Employer Liability: How to Reduce Lawsuits & Risk
How Litigation-Proof is Your Company?
When can your company be sued? Do you have the working know-how to avoid situations that could expose your company to legal action? What is employer liability? We live in a litigation-happy culture and, if there is a way to get sued, someone will eventually find it. Learn how to reduce employee related liability, lawsuits and risk.
Are You At Risk for a Lawsuit?
Right or wrong, whatever the motivations behind a suit (seeking justice, righting a wrong, or simply taking the opportunity to “cash-in”) defines the area of what is employer liability and a company can find itself in one of the hot seats. If you are self-employed and have a company of one, then no, you are not at risk for a lawsuit – at least from an employee. If you have employees, managers and/or supervisors, you are at risk.
The most legally sensitive areas for what is employee liability include:
- Wrongful termination
- Sexual religious or racial discrimination at work
- Workplace bullying
- Workplace harassment
- Sexual harassment in the workplace
- Libel (written) or Slander (spoken)
- Violence in the workplace
- Emotional distress
- Employee-related misrepresentations
- Whistle-blowing retaliation
Can you really identify one of these problems before it develops? On the outset, these problems are often too subtle for most to notice. After all, managers are primarily focused on the business, right? The actor, Michael Caine, once said: “No one sets out to make a bad film.” With that in mind, presume that conflicts arise not because of intention but because of poor judgment. You can get ahead of problems by identifying them quickly and addressing them before they become big enough to foster a suit.
3 Actions that Reduce Your Risk
- Your company may need Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI). EPLI protects your company in the case of employment-related lawsuits. Small and medium sized companies are usually focused on their operational needs, sales and profits. However, EPLI focuses on what is employer liability and can protect your company from financial ruin arising from claims for harassment, prejudice or breach of employment contract. Claims can come from employees or former employees alike.
- Initiate a plan for supervisor training on human resources legal issues. That will go a long way to identifying and preventing problems before they develop.
- Hiring a Professional Employment Organization (PEO) such as CBR can bring three important benefits to you and your organization.
- CBR can bring years of professional HR experiences – we have seen about everything.
- CBR can provide greater buying power for EPLI and also worker’s compensation and appropriate health care insurance.
- A CBR professional HR staff member can serve as a neutral party in addressing disputes.
Transfer Your Risk to CBR
Employee leasing can let you outsource many of your human resources and administrative functions while transferring much of your risk to CBR. Give us a call at our toll-free number, (888) 700-8512 or request a proposal and we can discuss many ways we can help your company be protected and save money.
