Employment Law Cases

Being a small business owner is more than a job, it is a way of life. You are on call all hours of the day, night, and weekend to handle issues, fill in the gaps, and make sure your baby is running smoothly and generating a profit. Yet between managing your clients and your bottom line, is there something you are forgetting to stay updated on? If you don’t know the latest details about employer law, then you are setting up yourself - and all your hard work - for major issues.

Employer law is the government written guidelines for how a business of any size needs to deal with certain issues like maternity leave, employing minors, verifying worker legality, paying for overtime, and providing benefits and wages. While business owners have autonomy handling many aspects of their business, the way they care for and treat their employees is monitored by the government partly to ensure employees are not being mistreated, and partly so they can get their cut.

The tricky part of employer law is that, especially over the past several years, it has been adjusted considerably; meaning just because you understood the law as it stood three years ago doesn’t mean you understand the law as it is today. What this means to you as a small business own is what you don’t know about new law could cost you in the form of penalties or even legal action. And if your business is like so many small businesses right now, unexpected fines could push you over the brink into bankruptcy.

Yet the government isn’t the only party interested in you following the law as it is outlined - employees also look to employer law as a measure of how they expect to be treated, particularly in terms of benefits. So if you are not following the most up to date employer law, the hammer that could fall on you may come from within your own organization, not the federal entity.

The problem is taking the time to be consistently up to date on the ever changing employer regulations utilizes resources and attention that you as a small business owner likely cannot afford to give. What is the solution then? The best bet is to hire a lawyer who specializes in employment law to consult with you and review your business once or twice a year to make sure you are up to date and following protocol. While it may seem like an unnecessary step, hiring a lawyer relieves you from needing to not only research employer law but also understand it and apply it to your business. A lawyer will be able to tell you exactly where and how you need to make changes and keep you from wasting your own time. Employing a lawyer to review your current situation also means you will have a legal power already familiar with your business if in fact some breach of employer law does occur and you need counsel.

At the end of the day, you have enough to worry about and spend your energy on without bringing complicated employer law issues into the picture. After all, between making a profit and staying afloat in this uncertain economy, your resources as a manager and owner are probably maxed out. Do yourself a favor and pass off the employer law responsibilities to a professional who can make sense of the legal jargon and keep your business in good standing with both the government and your employees.