Avoiding the 5 Most Common Types of Workplace Lawsuits

Unfortunately, the number of workplace lawsuits are increasing. As a business owner, this creates tremendous financial stress. To reduce the risk of being sued, you want to work closely with an attorney to understand laws but while also creating methods of prevention.

With the fact that some employees will sue at the drop of a hat, coupled with risk of liability and financial fallout, now is the time to adopt major changes.

Effectively Preventing and Handling Workplace Lawsuits

You and your attorney can create viable plans for preventing but also handling workplace lawsuits. Utilizing effective strategies will help protect your investment.

For instance, through your attorney, you can learn about current laws for each of the five most common workplace lawsuits. This allows you to write and implement more effective rules. You will also gain insight into the appropriate actions to take if an employee crosses the line.

By working with a reputable attorney, you become more confident about knowing what you can and cannot do prior to and after a lawsuit is filed. Remember, a single workplace lawsuit can potentially destroy everything you have worked so hard to achieve. Rather than just hoping for the best, be prepared.

Avoidable Lawsuits

1. Wrongful Termination—Your attorney will help you understand exactly what constitutes wrongful termination, as well as the various areas of violations to avoid. Through legal education, you will learn how to finalize the termination process quickly and with as little embarrassment possible. In addition, staying up-to-date on state laws and implementing performance management helps prevent lawsuits.

2. Harassment—In today’s business world, harassment is never tolerated. Therefore, implement an anti-harassment policy that clearly outlines the impact a harasser would face, as well as the confidential internal process for making complaints. Your attorney will also teach you how to conduct an investigation without compromising privacy rights of the employees.
3. Discrimination—Sometimes, workplace lawsuits are based on one of the nine types of discriminations, each governed by a different law that falls under a unique enforcing agency. With this, you need to learn what those discriminations are, followed by taking proactive measures of prevention through better training, policies, and procedures.

4. Retaliation—Unfortunately, retaliation in the workplace has become a very real problem. By working with your attorney, you can create an anti-retaliation policy in the eyes of the law—one that outlines who an employee should speak to if retaliated against, how the complaint should be handled, the right way to monitor someone against whom a complaint was launched, and the process for dealing with job performance issues.

5. Workplace Injury—Injuries on the job are common, especially for certain industries. If a worker’s compensation claim is challenged or if there is any negligence or intentional action taken against an employee on behalf of your company leading to injury, you can expect to be sued. To avoid a workplace lawsuit, you are advised to have strong policies and procedures in place against potential risks, with follow-through for anyone who fails to heed those requirements.