Common Employer Mistakes Leading to Employee Lawsuits

Being sued is a company’s worst nightmare. Review the most common errors below so you can avoid a potential lawsuit in your organization.

• Lack of Employee Handbook:
  This is the simplest problem to “fix” but many employers still do not have any Handbook or Manual containing the policies and procedures of the Company. Most important is an “at-will” disclaimer properly stating that the employment is not governed by any contractual agreement.
• Lack of Adequate Anti-Discrimination Policies:
  Each state has its own anti-discrimination statute, some more liberal than others. Without anti-discrimination policies that adequately address ALL of the provisions of the law in a particular state, employers leave themselves wide open for a lawsuit.
• Insufficient or Inaccurate Performance Evaluations:
  From probationary assessments to yearly reviews, honest and accurate evaluations must be completed to accomplish three major purposes: (1) legal compliance and documentation; (2) administrative uses; and (3) developmental uses.
• Insufficient or Erroneous Documentation of Personnel Decisions:
  “If it is not documented, it did not happen.” Employers have repeatedly stated, once the lawsuit was filed, that the employee was warned over and over again about their behavior/attitude/performance; however, not one document existed to support their defense.
• Lack of Adequate Investigation Procedures:
  This is a HUGE issue in litigation. Courts throughout the nation have repeatedly admonished Companies for not conducting an objective investigation of a complaint of discrimination, harassment or retaliation in terms of who should conduct the investigation, when it should be conducted, and how it should be conducted.
• Failure to Apply Company Policies/Procedures in Uniform Manner:
  Many disgruntled employees file charges with the EEOC simply because they feel they have been treated differently than their co-worker in terms of enforcement of policies and procedures. As a result, Companies are forced to spend money defending a charge that could easily have been avoided.
• Inadequate Response to Initial Claim:
  In many cases, handling an initial claim properly and timely can eliminate the risk of any future lawsuit. When the response is not appropriate, increased damages in a subsequent lawsuit are likely.
• Lack of Management/Employee Training:
  Perhaps the most talked about topic by judges in the last five years. Anti-harassment training must be mandatory for supervisors and managers and must be available to all employees of the organization concerning how to recognize and eradicate unlawful harassment.