Fresh Start February: Three Podcasts to Give You a Boost

Has the excitement of the new year lost its luster? Resolutions becoming a drag? There is never a wrong time for a fresh start.  Podcasts always get me through long winter runs, cleaning binges and those mornings when I just can’t get my day started.  Here are a few to inspire you.  Happy Fresh Start February.

How I Built This:  Wondering if your great idea will ever get off the ground? Check out this podcast series on great ideas that made it.  In this NPR podcast, Guy Raz narrates the journeys of entrepreneurs like Yvon Chouinard (founder or Patagonia), Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (founders of Warby Parker), Zumba creators Beto Perez and Alberto Perlman, Drybar’s Alli Webb and more.  Each episode is a manageable 25-40 minutes in length.  How I built this often leaves my inspired, sometimes laughing, sometimes grimacing, and always with a thoughtful story to share.

The Meaning of Work, and episode of TED Radio Hour, examines our values and motivations when it comes to work, through three TED Talks.  Featured is Margaret Heffernan’s TED Talk, Is The Professional Pecking Order Doing More Harm Than Good?  Heffernan talks about how our cultural obsession with individual success negatively impacts our ability to collaborate in the workplace team success in the workplace (think gifted & talented to ivy league to high-potential to executive and the notion that our own success depends on the failure (or lack of success) of others).

Kim Scott (former Google exec) and Russ Laraway (career manager in the U.S. Marines, Google and Twitter), and co-founders of Radical Candor, remind us that, for leaders in the workplace, Telling People What To Do Doesn’t Work.  In this 25 minute podcast episode, Kim and Russ share stories about delivering feedback, addressing change inclusively and moving forward collaboratively, without being a dictator.  One tip from this podcast- let a team member announce a decision and explain how the decision was made.

Happy listening.  Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

The Six Hour Work Day: Friend of Foe?

 

UPDATE: Swedes run into trouble with the six hour work day. Turns out it may be too costly. To learn more about the outcomes of this two year experiment, read this.

According to a Fast Company article, Swedish businesses are moving toward a 6-hour work day. The argument for this change won’t surprise you. “To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge. . . . In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the workday more endurable” says Linus Feldt, CEO of Stockholm-based app developer Filimundus.

The “things and pauses”? Checking Facebook, trips to Starbucks, unnecessary (or unnecessarily long) meetings and [insert your favorite workday distraction here].
Putting aside the question of whether a 6-hour work day would make employees happier, would employers benefit? Mr. Feldt says yes. The switch to a 6-hour work day allows employees to focus more intensely on the work that needs to be done. They have the stamina to do this and still have energy left after leaving the office to spend time with family, exercise, learn to play the banjo or [insert your passion project here]. Employees are happier and the work still gets done.

Conceptually, I am all for shortening the workday. In my house, both parents work and kids have activities and homework. Between getting everyone to their morning destination in a timely manner to getting dinner on the table at night, there is little breathing room. An extra two hours in my non-work day would be life altering.
I have to wonder, though, does reducing the work day sacrifice long term productivity for the benefit of the short term? I think it is fair to say, as some Swedish companies have determined, that employees would be more productive day to day if they worked fewer hours and experienced fewer distractions. But giving up office time means giving up some of the essential building blocks of business success. For example, relationship building and employee development would likely take a hit under this model. I value the time I spend having coffee or lunch with coworkers and colleagues, as well as the time I spend developing my skills. I’m not billing time while doing these things, but I am making an investment in my own long term success and the success of my business. The time I spend nurturing these relationships and learning leads to more referrals and better working relationships, and in the end, high productivity.   Even with a shorter work day, I’d probably squeeze them in anyway, thereby lengthening my workday (net improvement=zero).

So how do we preserve investments in long term success, while shortening the work day? Prioritize time for relationship building and employee development. Make employees and managers accountable for these important building blocks. Importantly, we’ll need to critically examine what we do during the work day and how we are doing it. Can we be more strategic about our “work work” priorities so that we leave time to invest in the long term? I think so… but it is not as simple as it sounds. What do you think?

