Most of us undergo routine annual physicals for our health, but few employers do the same as to their businesses until an employee makes a claim and even then, just respond to the particular claim. Yet, employment law claims continue to skyrocket, especially in California, mainly because if any lack of compliance is discovered, the employee’s attorney is entitled under certain laws to recover his/her attorneys’ fees” leaving the employer liable for the violation, significant penalties, the likelihood of more claims by other employees, and, most significantly, attorneys’ fees incurred by both law firms!
As Ben Franklin said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We conduct attorney-client privileged employer check-ups on everything employment related from hiring to firing, as well as, protecting an employer’s valuable trade secrets from leaving with employees, and recommend this annually. These include, but are not limited to,:
- Handbook Revisions
- Employer Required Postings
- Stand-alone policies
- Employment contracts
- Other policies
- Applicant practices
- Immigration I-9 Requirements and Related Social Security Issues
- Job Descriptions
- Mandatory Training and Recommended Training
- Records retention policies and practice
- Personnel records
- Employee Medical records
- Administering Leaves of Absence under federal (FMLA, ADA) and state (CFRA, FEHA) laws
- Benefit records and practices (vacation, holidays, sick veterans, personal, bereavement, jury, witness, domestic violence victim…)
- Wage and Hour analysis for all workers, including, but not limited to, employee v. independent contractor, exempt or non-exempt, time records, rest and meal breaks, garnishments, breakage, etc.
- Trade Secrets, Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
- Employer and employee devices (Bring Your Own Device Policies)
- Social Media Policies and Practice
- Disaster Recovery Plans
- E-Discovery Compliance and Readiness
- Risk Assessment re: data and security
- New Technologies
