Avoiding liability for adverse employment decisions

Making employment decisions is an important part of running your practice. That’s why you may be tempted to make swift decisions that better position your business for success. However, moving too quickly when it comes to taking adverse employment actions can lead to allegations of retaliation and wrongful termination.

How to protect yourself from legal liability

 There are several steps that you can take to help insulate yourself from legal liability when it comes to making adverse employment decisions. Here are some of them:

• Engage in progressive discipline so that the employee is well aware of the problematic behavior and has the opportunity to address it before being terminated.
• Implement discipline in a consistent fashion across all employees.
• Make sure that you can articulate how the behavior in question violates company policy.
• Document all communication with the employee, ensuring that you keep all email correspondence that discusses the behavior at hand.
• Be detailed in performance appraisals so that there’s a clear record of the behavior and the opportunities that the employee was given to address it.
• Have open and honest conversations with your employee about the behavior.
• Listen to what your employee has to say in regard to the behavior.
• Be careful of what you say and the context surrounding it, keeping in mind that your statements could be used against you in a lawsuit.

Be holistic in protecting your business interests

This is just a sampling of the steps that you can take to protect your interests when it comes to employment law and making tough employment decisions. Although making these decisions can be difficult, you shouldn’t have to worry about legal implications. That’s why law firms like ours stand ready to assist you in developing the prevention measures that you need to avoid liability and litigating against allegations of wrongdoing in the workplace.