As a business owner, one of your priorities should be learning about employment law. This is the best way to keep yourself and your business protected from potential lawsuits or other situations involving the law. The purpose of employment law is to support the balance of the employers and employees equally. Employment law is there to make sure that business owners can freely operate their business while employees are being treated fairly. If you want to know more about employment law, consider speaking to employment lawyers, and keep reading below.
1. To Make Sure You Are Paying Employees Fairly
As a business owner, it is your job to make sure that you are paying all of your employees at least the minimum wage, which differs from place to place. There are several laws in effect that are there to make sure your employees get paid what they deserve and are not being discriminated against. While you can certainly pay people more for seniority and experience, you cannot choose to pay them more simply because of their sex. Any attempt to discriminate will surely result in your business license being revoked.
2. To Keep Your Workplace Safe
Another one of your responsibilities as a business owner is to make sure that your business is a safe environment for your employees. If an employee gets hurt on the job and an investigation determines it was a result of an unsafe work environment, you could be sued. Make sure you are always up to date with the safety requirements for your particular industry so that your employees are as safe as possible under your watch. You also want to make sure that all employees are also wearing the proper equipment or clothing necessary to work.
3. To Correctly Label Employees
Business owners must make the important decision to decide whether a worker should be labelled as an independent contractor or an employee. There is a huge difference between the two as business owners are required to provide employees with health insurance and other benefits. With independent contractors, you are not required to give your employees any benefits. Making sure that your employees are labelled properly is important because if you do not, you may be liable for employment taxes for workers. Labelling employees can be confusing, so it is best to ask help from employment lawyers such as Levitt LLP who are well-versed in this particular topic.
4. To Set Up Proper Contracts
After hiring a new employee, you want to make sure that you have a contract drawn up that details the job description, how much you are offering to pay, and so on. Knowing a little bit about employment law can help you come up with a proper contract so that you aren’t susceptible to running into any legal problems in the future. Contracts are also useful should an employee quit on bad terms. If it is found that they broke the terms of the contract, you could end up seeking justice.