Situations in Which an Employer Can Benefit From an Employment Lawyer

Employers, even the most careful ones, occasionally require help from a lawyer. Even though you might feel that you can handle a lot of employment matters on your own, there are certain issues that can be tricky and will be resolved with legal expertise. Employment laws tend to change rapidly and government agencies and courts issue new opinions that interpret these laws on a daily basis. Sometimes, these opinions can completely overturn the meaning of the law. 

You need the services of an employment law firm as lawsuits brought by previous employees can lead to great damages to your organization. Also, you do not want to talk to a lawyer any time you evaluate, fire or discipline a worker. It is vital that you figure out situations that require expert help and the ones that you can handle on your own. Here’s a look at the crucial tasks for which you should seek the help of an employment lawyer: 


Advice on decisions concerned with employment 

An employment lawyer can assist you in making tough decisions concerning your employees. These can include the following: 

Employee Classifications

Issues concerned with classification can negatively impact a big portion of your workforce and may lead to added liability. Prior to classifying a particular situation as exempt or nonexempt or classifying a particular group of individuals as independent contractors instead of employees, you need to seek guidance from an attorney. Misclassification can come with a great price and this can include years of unpaid penalties and overtime for a lot of employees. 

Firing 

In case you are worried that your employee might sue you, you can consider receiving legal advice from an employment attorney before firing the employee for performance issues or misconduct. A lawyer can let you know whether terminating the employee will be legal. 

Representation in legal proceedings

Lawsuits

If a former or current employee sues you, get in touch with your lawyer straight away. Lawsuits of employment can be pretty complex. In order to make sure that your rights are protected, you should take some actions immediately. When it comes to taking action, the time limit is pretty short.  

Claims and complaints

At times, a former or current employee might initiate a kind of adversarial process that is less than a lawsuit. For instance an employee might file an administrative of retaliation or discrimination with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In such situations, you can consider the services of a reliable employment law firm like Shegerian Conniff.   

Reviewing documents

Contracts and agreements

An employment lawyer can easily review and troubleshoot agreements concerned with employment that you routinely utilize with employees. These agreements can include severance agreements, releases or employment contracts. An employment lawyer can analyze your contracts to make sure that they contain all the required legal terms. In case you have included any language that might cause any problems later or your have gone past what the law expects of you, an employment lawyer can bring these issues to your concern. Employment law firms offer you advice when you need to utilize these contracts. For instance, you might want to provide severance to every departing employee or enter into an employment contract with new workers.   

Handbooks and policies 

You can also ask your employment lawyer to offer your personnel policies or employee handbook a detailed legal review. Firstly, an employment attorney will ensure that your policies do not violate any laws that are concerned with family leave, overtime pay, occupational safety and health or final paychecks to name a few. A lawyer will check for language that can create any unintentional obligations towards your employees. An employment lawyer might advise you to consider added policies. 

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