The contemporary American workplace is susceptible to numerous federal, state, and local laws and regulations that impose strict obligations on businesses (e.g., wage and hour legal guidelines, nondiscrimination law regulations, etc.). Many organisations, especially smaller corporations, usually do not know the scope of those obligations and, therefore, frequently (albeit inadvertently) violate what the law states. These violations can cause costly lawsuits, in addition to civil and criminal penalties. In my experience of being a defense attorney in addition to being a plaintiff's lawyer, the most frequent employment law mistakes done by corporations are the next (in no particular order): - Misclassifying personnel as independent contractors. Normally, only workers who operate their very own separate businesses are "independent contractors." Few workers meet this test; in reality, most personnel are considered "employees" for the law, meaning they're eligible for the total selection of workplace protections. - Misclassifying non-exempt personnel as exempt. Generally speaking, all workers are eligible for minimum wage and overtime pay, unless these are "exempt" under state and federal law. The exemption rules (e.g., for executive, administrative, and professional personnel) only apply in limited circumstances, however; therefore, many staff members who're claimed by businesses to get "exempt" in reality have entitlement to minimum wage and/or overtime pay. - Not complying with state wage payment legislation. i.e. New York imposes several specific rules regarding how businesses be forced to pay their workers. These rules include providing new personnel with written notice of the rate of pay and regular pay date; prohibiting deductions from wages unless to the employee's benefit and authorized in writing; requiring written contracts for commissioned salespersons; and providing terminated personnel with written notice of the last day's work, their last day's benefits, and their right to make an application for unemployment benefits. - Not owning a laborer handbook. A personnel handbook is a crucial tool for effective employer-employee relations. It notifies personnel of the company's values, policies, and procedures; promotes compliance with labor and employment legal guidelines; so it helps create an orderly, efficient, and transparent workplace. - Not documenting personnel job performance. A well-managed business clearly communicates its employees' duties and responsibilities (e.g., through written position descriptions), trains and supervises workers to be sure they are meeting these requirements, and offers regular, objective, consistent feedback (e.g., through written evaluations and, where necessary, disciplinary actions). A not enough accurate, complete, contemporaneous documentation can result in liability in the eventuality of a case by a worker. - Not training supervisors regarding EEO laws and regulations. Federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (EEO) law regulations prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against personnel (e.g., demotion, termination) for reasons not linked to an employee's job performance, including those determined by an employee's race, color, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and marital status ( to mention the most typical "protected characteristics"), plus retaliation for an employee's good faith complaints of discrimination. It is imperative that supervisors learn the way to manage staff members without violating (or appearing to violate) these legal guidelines. - Not providing reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. Most EEO legal guidelines prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against staff members according to certain protected characteristics, but disability discrimination legislation also impose an affirmative obligation on businesses to "reasonably accommodate" disabled staff members in order to make them perform the main functions of these jobs. Such accommodations can sometimes include restructuring job duties, modifying work schedules, or providing assistive devices. Businesses have to give a disabled laborer with needed accommodations unless the process would cause an "undue hardship" for the organization (e.g., not affordable, too disruptive). - Not obtaining releases from terminated employees. When terminating a worker, businesses need to get a release that waives the employee's potential legal claims against the company. The easiest way to get a release is in exchange for an offer of severance (where appropriate). Generally, companies are not necessary to pay for severance to staff members (unless essential to an employment contract or even a collective bargaining agreement). If they choose to do this (e.g., associated with layoffs), they need to require personnel to sign a release in return for the payment. - Not protecting confidential enterprise information. Every enterprise depends upon certain vital, often confidential, information regarding its company operations, including trade secrets, marketing and advertising practices, and customer and client lists. Access to this information must be restricted to workers with a "need to know" and really should be protected by appropriate non-disclosure, non-compete, and/or non-solicitation agreements (depending on the nature of the information along with the employee's position). - Not consulting a professional employment law attorney. Perhaps the one most significant point to take away from this discussion is the fact that businesses have to consult a certified employment lawyer to ensure they are in compliance with all the increasingly numerous and complex laws that carpet work just like a minefield. Large companies will often have attorneys and hr professionals working to help them in this field. Small- and medium-size organizations often don't. Their biggest mistake is wanting to navigate this minefield independently. And also you? What exactly are your top mistakes made in employment law? About the writer: S. Abner writes for labor law training , her personal blog where she writes about her experience as defense attorney to assist workers and companies take care of the areas of employment law.