Monthly Archives: March 2011

Follow Your Lawyer’s Advice

Litigation,

The case every lawyer has been waiting for was decided last month in the United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. A company trying to get out of an overtime violations case defended itself by saying it relied on the advice of its lawyer. But the court pointed out that the company had only selectively followed the attorney’s advice. The company ignored the second part of the legal advice it received and made no real changes in its compensation policy in response to the lawyer’s opinions. So the company’s defense failed. Mumby v. Pure Energy Services (USA), Inc., (10th Cir.)(Feb. 22, 2011).

Why is the case so meaningful to employment lawyers like me? Because too often, clients who pay me for my legal opinion decide to dismiss some or all of my advice if it means they will have to change the way they do business. So many companies are slow or unwilling to adapt and change, even when new employment laws or regulations require employers to rewrite their policies or update their procedures. They resist change even when it means they will be penalized or sued when they get caught. But they never believe they will get caught, despite statistics that show even small companies face an adverse claim by an employee or former employee at least once every five years.

Teenagers often use similar risky thinking when making bad decisions, such as “I won’t get caught if I drive home, even though I’ve been drinking beer all night. It was only a six-pack, after all!”  Continue reading Follow Your Lawyer’s Advice →

Employer’s Liability for New Employees

Attendence, Discrimination, Termination,

Bob Smith started working for you four weeks ago. He has already missed two days of work, been tardy, left early one day and when he is at work, his production is mediocre. You have a 90-day probationary period in your employment policies and it is becoming clear to you that Bob is not going to make it through that probation. Can you fire this four-week employee without any unemployment or discrimination liability?

Unfortunately, the answer in Texas is “no”. As soon as Bob became your employee, he became your problem. This is one reason that the hiring process ought to be very demanding, including checks of all of his past employers, criminal records, drug screening, etc. to discover at least the most obvious problems before you put him on the payroll. But many past employers won’t tell you anything about Bob’s dependability, so it is not surprising that he got through the hiring hurdles.

So if you decide to fire him today, what kind of liability can you face as an employer? In Texas, you will probably be charged back for his unemployment benefits by seeing an increase in your unemployment tax rate on all of your employees for the next three years. That is a stiff price to pay. There is a chance you will get lucky and not get the charge back if Bob falls into a narrow category based on how much he worked before you hired him. The explanation for that can be found on the Texas Workforce Commission website (click here).

Assuming that you don’t get that lucky or you don’t want to count on luck, you can document Bob’s problems, give him a written warning and then fire him for misconduct as you would any longer-term employee so that you have a way to fight the unemployment claim. This will go better for you if your policy manual makes it clear that absenteeism during the probationary period is not allowed. There is nothing wrong with requiring your new employees to show up every day for the first three months. You would think that most new employees would want to do that just to prove themselves, but I am constantly amazed by the slackness that many new employees bring to the workplace.

What about discrimination? Surely you can’t be held liable for something that happens to a new employee in the first few weeks? Think again. The United States Sixth Circuit Court last year upheld a $1.2 million sexual harassment claim for an employee who had only worked for five weeks at the company. In her third week of employment, she complained to her trainer and supervisor about the comments, touching, whistles and lewd gestures she was receiving. The supervisor moved her, but unwisely said, “That’s just how they treat their women over there,” and requested that she not tell the human resources department.

After another two weeks without improvement, the new employee told the human resources manager about the problem. He promised to investigate, but didn’t, so she filed a charge with the EEOC and later, a lawsuit. The trial court and the appellate court found that the employer’s response to the employee’s sexual harassment complaints showed reckless indifference to the new employee’s federally protected rights, supporting not only a judgment against the employer, but also an award of punitive damages.

There are all kinds of problems with the supervisor and the human resources manager’s responses to the sexual harassment complaint that have been discussed in other entries on this blog, but suffice it to say here, the fact that the employee only worked five weeks did not insulate the employer from any liability in this case. Your responsibility as an employer to protect your employees from discrimination kicks in on their first day of work and continue throughout their employment.

Employer’s Guide to Social Media

Personnel Policies,

Sally Sassy, one of your best customer service representatives, posts pictures on her Facebook page that show her drunk, in a skimpy bikini and kissing many different men, even though she is married. Several of your customers are her “friends” on Facebook.

Derek Downer, likes to post negative comments on My Space about everything, including his job with your company as a bookkeeper. He often talks about how he hates his boss, disapproves of his coworkers, and thinks your company’s latest project is doomed.

Gail Gossip has a personal blog where she chronicles all of her feelings about work, including stories about her coworkers’ professional and personal struggles. Her blog is open to anyone who wants to read it.

Hayden the Human Resources director at your business uses Linked In to network with others in your industry, including finding well-qualified candidates for openings at your company.

All of these employees are using social media on the internet, in some ways that benefit your company but in other ways that can damage your business’ reputation or even your profits.

As the employer, you can adopt a policy to instruct your employees as to which posts on the internet are appropriate and professional and which are not. The only legal restriction comes from the National Labor Relations Board, which prohibits employers from adopting policies that restrain employees from engaging in concerted activity or from forming unions. The NLRB says that you cannot impose blanket restrictions, such as “employees cannot post any negative comments about this company.” Employees are free to discuss salaries, working conditions or terms of employment in person or on the internet.

However, you can expect your employees to use good judgment on the internet. You can direct your employees to protect your company’s trade secrets and confidential business information. You can prohibit the use of your logo. You can also require them to be professional and respectful towards your customers and your other employees. You can require them to get the permission of others before mentioning them on the internet as a way of protecting the privacy of your other employees, vendors and customers who might be appalled to find their personal business posted without their permission.

You can also remind employees that your other policies should not be violated on the internet. For example, an employee who posts sexual comments on a coworker’s blog or Facebook page may be violating your company sexual harassment policy and can be disciplined for that. Your company ethics and values policies may also prohibit certain inappropriate actions.

You can also limit the use of company computers, networks and company time for social media activity. You do not have to allow your employees to spend hours per day on your business computer updating their personal blogs.

As with any employee activity that could turn ugly, the best advice is that you as an employer adopt a written policy now, publish it to all of your employees, and prevent the problems before they happen.