As the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Money spent preventing a fire is a more efficient and effective use of resources than spending time, energy and money fighting one.

Each year, I see a handful of cases that could have been mitigated or entirely prevented if the employer being sued had only followed that age-old advice.

Fortunately, those cases don’t involve my clients because my clients rely on me to guide them through challenging work issues long before a formal complaint or lawsuit is filed. On any given day, I’m advising employers on how to:

• correctly classify workers as employees or independent contractors

• appropriately administer FMLA or other job-protected leaves of absence

• accommodate employees who are pregnant, disabled, or who have religious objections to certain practices or policies

• grow their teams without unlawfully excluded qualified candidates

• let go of poor-performing employees

• discipline bad-behaving employees in a consistent manner

• shield their business from employees who leave and want to take clients, coworkers, or confidential information with them

• avoid asking illegal questions during the hiring process

Sure, using a policy or handbook template you found online is quick and easy. But does it provide the legal protection your business needs? Does it include the language required by local, state and federal law?

To be sure, it’s best to have an employment lawyer review your existing handbook or draft you a new one from the start.

My clients love that my personnel policies and handbooks are comprehensive, legally-compliant, and cost-effective.

My standalone personnel policies start at $350 and my handbooks start at $2500.

I’m sure you’ve heard that employment in Texas is at-will and that you or your employees can choose to end the employment relationship at any time. That’s absolutely true.

But here’s the kicker: that general rule can be (unknowingly) changed with the stroke of a pen. If you’re not careful, your employment agreements can lock you in to some obligations you would not have otherwise had. Like the obligation to provide notice before booting a bad employee. Not exactly what you bargained for, is it?

To be sure your contract accurately reflects your intentions, it’s best to have an employment lawyer either draft or review the agreement before you sign it.

I’ve drafted, reviewed, negotiated and defended employment contracts of all kinds, including:

• non-compete agreements

• non-disclosure agreements

• non-disparagement agreements

• non-solicitation agreements

• employment agreements

• severance agreements

I’d be delighted to prepare your agreements and provide you that peace of mind that they’ll hold up in court.

Knowing the law is only half the battle. The other (most important) half is ensuring you’re actually complying with it.

During your compliance audits, I get all up in your business. Your HR business that is. I’ll ask probing questions and assess your practices, policies, and procedures to determine if they are adequate, legal, and effective. The insights obtained from your audit help identify any compliance gaps and opportunities—without a regulator breathing down your neck.

After your “checkup”, I’ll prescribe some practical steps you can take to reduce litigation and liability risk. Specifically, we may collaborate to:

1. revise offer letters to avoid accidentally converting at-will employees to contract employees

2. amend independent contractor agreements to reduce the risk of misclassification

3. draft legally-compliant policies to put your company in the best position to defend itself should a lawsuit arise

4. provide strategies to implement when disciplining and terminating employees

5. effectively communicate changes to your workforce in a way that minimizes disruption
   

You know you can entirely avoid liability for certain employment claims if you take a few precautions to prevent and correct behaviors in your workplace, right?

Of course developing policies is one of those precautions, but it alone is not enough. You’ve also got to properly investigate complaints that employees raise while at work and appropriately respond to the complaints after your investigation. If you do that, there’s a solid chance a court may absolve your company of liability even if you violated the law.

Amazingly, employers often lose the opportunity to raise this defense because they don’t bother to do an investigation or conduct the investigation all wrong.

With my investigations, you can expect that I’ll:

• review the complaint, being sure to analyze it for what it says and what it fails to say

• interview key witnesses

• protect my communications with witnesses under the attorney-client privilege

• review policies, procedures, and practices

• collect and analyze documents and other key evidence

• shield my investigation materials and work-product from disclosure to third parties

• generate action-items to protect your business from a lawsuit or regulatory investigation.

• finish on time and under budget.

Training is another excellent way to insulate your business from employment liability. Not only does it set the tone for what’s acceptable in your organization, but in some instances the fact that you’ve delivered training to your team can provide a strong defense should an employment law claim arise.

Our training courses are engaging, interactive and address a variety of topics, including:

• Harassment Prevention

• Discrimination Prevention

• Handling Workplace Accommodation Requests

• Responding to Leave Requests

• Wage and Hour Compliance

• Independent Contractors

Depending on your needs, we’ll deliver an out-the-box training solution where we personally deliver the training to your workforce and handle the back-end logistics too (transcripts, certificates, etc.). Or, if you prefer to deliver the training yourself, we also offer train-the-trainer solutions where we teach your team how to train others and offer pointers before they rollout the training themselves.

Getting hit with a charge of discrimination or complaint from a state or federal regulatory agency is stressful AF.

But it’s not a time to panic. Just because an employee (or former employee) has filed a charge or complaint against you, doesn’t mean you’ve actually violated the law.

But be sure to contact an employment lawyer ASAP because this is usually the first step before an employee or the government files a lawsuit against you, your staff, or your business.

I develop a comprehensive strategy that may involve:

• visiting your workplace

• interviewing key witnesses

• collecting pertinent records about your HR practices and procedures

• obtaining key records from third parties

• drafting a well-reasoned position statement outlining your point of view

• responding and objecting to the agency’s subpoenas and requests for information, interviews and/or site visits

• negotiating a resolution that avoids litigation entirely

Over the years, I’ve responded to hundreds (if not thousands) of complaints and charges of discrimination and successfully staved off lawsuits before they were even filed. I’d be delighted to do the same for your business.

Even in frivolous cases, getting sued is super nerve-wrecking. It takes valuable time and resources away from your business and the uncertainty of it all would make anyone want to pull out their hair.

Except me. I’m one of those law nerds who loves going to court (and arbitration), telling my client’s story, and winning!

I’ve successfully guided employers—big and small—through arbitrations, bench and jury trials, and appeals. I’d love to do the same for your business.