07/20/2022
Want to prevent employee lawsuits?
Treat your employees with fairness and respect.
On fairness, I've seen employers apply policies one way for a particular employee, and a different way to another employee. If the employee being punished unfairly for a policy violation is in a protected class, that opens you up to liability.
Protected classes can include gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, race, veteran status, national origin, physical appearance, marital status, political affiliation, and more.
On respect, I've seen leaders that make employees cry, lock them in conference rooms, physically threaten them, mock them, stalk them, assault them, call them names - pretty much the whole gamut of bad human behaviors. One of my cases involved a manager getting arrested for hitting an employee (while uttering a racial slur). This is a two way street as well - a lot of inappropriate and illegal employee behavior out there too - embezzlement, stealing, double-dipping, fraud - you name it.
No one is perfect. But treating your employees with respect prevents many situations from turning into a lawsuit down the road. Respect can be accomplished with kindness, prompt and direct communication, and empathy. Company leaders can receive training to focus on their emotional intelligence to reduce legal risk.
And the leaders that are allowed to carry on and treat executives and employees disrespectfully - they need to be disciplined, or else you will be subject to lawsuits and employees leaving your company.
Let's keep your company out of court.
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