This American article has been written by Stacia W. Abner of http://www.employmentlawtraining.org

Top 10 Usual Work Law Issues Done By Corporations

The contemporary American workplace is susceptible to numerous federal, state, and local law regulations that impose strict obligations on businesses (e.g., wage and hour legislation, nondiscrimination laws, etc.). A lot of companies, especially smaller organizations, usually do not know the scope of such obligations and, because of this, frequently (albeit inadvertently) violate what the law states. These violations can result in costly lawsuits, along with civil and criminal penalties. In my experience as being a defense attorney in addition to being a plaintiff's lawyer, the most typical employment law mistakes done by companies are the subsequent (in no particular order):

- Misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Generally speaking, only workers who operate their unique separate corporations are "independent contractors." Few workers meet this test; actually, most personnel are considered "employees" for the law, this means these are eligible to the entire selection of workplace protections.

- Misclassifying non-exempt employees as exempt. Generally speaking, all workers are eligible to minimum wage and overtime pay, unless they're "exempt" under state and federal law. The exemption rules (e.g., for executive, administrative, and professional employees) only apply in limited circumstances, however; therefore, many workers that are claimed by businesses to get "exempt" actually have entitlement to minimum wage and/or overtime pay.

- Not complying with state wage payment law regulations. i.e. New York imposes several specific rules regarding how businesses be forced to pay their workers. These rules include providing new employees with written notice of the rate of pay and regular pay date; prohibiting deductions from wages unless to the employee's benefit and authorized in writing; requiring written contracts for commissioned salespersons; and providing terminated staff members with written notice of the last day's work, their last day's benefits, and their right to make an application for unemployment benefits.

- Not using a personnel handbook. A laborer handbook is a tool for effective employer-employee relations. It notifies workers of the company's values, policies, and procedures; promotes compliance with labor and employment legislation; so helps create an orderly, efficient, and transparent workplace.

- Not documenting laborer job performance. A well-managed company clearly communicates its employees' duties and responsibilities (e.g., through written position descriptions), trains and supervises personnel to be sure they are meeting these requirements, and supplies regular, objective, consistent feedback (e.g., through written evaluations and, where necessary, disciplinary actions). A deficiency of accurate, complete, contemporaneous documentation can cause liability in the eventuality of a case by a staff member.

- Not training supervisors regarding EEO legal guidelines. Federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (EEO) legislation prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against personnel (e.g., demotion, termination) for reasons not associated with an employee's job performance, including those depending on an employee's race, color, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and marital status ( to mention the commonest "protected characteristics"), plus retaliation for an employee's good faith complaints of discrimination. It is imperative that supervisors learn the way to manage staff members without violating (or appearing to violate) these laws and regulations.

- Not providing reasonable accommodations for disabled personnel. Most EEO law regulations prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against employees according to certain protected characteristics, but disability discrimination legal guidelines also impose an affirmative obligation on businesses to "reasonably accommodate" disabled staff members in order to assist them to perform the fundamental functions of these jobs. Such accommodations might include restructuring job duties, modifying work schedules, or providing assistive devices. Businesses have to supply a disabled employee with needed accommodations unless this would cause an "undue hardship" for the corporation (e.g., not affordable, too disruptive).

- Not obtaining releases from terminated personnel. When terminating a worker, businesses need to get a release that waives the employee's potential legal claims against the corporation. The proper way to get a release is in exchange for an offer of severance (where appropriate). Generally speaking, companies are not essential to pay for severance to staff members (unless essential to an employment contract or even a collective bargaining agreement). If they plan to achieve this (e.g., associated with layoffs), they need to require personnel to sign a release in substitution for the payment.

- Not protecting confidential company information. Every company is dependent upon certain vital, often confidential, specifics of its business operations, including trade secrets, marketing and advertising practices, and customer and client lists. Access to this information needs to be limited by personnel with a "need to know" and really should be protected by appropriate non-disclosure, non-compete, and/or non-solicitation agreements (depending on the nature of the information along with the employee's position).

- Not consulting a professional employment law attorney. Perhaps the one most significant point to take away from this discussion is the fact that businesses have to consult a professional employment lawyer to ensure they are in compliance with all the increasingly numerous and complex law regulations that carpet businesses just like a minefield. Large corporations will often have attorneys and recruiting professionals within the company to aid them in this field. Small- and medium-size businesses often don't. Their biggest mistake is wanting to navigate this minefield automatically.

And you also? Precisely what are your top ten mistakes made in employment law?

About the author Stacie W. Abner writes for http://www.employmentlawtraining.org/  http://www.employmentlawtraining.org/">labor law training</a>  , her personal blog where she writes about her experience as defense attorney to assist workers and companies handle the elements of employment law.