There are many reasons for filing a lawsuit in the work place. And occasionally employers assume that they are mostly safe from them because of their great treatment but are left surprised when an employee files a workplace suit against them over the most unnoticed causes ever. If it’s not your own employee suing you, it can very well be an outside agency doing it. Either ways, the best way to stay clear of all these possible lawsuits is by keeping updated with the federal and state laws that are directly connected to workplace environment and behaviors. These include:
- Harassment laws.
- Discrimination laws.
- Injury laws.
- Overtime laws.
- Employee termination laws.
Other than that there are many other ways that the firm can adopt to keep itself safe from potential lawsuits.
Monitoring browsing history
First of all the employer needs to thoroughly understand that everything on any gadget or equipment provided by the employer is company property therefore any kind of transaction or communication taking place via this gadgets is also rightfully the employers. Coming to the present issue now, monitoring browsing history of any employee gives the employer enough leverage over the employee. If an employee shows up with a harassment lawsuit, you can easily penalize them on the basis of their pornography viewership on company laptops via monitoring applications that tend to keep backups of the browsing history.
Tracking incoming and outgoing text messages
Text messages work like modern memos however nowadays they can become personal in nature as well. Therefore tracking incoming and outgoing messages of the employee can pose as great evidence in the court of law. If the employee sues the company for anything like wrongful termination based on unacceptable behavior, the company has a right to show previous aggressive messages that the employee has sent. These messages can be accumulated via monitoring applications which can provide you with complete logs. This will build on the case for aggressive tendencies against the employee and save you from any harmful lawsuit.
Tracking employee counseling sessions
In some specific occupations employers tend to allow employees to have regular counseling sessions with a distinguishable psychologist or psychiatrist hired by the company. People in the stock market or traumatizing field work occasionally visit these therapists who tend to regularly keep notes of each session. These notes are technically the company’s property and can be used in the court of law to prove any stance. At the therapist, employees tend to divulge their most inner thoughts and feelings therefore allowing the employee access to them. In such circumstances, the company can also ask the therapist to testify against the employee as the law states.
Back logging mails
If you feel your employee has been leaking insider information and company secrets then you can easily check their laptops and emails. Everything on company gadgets is company property however employees may delete some emails but with a monitoring application you can now easily access these emails as the application will tend to keep backups. Now even if you wish to fire the employee and they show up with a lawsuit, you can present proof in the court of law without getting penalized.
Contact previous employer
As a concerned employer, if you are being sued you will want to gather enough witnesses and evidences to protect your company’s image. Therefore, it is a good idea to contact the employee’s previous employer and get a better idea of what the employee is capable of. This way you will get a better understanding of what the employee who is suing you capable of and has done in the past. A history of such nature or behaviors can prove helpful in the court of law. The previous employer may even be able to provide you with concrete evidence to give to the court as added leverage.
Although as an employer you have many benefits, but with the recent turn of employee protection acts and the likes of them, your position is very fragile as well. Now the employee can easily sue you and get a lot of money out of it leaving your image tarnished for good. Therefore it is strongly recommended to employers to stay updated with any changes in the state and federal laws.
