Employment attorneys provide a wide range of services that protect businesses just like yours. Business owners hire employment attorneys as a long-term investment in the growth and success of their businesses.
An employment attorney provides an invaluable service that protects your business and reduces any loss in revenue resulting from legal issues that can arise.
Without a highly skilled and experienced employment attorney, you put your business at risk of costly and potentially devastating lawsuits.
It’s not uncommon for employees who’ve been fired to retaliate against their former employers through a lawsuit. This could lead to costly legal proceedings and disrupt your businesses operations.
There are some considerations you should make before firing an employee for issues related to their work performance or misconduct.
If an existing contract places certain limits on your ability to fire an employee, you should consult with an employment attorney before moving forward.
In some cases, employees may consider themselves to be members of a protected class based on religion or a disability.
Some employees may have exhibited violent behaviors that have contributed to their termination. Employees may also have access to sensitive information related to the business.
In either case, you should have an employment attorney assist you in the process to prevent unwanted legal conflicts. An employment attorney helps you protect your legal rights as an employer.
Legal complaints against businesses can occur when employees believe they’ve been discriminated against or harassed in some way. Discrimination complaints lead to big problems for your business.
Many of these issues can be prevented by implementing a comprehensive application and hiring process. The resumes of applicants must be properly filed and documented in order to demonstrate that you’ve hired applicants based on their individual qualifications rather than their race, gender, or age.
Discrimination and harassment lawsuits can lead to unwanted attention from the media. This can cause long-term damage to your business’s public relations and result in costly legal proceedings.
The legal expertise of an employment attorney helps you respond to a complaint while conducting the proper investigative procedures to reach a resolution. They help you gather the evidence you need to support your case and protect your business.
The United States Supreme Court has recently heard the issue of pregnancy discrimination in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc.
Peggy Young, a UPS employee, became pregnant and was no longer able to lift 70 pounds, the amount required by UPS’s employee policies. Young had to take an unpaid leave of absence because she could not fulfill the requirement, and because she had exhausted her family/medical leave.
Young raises questions about whether the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires an employer to provide the same work accommodations to an employee with pregnancy-related work limitations as to employees with similar, but non-pregnancy related, work limitations? Ultimately, the Court held that the Act does not require these accommodations.
The Court’s holding strikes a balance between an interpretation of the Act that requires employers to offer the same accommodations to pregnant workers as anyone else with comparable physical limitations, regardless of other factors, and the intention to do more than simply define sex discrimination to include pregnancy discrimination.
A plaintiff facing such a circumstance may show that she faced disparate treatment, which requires evidence that the employer’s actions were more likely than not based on discriminatory motivation.
These are just some of the lawsuits your business could face. A skilled employment attorney provides you with the resources you need to establish the right policies for your business. They provide the level of legal protection you need should you find yourself facing a lawsuit.
Hiring the right employment attorney for your business reduces the costs associated with legal issues and prevents the devastation that can occur through expensive legal proceedings. You’ll have greater peace of mind as you continue to grow your business.