AN ARTICLE ON THE FISHER PHILLIPS1 web site, Can You Be Held Personally Liable In An Employment Lawsuit? The Answer Lies Down A Rabbit Hole should prove interesting to anyone in any management position.
The article has two paragraphs that every Enterprise Risk Management, Business Continuity, and Continuity Of Operations (COOP) practitioner should take to heart and impress on the client/employer.
The article’s last two paragraphs are important to ERM, BC, and COOP practitioners and read: To better protect yourself and the company, you should ensure your employee handbook accurately reflects the ever-changing laws related to protected classes and all forms of harassment. Second, you should schedule annual harassment and discrimination training with managers and non-managers. These training will act as a defense in the event of a discrimination or harassment lawsuit. Also, the training will put employees on notice that they may be personally liable for violations of both state and federal employment statutes.
Finally, there must be an emphasis, from the top down, to take responsibility for the company’s workplace culture. Remaining complacent exposes both companies and individuals to a disgruntled employee exclaiming “off with their heads!”
As usual, Advisen FPN2 provided the link to this article.
Employee handbooks and other employee-related documentation often are overlooked by practitioners who only are concerned with “the usual suspects”: fire, environment, and perhaps a product failure.
These practitioners hopefully will intern with an experienced person. Taking an exam for certification is NOT the same as “real world” experience.
There are, an experienced practitioner knows, a number of employee-related risks every employer – and that includes the employer’s managers – faces.
Something as simple as completing an I-9 correctly.
Specifying the penalties for violating the rules set down in the employee documentation. It’s one thing to have prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace, but if there is no consequence if the prohibition is breached, the courts might look with a jaundiced eye at an employer’s defense.
- I am not a lawyer or judge, nor do I play one on tv.
Management training needs to be included in all risk management recommendations. While in many cases, managers are exempt from personal liability, the employer still is on the hook for any damages that may be awarded. (Even having to defend is costly and takes critical personnel away from their normal duties.)
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/yaag2zcf
2. https://www.advisen.com/fpn_home/
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