. If you are thinking, “What bulletin board?” it is clearly time to review your obligation as an employer to keep your employees informed of their employment rights.

Continue reading Required Employee Posters →

Religion in the Workplace

Discrimination

This newspaper features a “Faith” section every week. There are at least five Christian channels on our cable television. The Amarillo yellow pages directory contains at least 20 pages of church listings. Religion is alive and well in the Panhandle of Texas.

But is it appropriate to bring religion into your workplace? For many people, it is as natural as breathing to talk about, think about and pray about their faith and their struggles while at work as well as elsewhere.

But as a business owner or manager, you have to be very careful and knowledgeable about how to handle your employees’ and your own religious beliefs. While about 75% of Americans professed to be Christians in 2000, there are another 13% who said they are secular or nonreligious, and the rest practiced Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, agnosticism, atheism, Hinduism, Wiccan, etc.

Even if an employee professes to be a Christian, he or she could be involved in any one of the 38,000 Christian denominations worldwide that Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary identified in 2006. Many of these denominations have very different practices and traditions from your church. Just assuming that all of your employees believe the way that you believe is naïve and could be legally costly.

Continue reading Religion in the Workplace →

Employing Mentally Disabled Employees

Medical

            It is disconcerting to consider the issues an employer faces with a mentally impaired employee.

            The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Texas Human Rights Act protect employees with mental impairments when they are employed by a company with at least 15 employees. But many employers are unprepared to legally interview, hire, employ and occasionally fire a mentally impaired employee.

            Generally the ADA protects employees who are qualified for the job but whose physical or mental impairments substantially limits major life activities such as concentrating or interacting with others. Employers must reasonably accommodate these disabled individuals if they can perform the essential functions of the job.

            Most employers I work with are willing to give mentally ill employees a fair chance and many mentally impaired employees are performing satisfactorily at all sorts of jobs.

Continue reading Employing Mentally Disabled Employees →

Recent Employment Law Developments

Employee Rights

            I often use this column space to try to update you on one area of employment law in which a new development has occurred. But employment law is changing so rapidly that rather than explaining any of the latest changes in detail, I just want to alert you this month to several important changes.

            As a business owner or supervisor of employees, you need to seek specific advice, information and/or training on any of these recent employment law developments that affect your workplace.

Continue reading Recent Employment Law Developments →

2008 New Year’s Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions

            Every year in January I make resolutions. Not for me, but for you: the business owners, the supervisors and anyone else who has to manage employees on a daily basis.

            I spend so much time in my employment law practice trying to bail clients out of trouble with their employees, much of it trouble that could have been avoided in the first place. I would much rather teach you to prevent employee legal issues than have to defend you in court for your management mistakes.

            If you haven’t been sued by one of your employees for sexual harassment, age discrimination, or a workplace injury, consider yourself due. Small business with just 20 employees will see an employee lawsuit at least once every 5 years on average. Larger business will face these types of claims much more often.

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Privacy in the Workplace

Employee Rights, Ethics

            “Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds”. – John Perry Barlow

 

            “I never liked working. To me a job is an invasion of privacy.” – Danny McGoorty

           

            I often encounter people who still believe they have a constitutional right of privacy in this country. Privacy is not addressed in the constitution. And in my opinion, the Patriot Act and the current administration’s domestic wiretapping program has eroded much of whatever small measure of privacy the common law and the courts used to give us.

            Privacy is even scarcer in the American workplace. Private corporations, businesses, stores, sole proprietorships, and other nongovernmental employers can and do invade their employees’ privacy on a daily basis as part of the normal course of business.

Continue reading Privacy in the Workplace →

Family and Medical Leave Act Mistakes

Employee Rights, Medical

Although the law was adopted with much political posturing in August 1993, I have rarely mentioned the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) in this column over the last ten years that I’ve been writing it for two reasons:

1.    It only affects employers who have 50 or more employees on the payroll; and

2.    It provides only unpaid leave, so very few employees can afford to take the 12 weeks off that the FMLA allows.

But I have decided it is time to readdress the FMLA if for no other reason than to combat the misinformation that seems to exist about it. If you are an employer that is affected by it, then you need a lot more knowledge than I can provide in this column, but this should act as an introduction for you.

Continue reading Family and Medical Leave Act Mistakes →

Legal System not the Answer for Employees

Employee Rights

My law office is now located in a beautiful historic home in Amarillo where I share office space with first-rate lawyers like Kevin and Ginger Nelson, Chris Wright and Jeff Voiles.

It is a professional place with lots of advice given to clients on serious legal matters. It is not the kind of place where you would expect me to be charting the phases of the moon.

However, I have noted that the full moon changes the type of calls I receive at the office from potential clients. Normally, I hear from business owners and managers calling for help with employment policy manuals and answers about how to avoid discrimination claims.

During the full moons I get bombarded with calls from employees who believe they have been victimized at work. They all seem to think that an employment lawyer can magically fix their employment problems and make their jobs more pleasant.

Some of the callers are looking for legal loopholes to explain away their own failures at work, like the ones who want to know how to avoid random drug testing or who want to sue their employer when they test positive and are inevitably fired.

Continue reading Legal System not the Answer for Employees →