Summer 2022 - 35 S OC I E T E protect your assets As an employment attorney specializing in workplace issues, I am often asked: “what are the best ways to protect my business from an employment law perspective?” Although every business is unique with many intricate issues to work through, here are a few things every KNOW woman should know! MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMPLIANT WITH APPLICABLE LAWS. Many times, clients are surprised to learn that even though they operate a small privately-owned business with only a few employees or contractors, they are still bound by state and federal labor and employment laws. For example, federal laws relating to minimumwage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or workplace safety laws under the Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA). In addition, many states also have specific laws and regulations relating to issues such as paid time off, sexual harassment, final paychecks, unemployment, medicinal marijuana, etc. For example, in Arizona, employers are required to give all employees (even part-time and temporary employees) paid sick time. The best place to start in making a compliance audit for your company is to determine where your employees are geographically located. TREAT SIMILARLY SITUATED EMPLOYEES. The SameWay. Federal employment laws such as Title VII of 1964 the Civil Rights Act prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, EMPLOYMENT LAW 101 By JULIET BURGESS Founding Partner at THE BURGESS LAW GROUP WHAT EVERY BUSINESS OWNER SHOULD KNOW or any other protected category. The most common way employers get into difficult situations here is by failing to treat similarly situated employees the same way. It may sound like common sense, but the best way to avoid any type of discrimination and/or retaliation claim is to create uniform policies and procedures (typically in an employee handbook) for commonly occurring issues (progressive discipline, performance evaluations, telecommuting, PTO, timekeeping, dress code, etc.) and apply them in an even-handed manner. KNOW YOUR LIMITS WITH NON-COMPETES. I am often asked to comment on the enforceability of post-employment restrictions such as non-competition or non-solicitation agreements. Generally, restrictive covenants are disfavored under the law, but courts will typically enforce them as long as they are reasonable in duration, geographic scope, and narrowly tailored to protect business interests. The specific requirements in terms of enforceability are governed by state law. For example, courts in some states will enforce noncompetes that are as long as 5 years while other states will only enforce non-competes that are 1 year or shorter. The first step here is to look at the “choice of law” provision in your document and see which state law governs. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. It sounds cliché coming from a lawyer, but I encourage my clients to get everything in writing. For example, if you meet with an employee regarding a performance issue, grant someone permission to work remotely during a discrete period of time, or are making a reasonable accommodation to allow a disabled employee to perform an essential function of their position, document the conversation with an email. The best protection an employer can have is a paper trail showing their good faith efforts and compliance with the law.
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