In a bad economy where money is tight, sales are down, and employees are frightful of what lies ahead for them, the very last thing your company needs is a lawsuit brought by a disgruntled employee. Yet according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the number of lawsuits being won against companies across the country is absolutely staggering. Many professional posit we are now in the mist of a national lawsuit epidemic.
Based on my 12 years of training thousands of Human Resource (HR) professionals on HR Laws, and consulting with hundreds of companies and organizations throughout the country, here is a first hand, behind the scenes look at why attorneys are winning tens of million of dollars each year for workers all over the country. And with the average payout in an employment lawsuit at $750,000 (not including attorneys’ fees), it’s not hard to imagine this trend continuing for many years to come. The good news however is that the majority of these wounds are self inflicted and can be prevented. Therefore, your company does not have to become a victim of this wild litigation beast. Here are seven lucrative areas attorneys are finding unlimited fodder to feed this every growing monster called worker litigation. You must act quickly to close the education and knowledge gap in these areas.
1. Untrained Supervisors. In my many years of experience this area (bar none), ranks as the number one venue for worker lawsuits. It is an absolute travesty what we do to supervisors in this country. We throw them in leadership positions, without providing any leadership training- whatsoever. You screwed in more light bulbs than anyone else over the last three years, so you’re the new supervisor. Well guess what? There is nothing “super” about these individuals “vision.” Because supervisors are agents of the company, left untrained, they pose a grave and gathering threat to the company’s bottom line. Priority one should be to have new supervisors immediately trained and acclimated on the legal aspects of supervising workers in today’s work environment. This training should be done as a prerequisite to them taking on their new role as supervisor. In additional, all supervisors should be required to attend “mandatory policy training” on a yearly basis. Attorneys are keenly aware this is a key area where companies and organizations, both large and small drop the ball. Winning lawsuits against untrained supervisors in this new “knowledge economy” is so easy; it’s like taking candy from a baby.
2. Sexual Harassment Taken Too Lightly. It is far beyond human belief the number of companies (today) that fail to take this area of policy seriously. And attorneys are having an all out field day. The courts ruled when it comes to sexual harassment, your company will always be held liable for the actions of its supervisors. In 2002 along, workers were awarded a stunning $50 million, and this figure does not reflect those workers who actually litigated their cases. More shocking is the fact that some 90 percent of victims never file a formal complaint. If $50 million was paid out and 90% of workers never file a complaint, then Houston, we have a problem. When you couple the illegal actions and behavior of supervisors in this area, with the knowledge available to the rank and file employee through the internet, you have a formula for disaster. And in a lawsuit, courts require that companies provide proof certain that sexual harassment training was conducted. What do you think the number one defense supervisors use when they face a sexual harassment lawsuit? You guessed it “I didn’t know.” Everyday you allow supervisors to come to work, unfamiliar and untrained on your policies concerning sexual harassment law; you are one step closer to a back breaking lawsuit, which leads to the next area of concern.
3. Retaliation Grossly Underestimated. The alarming number of cases brought before the EEOC for retaliation (in one year) jumped a whopping 23 percent (from the year 2007 to 2008). Look at it from this prospective. If you held a stock and it jumped 23% in one year, wouldn’t you be ecstatic? This is an area that has attorneys dancing in the street. In 2008 along, some 33,000 cases were filed for retaliation. When I conduct “supervisor and management training” across the country, I explicate this as one of the most serious charges a supervisor can face in the courtroom today. So what is retaliation? Retaliation occurs after a charge is made against a supervisor or company, and as a result the person making the charge is treated differently. Attorneys use a sophisticated system of uncovering when this illegal act occurs. Every law under the sun governing the employer/employee relationship from OSHA to HIPPA, to FMLA and FLSA, all clearly state that there can be no retaliation against the employee who brought the charge, neither the witnesses. And be prepared because when a lawsuit ensues, the attorney will ask your company if it has a written non-retaliatory clause included in the company’s policies. Take a close look at this next one.
4. Shot-ty Record Keeping. It is an attorney’s dream to bring a workers’ case before the court and the company’s supervisors cannot present the records necessary to defend the company. There must be strict guidelines concerning what records are to be kept, how they are to be maintained, and if and when they can be destroyed. One law every supervisor must learn as part of basic supervisor training is the law concerning “spoliation.” This law governs even electronic data. Train every supervisor on proper documentation and record keeping. This next one is white hot.
5. Employee Private Information Being Breached. Supervisors are privy to some of the company’s most highly guarded secrets. They have access to protected information on employees such as Social Security Numbers, Dates of Birth, family information, bank accounts, all the way to damaging medical information. Question: have you trained your supervisors to understand that all private information on employees is to remain private. Better yet, has the company written privacy policies that govern and protect these data? Sad is the fact that in most companies, the rumor mill and gossip mill is often initiated by and spread through untrained supervisors. Be advised; protecting private information in the workplaces of today is not a good idea, it is the law. Get your supervisors trained like yesterday. Look at this next hot button area.
6. The Age Law Trampled On. The age law of 1967, which falls under Title VII, is often misunderstood and just plain trampled on in today’s workplace. And for untrained and unsuspecting supervisors, it is an expressway to disaster. Age discrimination lawsuits are up a whopping 29 percent from 2007 to 2008 (again this of this as a stock that you’re holding). What this screams in my ear is either supervisors don’t know or they don’t care to know this law. Either way your company will pay a heavy price. And if this isn’t enough, the Supreme Court just added new teeth to this law. Listen carefully; in the recent Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power case (June 2008), the high court ruled that the burden of proof is now even greater on the employer to prove a factor, other than age, when an employee brings an age discrimination lawsuit against the company. And with the American workforce aging rapidly, training supervisors on the age law may just save your company from a $750,000 judgment. Just think, how much training your company can conduct for $750,000. And last but not least is the next white hot area which can be avoided with proper training.
7. Interviewers Gone Wild. There are strict guidelines as to what questions can and cannot be asked during an interview. Problem is most supervisors don’t know the difference between the two. Why? Because they have not been trained. For instance you cannot ask a candidate if they are married, about a disability, their age, gender, or even if they have children. Then there is the nail biting act of making lots of promises to the candidate during the interview, which the company cannot keep. An important part of what must be accomplished during the hiring process (and long before promises are made to interviewees), is for the HR department to conduct a thorough and complete background check of each individual. So why do so many supervisors continue to make these simple mistakes? Because they have never attended a “proper interviewing techniques” class. Absolutely inexcusable in today’s work environment. HR, you must take the lead and get them trained in this area. Please be advised, you are dealing with the most sophisticated workforce ever in the history of this country. A workforce armed with new knowledge of the entire hiring process. Because of the internet, applicants often know the exact questions you can and cannot ask them during the interview. Do your supervisors know?
Summary
Supervisors are agents of the company, and left untrained, pose a grave and gathering threat to the company’s bottom line. In a bad economy where money is tight, sales are down, and employees are frightful of what lies ahead for them, the very last thing your company needs is a lawsuit brought by a disgruntled employee. Untrained supervisors rank as the number one reason workers are winning millions of dollars in worker lawsuits. And with the average payout in a worker lawsuit sitting at $750,000 (not including attorneys’ fees), your company must move quickly to train supervisors on these current employment laws.
Copyright © 2009 Cubie Davis King, PhD. All rights reserved.
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