Partner Violence & the Workplace: Awareness in the Wake of the Bon-Ton Settlement

This post was written for Standing Firm: The Business Case to End Partner Violence. You can learn more about their mission and membership by visiting the website.

A recent settlement agreement in New York raised much conversation about what exactly employers should or must do when an employee informs the employer that he or she is a victim of partner violence. While the issue arose under New York law, it provides good food for thought for employers everywhere.

The Case.

 Like one in every five full-time employees, Jodi Porter is a victim of partner violence. Ms. Porter arrived at work on October 9, 2015 for her job as a salesperson at a Bon-Ton department store in suburban Buffalo, New York. That day, she informed store security officers that her estranged husband had threatened to kill her. Porter’s manager told her to leave work.  Several days, Porter checked in with her manager and was told that she could not return to work until she received a protective order against her husband.

On October 13, unclear when or whether she would be able to return to work or whether her leave would be paid, Ms. Porter contacted a hotline at the New York Attorney General’s office, which prompted an investigation into her employment situation.
Although forced to endure emotional distress over the uncertainty of her job, Ms. Porter fared better than many others in the same situation. She was paid for her time off and allowed to return to week less than a week after the New York Attorney General became involved.  Many employees who are victims of partner violence, up to 50 percent in some studies, report having lost their jobs or being forced to quit. This is particularly problematic to employees like Porter, who perform shift work and have little control over benefits like paid leave. Nonetheless, the Attorney General felt Bon-Ton could have done better.

The Settlement.  

In its settlement with the Attorney General, Bon-Ton agreed to, among other things, revise its policies to protect partner violence victims and provide educational materials and training to all New York employees on the legal protections available to partner violence victims.

The Law.

 New York and a small handful of other jurisdictions have enacted laws to prevent discrimination of employees who are victims of partner violence. The New York State Human Rights Law provides that it is unlawful for an employer to refuse to employ, to discharge or to discriminate against an individual because of his or her status as a victim of partner violence.

Why should you care about a New York law outside of New York?  Partner abuse costs businesses $727.8 million in lost productivity each year, so it’s time to pay attention to this important topic.  Importantly, the circumstances faced by a victims of partner violence, while not explicitly protected by most laws, can give rise to some basic employment law claims. Here are just a few examples of the intersection of employment law and partner violence.

• Sex Discrimination
  An employer may be liable if a female victim of partner violence is treated differently than another similarly situated employee. Partner violence often results in absenteeism, low productivity and poor performance among victims. Consider the partner violence victim who is disciplined more severely than another employee experiencing similar performance or absenteeism issues.  Train your manager to undertand the signs of partner violence, and you may prevent biases working against the employee who is struggling at home and at work.

• Americans with Disabilities Act
  Partner violence survivors may experience injuries or illnesses that may be disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and head or neck injuries.  The ADA requires employers to provide a workplace modification or adjustment that enables an employee with a qualified disability to perform the essentials of her job. Consider for example the employee who fears leaving work after dark because of PTSD or other disability and requests a change in schedule. Her status as a partner violence victim does not demand a modification, unless provided by a policy, but if she has a disability, she may be entitled to one.

• Family and Medical Leave Act
  Victims of partner violence may be eligible for job guaranteed leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Again, FMLA does not expressly mention partner violence, but it can be used to offer job protected leave to victims of partner violence to heal from mental or physical injuries caused by the violence, or to care for a child who is healing from injuries if the employee is eligible and if the injuries rise to the level of a “serious health condition.”

These are just a few examples of employment law pitfalls that may arise when your employee is a victim of partner violence. Consult with your attorney to learn more.

What Can I do NOW?

