Pitfalls in Hiring and Firing 



THE MOST COMMON EMPLOYER MISTAKES 



Jfiomas ]. Flygare, Es^. and \ames P. Reidy, Esq. 



Employment disputes are responsible for one of 

 the fastest growing areas of litigation in the 

 United States today and are one of the largest 

 sources of uninsured liability for businesses of 

 all sizes. Irrespective of litigation, the hiring and firing 

 of employees costs companies time and money that 

 most need to avoid. For small businesses, time spent 

 early in the process will pay dividends later in the form 

 of risk avoidance. This is especially true for family busi- 

 nesses, where the natural inclination is to treat family 

 members differently from other employees. This, as dis- 

 cussed below, can be risky. 



The employment relationship is now much more 

 heavily regulated by government at all levels than it 

 was several decades ago. New laws from Congress and 

 state legislatures are constantly making employment 

 decisions more complicated. With the overlap of state 

 and federal laws in this area, confusion is inevitable. In 

 addition, decisions and verdicts from state and federal 

 courts make everyday employment issues much more 

 complex. 



While it might be said that liability for employment 

 disputes is just one more cost of doing business in the 

 modern era, this attitude fails to take into account the 

 many affirmative and preventive steps that employers 

 can take. With that in mind, we have developed a se- 

 ries of suggestions designed to and minimize the risk of 

 disputes with employees. 



Getting Off to a Bad Start: Lack of a Job 

 Description or List of Duties. 



Suggestion. Prepare job descriptions with simple and 

 clear descriptions of each job's required experience/ 

 skills, duties and obligations. 



Each position in your company should be carefully de- 

 fined and job responsibilities and performance criteria 

 outlined. This not only helps to communicate the ex- 

 pectations of each employee but also describes the ba- 

 sis upon which to evaluate the performance of that em- 

 ployee. Later, if there is a question or issue about 

 whether the employee was fulfilling the expectations of 

 the job, the position description can be consulted (or 

 modified) to resolve the matter. 



Failure to Communicate Expectations and 

 Performance Criteria 



Suggestion Adopt, implement and maintain an effective 

 performance evaluation system 



Along with a position or job description, each employee 

 should be told precisely how his or her performance 

 will be evaluated Each criterion should be defined and 

 the relative importance of the criterion should be indi- 

 cated. For example, if the quality of work is more im- 

 portant than the volume produced, then the employee 

 should be told that performance criteria related to 

 quality will be given more weight than performance cri- 

 teria related to quantity. It is not necessary that each 

 criterion be a factor that can be evaluated objectively. 

 That is, performance evaluation can encompass more 

 than those items which can be measured quantitatively, 

 such as output, attendance, etc. Subjective factors such 

 as judgment, decision-making skills, cooperative atti- 

 tude, etc. are certainly valid aspects of any evaluation. 



A specific schedule of performance evaluations 

 should be established. The evaluations should not be 

 so infrequent that significant changes in job responsi- 

 bilities or performance could occur between them. By 

 the same token, performance evaluations should not be 

 scheduled so frequently that they become perfunctory 

 and meaningless. A good system is one which calls for 

 regular performance evaluations every six months, but 

 allows for adhoc evaluations when requested by the 

 employee or the supervisor. 



The whole system of performance evaluation will be 

 meaningless if supervisors do not provide frank and 

 critical assessments of the performance and conduct of 

 employees. 



Failure to Effectively Notify Employees 

 of Work Rules and Policies 



Suggestion Develop and adopt an employee manual or 

 handbook. 



To clearly and consistently communicate company rules 

 and policies, the preparation of an employee handbook 

 is advisable. It would typically include provisions re- 

 garding hours of work, work rules, employer policies, 

 disciplinary procedures, etc. The handbook need not 



THE PLANTSMAN 



