Top Ten Ways to Avoid Lawsuits
Wayne N. Outten, a principal with Outten & Golden LLP of New York City (Employee's Attorney), recommends his top 10 ways for managers to avoid employee lawsuits:
- Listen to your employees. They may have legitimate
complaints or good ideas. Employees will value the opportunity
to express themselves and to be taken seriously. This will
reduce the likelihood of future problems, and employees will
feel more invested with their employers in a common enterprise.
- Talk to your employees. To the extent possible, keep
employees informed of things that affect their jobs. Be clear
and specific in telling employees what is expected of them,
especially when a material change occurs (e.g., new standards or
a new supervisor).
- Evaluate employee performance regularly and
candidly. Provide constructive and meaningful feedback. Provide
positive feedback openly and generously. Provide negative
feedback privately and discreetly.
- Identify problems and resolve disputes as quickly
and fairly as possible. Problems that are ignored have a way of
ripening into disputes, and disputes can ripen into serious
disruptions and costly litigation.
- Be consistent and objective in your treatment of
employees. Avoid playing favorites. Evaluate and reward
employees based on performance, not personality and politics.
- Recognize that your company makes mistakes. Your
policies and practices may be imperfect, and your managers and
supervisors will make mistakes. When this happens, deal fairly
with the past consequences, and try to fix the problem for the
future.
- Respect your employees' private lives. Recognize
that employees have private lives that matter to them. Don't
intrude more than is welcome. Accommodate their reasonable needs
and interests, including their personal family obligations; and
be flexible to the extent possible, consistent with legitimate
business considerations.
- Be fair and reasonable in all your dealings with
employees. Follow the golden rule: Treat every employee the way
you want to be treated, that is, fairly. Treat every employee so
as to bring out the best that person has to offer. Respect
employee differences, such as race, ethnicity, background, and
lifestyle.
- Consider alternative dispute resolution techniques.
When your best efforts fail to avert or resolve a dispute,
consider using peer review, early neutral evaluation, mediation,
and non-binding arbitration. Use of ADR procedures should always
be truly voluntary, not crammed down on employees as a condition
of initial or continued employment.
- Be nice to plaintiffs' attorneys. When you get a telephone call or letter from a lawyer representing a current or former employee, consider it an opportunity to engage in mutual problem solving. Consider meeting with the employee and his or her counsel to exchange views on what happened and how the situation might be remedied. Such discussions may avert litigation.
Best way to avoid trouble? Treat employees fairly and be sure that they perceive it as fair.
Note: before initiating either of the last two points (1 or 2), ensure that you have thoroughly discussed the approach with your lawyer.
