Use Caution in Hiring and Firing

Avoid discrimination lawsuits

One of the advantages of outsourcing to a Professional Employment Organization PEO or Administrative Service Organization ASO such as AmCheck, is the fact that your PEO/ASO’s Human Resource Department can help you decipher some of the legal technicalities that exist as a result of Federal Legislation regarding discrimination.  This is part of the reason many PEOs may be involved in the process of hiring and firing at the worksite--it is one of many methods we use to protect you from risk of discrimination lawsuits.

Legal changes in recent years have made it more and more difficult to avoid legal tangles with prospective, existing, and former employees.  Consider, for example the caution you must exercise with regard to employee relations as a result of sexual harassment litigation.  What about the way you treat your older employees as a result of The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) to avoid age discrimination lawsuit, or the way you accommodate disabled employees because of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)?

 In addition to these federal laws, there may be local or state laws with which an employer must comply.  Each of these laws must also be taken into consideration when promoting, demoting, or transferring employees to other departments. 

Always consult with our HR Department before taking employment action.  The HR Fact Finder recommends that you protect your company from costly legal battles by avoiding impulsive hiring, termination, transfers, promotions, etc.  A company whose decisions in these areas are carefully considered should be able to avoid most legal tangles involved in discrimination lawsuits.

A Case In Point:
A recent “Corporate Downsizing” in a large firm resulted in the decision to transfer 5 women (including one female manager with over 12 years of tenure) to another department and offer them reduced compensation.  The female manager was to be replaced by a male with less experience.  All five of the women hired attorneys, because in spite of the fact that this was probably a well-intentioned attempt to make the department more efficient, the move looked like it may have been prompted by an act of discrimination. This article brought to you by AmCheck. Visit us at www.amcheck.com.

Source: HR Fact Finder- This article excerpted from an article formerly entitled, “Human Resources:  Some Cautions about Hiring and Firing”.