Employment Law

Anyone that has experienced discrimination or unfair treatment in the workplace knows how difficult it can be to get fair treatment after the incident, particularly if your employer is a large company. You have to go through management, HR, and several other departments just to find someone who will listen to you. And often, instead of sympathy and help, you employer will start treating you like a troublemaker. However, the federal government and most states have put laws in place to protect employees from discriminatory treatment. Employment law is a law field that specializes in protecting employee and employer rights. Listed below are a few common problems that arise in the workplace.

Age discrimination happens when promotions or pay raises are withheld from someone because of their age. It also might arise if an older employee is let go in favor of hiring a younger person to do the same job or vice versa. Similar to age discrimination are race, sex, disability, and religious discrimination. Being passed over for opportunities or being fired because of any of these factors is a serious legal issue. Other common areas of employment law include retaliation and whistle blowing cases. Retaliation is a wrongful termination of employment or demotion for discriminatory causes. A whistle blowing case involves an employee that raises concerns about any wrongdoing that is occurring in a company, causing the company to retaliate against the employee. You should feel like you can do your best in the workplace without distractions. Employment law ensures fair treatment for both employees and employers.

By: Ryan Coisson

About the Author:

Nobody needs to be reminded that due to the economic recession we are currently experiencing, times are hard for all businesses, whatever their size. Although it may not the first thing that comes to your mind if you are involved in running a business, clear, concise employment law advice should be strongly considered no matter what the economic climate, especially if you are looking to reduce the size of your workforce or review contractual terms and conditions. Consequently, here are seven tips on what to look for if you need employment law advice:

1. Ensure it is affordable
2. Risk Management Service
3. Regular Employment Meetings
4. Ask for a Risk Management Report
5. An Employment Manual
6. Insurance Cover
7. Online Consultant Service

Ensure it is Affordable

It is obvious to most people that you want to ensure you get value for money from the advice you receive. However, there are inherent dangers in seeking the cheapest option. There is usually a reason you are given a low estimate of costs and it may be that the person concerned lacks the experience that you require. Many firms of solicitors with employment specialists now offer HR and employment protection schemes that were previously the territory of non legal firms. The advantage of selecting a firm of solicitors who operate such a scheme is not only their levels of expertise but that they will be fully insured with a well established complaints procedure if things go wrong. Unlike most of the non legal companies, you should also be able to find a solicitor’s employment law protection scheme that only lasts for one year, which allows you to evaluate the service over that period before you decide whether to renew the service or not.

Risk Management Service

A good employment law advisor will first of all carry out a free risk management audit, which is basically a health check of your employment practices. A specialist employment solicitor will visit you to look at your personnel records, review procedures, uncover any weaknesses, and assess what needs to be done to improve any problem areas.

Regular Employment Meetings

You should also ensure that the scheme offers regular employment meetings, where the company you have hired will meet and talk with you or your HR department, management team and other key members of your team. This will enable them to understand and review your terms and conditions of employment, disciplinary and grievance procedures, absenteeism, flexibility, equal opportunities and redundancy arrangements and to make appropriate amendments.

A Risk Management Report

Following your health check, you should ask for a comprehensive risk management report. This will review your current policies, practices and compliance with legislation. It will also include an action plan for any improvements that could reduce the risk of disputes with your staff.

An Employment Manual

If you have made the right choice in hiring an employment law advisor, they will also supply you with an employment manual – an invaluable source of reference for good employment practice. This includes information on fair procedures for recruitment and absenteeism, guidance on how to draft employment contracts, a selection of over 100 specimen letters and forms, and many other aspects of good HR practice.

Insurance Cover

Insurance cover is also important. When you’re protected by insurance cover, you’ll no longer have to worry about the costs of defending an action brought against you by an employee as a high-quality policy will cover legal costs and expenses to defend employment disputes of up to