1.Have a Plan. Having  specific policies and procedures for cases like Bon-Ton’s- where an employee reports that he or she a victim of partner violence- takes the guesswork out of handling this type of situation when it arises. Make sure your employees, and importantly, your managers and security personnel, are aware of the procedures for addressing victims of partner violence. Need help? Contact Standing Firm for information and policy drafting assistance.

2.Train your managers. Don’t leave your managers wondering if they are doing the right thing. While all managers should be informed about employment policies and procedures, pay special attention to your frontline managers. Frontline managers make up 50-60% of a company’s management ranks and supervise as many as 80% of the workforce. More often than not, they are not aware of or properly trained on the company’s employee policies and procedures, resulting in liability to the company. Keeping your managers up to date can be challenging, especially with the high turnover that often plagues frontline manager ranks, but keeping them informed and up to date is critical to your business.

3. Stay Informed. Standing Firm provides training and resources to all members and can help you assess risk, develop policies and train managers in recognizing and managing victims of partner violence. Since 2009, Standing Firm’s mission has been to alert employers to the financial, safety and human costs of partner violence on the workplace and workforce, and to equip employers with tools for taking effective organizational action. Membership in Standing Firm is free.

 

This blog post is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.

“Forget the Unicorn” and Other Tips for Smart and Timely Hiring

 

Laboring over a hiring decision, hoping to find that perfect employee?  You may be doing more harm than good to your business.  No matter what the position- senior leader to front line employee, exhaustive deliberation over hiring decisions can be detrimental to productivity, morale and your business strategy.  Taking “too long” to hire can also result in even more departures, and a revolving door over interviewees and employees, setting you back even further. Telling a current employee who is doing the job of two people “we’re getting you some help… soon” is no consolation when the employee is stuck at work at 10 pm.  And after a while, they’ll stop believing you.

And, while it may seem that you are saving salary dollars by having an empty position, you’re actually losing money every day in revenue generation, productivity and innovation.  When a position is open, work just isn’t getting done.

Here are a few of the top mistakes you may be making, and how to avoid them:

1. Looking for the “unicorn”

“Employer seeks visionary executive who will work for peanuts.  Must be able to start immediately.”

Sound familiar? Yeah, we want the perfect employee- the visionary leader with experience doing the same job in a similar organization.  But here’s the thing, that person often doesn’t exist or, if she does, she may not want to work for you.  And let’s be honest, high achievers seek jobs that are a step up from their current positions.  While they might not have precisely the experience you desire, consider their potential and desire to learn quickly and excel at what they do.

Read more on this topic in this article from SHRM.

2. Seeking “cultural fit”

  In every job interview I’ve ever had, the interviewer has referenced “cultural fit” as a criteria for the job.  Makes sense on its face . . . you want your new hire to fit in with the team, right?  But often, cultural fit is code for “people who look and think exactly like us,” or worse, discriminatory hiring practices.  Often, interviewers mistake personal connections with cultural fit, instead of seeking commons values.  Diversity of thought, race, gender and experience are critical to business success, so make sure you are really screening for cultural fit rather than similarity of cultural background.

HBR presents some tips on assessing cultural fit in this article.  Also consider this article in Inc., which presents a cautionary approach to cultural fit.

3. Multiple decision makers, multiple unicorns.

When, after a lengthy screening process, the top candidates in consideration for a position have vastly different backgrounds and skillsets, it can mean that the decision makers were not aligned on what they were looking for at the start of the job search.   It happens more often than you might think, and it is frustrating for everyone involved. Before you begin the recruiting process, define who will have input in the hiring decision.  Then, as painful as it may sound, sit down with your boilerplate job description and mark it up.  Consider where the last person to hold the position succeeded and where he or she could have been stronger.  In short, think about who you are looking for before you jump into the deep end of the candidate pool.  Investing time on the front end will eliminate headaches and confusion at the end of the process, and may even prevent you from having to start the search over again.

Want to read more on identifying the right candidate?  Click here.  More on conducting and preparing for interviews?  Click here.

 

 

This blog post is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.

