Learning & Development

Train for Compliance—More Manager Actions that Can Risk Lawsuits

In yesterday’s Advisor, we reviewed the first 17 of our list of 27 management actions that can increase your company’s risk of being sued; today, we present the final 10 manager/supervisor actions that you must be training against.

Click here for actions 1-17 from yesterday.

  1. Turning down a leave request when there is no reason to do so.
  2. Treating some groups differently from others when it comes to documentation requirements during the Form I-9 (employment eligibility verification) process.
  3. Failing to diffuse employee problems before they escalate into violence.
  4. Knowingly allowing unfair pay practices to happen or continue, such as:
    1. Not paying for overtime;
    2. Paying less than minimum wage;
    3. Making illegal wage deductions, such as:
      1. Refusing to pay overtime, even if there was a policy in which overtime was not allowed; in this case, the employer still has an obligation to pay it, and the employee behavior should be addressed separately; and
      2. Docking the pay of an exempt employee when he or she misses a few hours of a day.
    1. Requiring or allowing nonexempt employees to work off the clock;
    2. Classifying an employee as exempt when he or she does not meet the qualifications; or
    3. Not allowing mandatory rest and meal breaks (state laws are often much stricter than federal laws on mandatory break periods).
  1. Not taking the time to fully understand legal obligations and all of the laws that govern the workplace.

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  1. Not being courteous and respectful to all employees. While this is not necessarily illegal as long as it doesn’t become bullying or discrimination, it can increase the likelihood of a lawsuit if the employee becomes disgruntled. This is true at any time, but especially during the termination process, which needs to be handled respectfully.
  2. Firing an employee without giving any opportunity to improve the situation (except, of course, in egregious cases of misconduct).
  3. Divulging confidential employee information, such as medical information.
  4. Terminating an employee and giving false reasons for the termination, which can raise red flags and could appear to be a way of hiding an illegal termination decision.
  5. Not following through with any established policy or practice relating to pay, such as severance or accrued vacation payout upon termination.

While this is a long list, it can serve as a starting point for creating and updating managerial training sessions that will help reduce your company’s risk of a lawsuit. What else would you add to the list?

Once your managers are properly trained to avoid litigation, you can focus on the finer points of talent management—which can be a complicated arena. There are systems out there to help with the process, but which technology would be best for your unique situation?

Deciding on a talent management system is one of the highest profile technology choices HR leaders will ever make. How can you be sure you’re taking the right path? Fortunately there’s timely help in the form of a new webcast—Selecting a Talent Management Suite: Experts Share the Real Story. In just 60 minutes, you’ll learn everything you need to know about key considerations in the selection process, based on human capital analyst David Creelman’s research and interviews with leading HR technology experts and HR professionals who’ve been there.

Register today for this free (thanks to sponsor Halogen Software) interactive webcast.


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Wednesday, May 6, 2015
2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
1:00 p.m. (Central)
12:00 p.m. (Mountain)
11:00 a.m. (Pacific)

Approved for Recertification Credit

This program has been approved for 1 recertification credit hour toward recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI).

Join us on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, for the free, in-depth Selecting a Talent Management Suite: Experts Share the Real Story webcast.

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