All businesses can benefit from clarity, consistency, and credibility within the workplace. Regardless of the size of your company, establishing policies and procedures to govern your workflows is essential to running an organized business. Not only does an employment policy provide a foundation for employee relations, but they protect your business against adverse employee actions and other related consequences. As such, more and more employers are turning to employment policy lawyers to review and revamp their processes.
Our team of employment policy lawyers possess the knowledge and skill that comes with decades of experience. A major area of our work involves navigating even the most complex employer-employee relationship issues and disputes. Through our approach, we have gained an understanding of how effective employment policies work to protect a company and, in turn, create a positive work culture. For more information, consider contacting Vanegas Law Group at (925) 937-5433 today.
What Do We Do?
As knowledgeable and experienced employment policy lawyers, we advise business owners on how to create strong procedures that reinforce best operations practices to protect their company from harmful and expensive consequences. The occurrence of time-consuming legal and financial pitfalls can be greatly reduced by implementing proper employment policies.
We have curated our services to reflect the most pressing employment policy related matters such as:
- Employee policy review and implementation
- Proprietary information protections
- Arbitration agreements
- Nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements
- Offer letters and employment agreements
- Disciplinary actions
- Termination and layoff
- Severance negotiation and separation agreements
- Dispute resolution through litigation, arbitration, and mediation
At Vanegas Law Group, we work alongside employers at every stage of business development and in every area of employer-employee relations. We have provided counsel for startups looking to draft strong employment policies for the first time and worked with well-established companies to audit their current processes and improve and modernize their operations.
Every company is unique: our experienced employment policies lawyers tailor their approach to reflect the heart and soul of each business. This approach, in tandem with our counseling and auditing services, allows us to create more effective employment policies for our clients. In turn, business owners are better positioned to handle unanticipated, yet inevitable, employee actions.
Arbitration and Mediation
When running a business, disputes are often unavoidable. While contracts and agreements may be well crafted to mitigate disputes, parties may disagree regarding the scope of their rights and responsibilities within the company. In some cases, these disputes may result in lawsuits and business litigation. These proceedings can be time-consuming and expensive, however, and alternative means of resolution may be a better option. Arbitration and mediation are two avenues to resolving disputes quickly and cost-effectively.
Employment Classifications
The correct classification of employees is quite important and permeates the way that businesses handle wages, compensation, overtime, benefits, and every other aspect of the business’ relationship with its workers. Businesses are encouraged to regularly review and update employment classifications, ensuring that all job descriptions reflect the scope of the employee’s actual duties, and, based on those duties, that they are properly classified as exempt or non-exempt. Another classification issue that often arises is that of the independent contractors. A business can make a costly mistake incorrectly reporting the earnings of these workers. As in most business matters, proactively seeking counsel’s advice can prevent serious troubles with the law.
Anti-Discrimination and Harassment
Complying with anti-discrimination and harassment laws is in the interest of employers. These regulations have been put in place not only to protect employees from toxic working conditions, but to safeguard the employer from loss of productivity resulting from an awful work environment. Issues surrounding these regulations can foster a loss of morale and erosion of employee support throughout an organization, often resulting in decreased productivity and, in turn, affecting the company’s bottom line. Maintaining employment policies that emphasize the employer’s anti-discrimination and -harassment policies is required by California law for most employers. Rigorous enforcement of these policies at all times, coupled with competent employment counsel’s advice, can go far to both protect the company’s revenues and restore the morale of its workers.
Confidentiality & Non-Disclosure
One of the most pressing concerns for business owners is the secrecy of their assets and data privacy. Addressing privacy issues and data breaches is becoming more difficult in light of fast-improving technology, making it even more important to address these concerns within the business’ written employment policies. Employers should take care in crafting employment agreements so that they can safeguard their company against privacy breaches of data and other trade secrets. Vanegas Law Group’s employment policies lawyers can work with your business to determine how to better implement confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements into your policies and counsel you on the implementation and enforcement of these policies.
Why Are Strong Employment Policies Necessary?
State and federal organizations such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and the California Department of Industrial Relations work to protect employees’ rights and ensure safe and equitable environments for workers. A key component of their work is in enforcing fair and equitable standards. If a claim is made against the company, its policies and procedures, and the company’s enforcement thereof can contribute in reducing or even eliminating the employee’s claim.
On the other hand, though, a lack of established (and enforced) employee policies can result in financial and legal consequences, such as fines and, in more severe cases, lawsuits and litigation. In practice, adverse employee actions and behaviors can result in much more significant consequences, including disruption of business, loss of productivity and revenue, and damage to reputation. In many cases, these costs may outweigh the fines, settlement payments, and penalties, often impacting the longevity and success of a company in a significant way. Many employers do not become aware of the unseen costs of employee actions until it is too late and issues have already spilled over, harming their business.
Social capital is an invaluable, intangible business asset, often playing a key role in the success and scalability of a company. With social media used by most of our society, maintaining a positive reputation across your consumer base is incredibly important. Through strong employment policies, it is possible to instill a culture of ethics and fairness that permeates throughout the business and to the public.
How Can Businesses Improve Employment Policies?
Businesses have a golden opportunity to promote a healthy, positive work culture through their employment policies. Maintaining a positive work culture, however, involves more than just creating policies: it involves implementing them consistently and ensuring that employees are aware of their rights and responsibilities.
Employers can assess their operational focus and evaluate whether their operations are optimizing the success of their company. Unfortunately, it is not always clear if the current operations are the most beneficial. To help elucidate this, some helpful considerations may include:
- Have appropriate performance measures been put in place?
- Is there a clear assignment of responsibility and authority?
- Is there a process for identifying potential risks and addressing them in an organized and timely fashion?
- Is there evidence that employees understand the expectations, especially as it pertains to compliance?
- What is the procedure for responding to and following up on employee complaints?
The most successful employment policies are informed by a clear and full understanding of the laws and regulations that drive them. Integrating employment law and regulatory compliance into the company’s employment policies can be a major undertaking. In most cases it is incredibly helpful to have this process managed by employment policies lawyers, who can draft policies that, if fairly enforced, prevent any violation of law and, therefore, involvement in a costly litigation. Outsourcing this important function to competent employment policy counsel allows business owners to focus on turning a profit rather than continually updating their office policies with each new regulation.
How Can Vanegas Law Group Employment Policies Lawyers Help My Business?
While it is not possible to completely eliminate business risks, employers are able to craft policies to protect against negative employee actions and issues. In doing so, business owners are well-positioned to handle disputes, adhere to regulatory compliance, and foster a positive working environment for their employees.
As a leading California law firm, with a breadth of experience in working with businesses across all industries, Vanegas Law Group employment policies lawyers can help protect your company against risk. We provide action-oriented counsel and services that take into account your business goals and objectives. It is never too late to document your employment policies or review pre-existing procedures. Call Vanegas Law Group at (925) 937-5433 now and schedule an appointment to discuss your company’s vision with an experienced employment attorney.
