The contemporary American workplace is susceptible to numerous federal, state, and local laws that impose strict obligations on businesses (e.g., wage and hour laws and regulations, nondiscrimination law regulations, etc.). Most companies, especially smaller organizations, tend not to know the scope of those obligations and, consequently, frequently (albeit inadvertently) violate what the law states. These violations can result in costly lawsuits, and also civil and criminal penalties. In my experience as being a defense attorney in addition to being a plaintiff's lawyer, the commonest employment law mistakes done by corporations are these (in no particular order):

Misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Generally speaking, only workers who operate their unique separate corporations are "independent contractors." Few workers meet this test; the truth is, most personnel are considered "employees" for the law, which suggests they're eligible to the entire selection of workplace protections.

Misclassifying non-exempt workers as exempt. Generally speaking, all workers are eligible for minimum wage and overtime pay, unless these are "exempt" under state and federal law. The exemption rules (e.g., for executive, administrative, and professional personnel) only apply in limited circumstances, however; consequently, many personnel that are claimed by businesses to get "exempt" in reality have entitlement to minimum wage and/or overtime pay.

Not complying with state wage payment legislation. i.e. New York imposes several specific rules regarding how businesses be forced to pay their staff members. These rules include providing new workers with written notice of the rate of pay and regular pay date; prohibiting deductions from wages unless for that employee's benefit and authorized in writing; requiring written contracts for commissioned salespersons; and providing terminated employees with written notice of the last day's work, their last day's benefits, and their right to submit an application for unemployment benefits.

Not owning a laborer handbook. A laborer handbook is a vital tool for effective employer-employee relations. It notifies employees of the company's values, policies, and procedures; promotes compliance with labor and employment legal guidelines; so it helps create an orderly, efficient, and transparent workplace.

Not documenting worker job performance. A well-managed business clearly communicates its employees' duties and responsibilities (e.g., through written position descriptions), trains and supervises personnel to be sure they are meeting these requirements, and offers regular, objective, consistent feedback (e.g., through written evaluations and, where necessary, disciplinary actions). A deficiency of accurate, complete, contemporaneous documentation can cause liability in the case of a case by a worker.

Not training supervisors regarding EEO legal guidelines. Federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against personnel (e.g., demotion, termination) for reasons not in connection with an employee's job performance, including those depending on an employee's race, color, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and marital status ( to call the most typical "protected characteristics"), along with retaliation for an employee's good faith complaints of discrimination. It is imperative that supervisors learn the way to manage personnel without violating (or appearing to violate) these laws.

Not providing reasonable accommodations for disabled staff members. Most EEO laws prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against workers depending on certain protected characteristics, but disability discrimination laws also impose an affirmative obligation on businesses to "reasonably accommodate" disabled employees to be able to make them perform the main functions of the jobs. Such accommodations can sometimes include restructuring job duties, modifying work schedules, or providing assistive devices. Businesses have to supply a disabled laborer with needed accommodations unless doing this would cause an "undue hardship" for the corporation (e.g., very costly, too disruptive).

Not obtaining releases from terminated employees. When terminating a worker, businesses need to get a release that waives the employee's potential legal claims against the organization. The simplest way to get a release is in exchange for an offer of severance (where appropriate). Generally, companies are not essential to pay for severance to workers (unless necessary for an employment contract or perhaps a collective bargaining agreement). If they opt to achieve this (e.g., in association with layoffs), they ought to require staff members to sign a release in substitution for the payment.

Not protecting confidential business information. Every business is dependent upon certain vital, often confidential, details about its business operations, including trade secrets, marketing and advertising practices, and customer and client lists. Access to this information needs to be tied to staff members with a "need to know" and really should be protected by appropriate non-disclosure, non-compete, and/or non-solicitation agreements (depending on the nature of the information along with the employee's position).

Not consulting a professional employment law attorney. Perhaps the only most significant point to take away from this discussion is always that businesses must consult an experienced employment lawyer to ensure they are in compliance with all the increasingly numerous and complex legislation that carpet businesses just like a minefield. Large organizations will often have attorneys and hr professionals working to help them in this field. Small- and medium-size businesses often tend not to. Their biggest mistake is wanting to navigate this minefield automatically.

And also you? What exactly are your top mistakes made in employment law?

About the writer: Stacia W. Abner writes for employment law training courses, her personal blog where she writes about her experience as defense attorney to assist workers and businesses cope with the areas of employment law.