It’s “Draft Season” For Your Employees

According to Monster.com, the first Wednesday in January is the most popular day of the year to start looking for a new job.

On any given day, Gallup tells us that only one-third of employees are engaged at work and nearly 20% are actively disengaged (which means not only are they unhappy about their jobs, but they make others unhappy about the workplace also).  One survey reports that 1 in 3 employees is actively looking for a new job right now.

It’s a time of year when people are naturally restless and hungry for new adventures, challenges, or simply a change in role.  One of the easiest ways to get relieve restlessness, at least temporarily, is to change jobs. That’s great if you are looking to hire, but don’t forget, your current employees are in the same boat as the people you are recruiting- they are seeking change.

For business leaders, January is a convenient time to re-assess your talent pool & their engagement level.  You may not be able (or want) to prevent all staff departures, but it’s worth a try to keep your top players on the team.

 

Some ideas for your consideration:

Adapt the job to fit the talent.  Stellar employees often jump ship because the organizational structure does not allow for growth or promotion.  In essence, the job is a “dead end” within the company.  For some employees, dead end jobs are fine, because they are comfortable and predictable. But for motivated, highly talented employees, a no-growth job is a short stop on a long career highway.  They WANT to be uncomfortable because that is how we learn and grow.  Consider whether you can re-route that dead end back to a highway.  If you can’t promote, can you shift responsibilities so that your employee is challenged?  Customizing a career path for the right employee benefits both the employee, who is now challenged, re-engaged, and knows that the company values her, and the employer, who is now retaining top talent and creating capacity in the organization by asking the employee to take on higher level assignments. Read more about adapting the job to fit the talent and other techniques of “Superbosses” in this HBR article.

 

Evaluate your rewards.  Rewarding employees does not mean you have to raise salaries or give end of year cash bonuses.  In fact, a Glassdoor.com survey found that 79% of employees surveyed would prefer benefits like healthcare coverage, flexible schedules or a gym membership over a pay raise.  Show your employees that their health and well-being is important to the business by offering perks as rewards or to all employees.  Here are five simple ideas from Entrepreneur.

Allow life to get in the way or work (sort of).  Reconsider your “personal use of company time” policies in favor of your employees self-managing their time. You’ll find out pretty quickly who can self-manage and who cannot. A U.K. study found that nearly half (48%) of highly engaged employees regularly conduct personal tasks at work, including checking social media and making personal calls, slightly more than their less engaged colleagues.  Moreover, according to that same survey, 20% of highly engaged staff arrive late to work up to 50% of the time, while just 8% of less engaged employees show up late.

Is handling personal matters on company time such a bad thing?  Probably not, if it keeps employees happy and does not impact productivity.  After all, even the best employees can’t give 100% all day long.  Good employees are able to self-manage their time, working in highly productive bursts throughout the day.  Having the flexibility to make a dentist appointment while at work and come in late after the appointment buys a lot of goodwill with employees, and they’ll reward you with their commitment and good work.  Need more convincing?  Read this article from HR Magazine and this one about meaningful rewards for employees from Entrepreneur.

Conduct “Stay” Interviews.  You probably conduct exit interviews, which help you figure out why an employee decided to leave.  Consider conducting periodic “stay interviews” of your key employees to find out why they stay (and perhaps what would make them leave).  The information you learn in a stay interview will tell you what you are doing right, and what needs improvement. Notably, to be effective, stay interviews require an atmosphere of confidentiality and company transparency.  Check out what Fast Company and Inc. have to say about stay interviews.

It Comes Down to Managers.  You won’t he shocked to learn that half of all employees have, at some point in their career, left a job to get away from their manager.  Don’t believe me? Read this article from Gallup for more.  Engaged and well informed managers are critical to the success of your business & managing people is a tough job that requires ongoing learning and development.  Help your managers succeed by carving out time for development. One common short coming of managers is that they are not well equipped to handle HR issues such as employee complaints, interviewing and requests for leave.  Providing training and resources for your managers on your own HR policies and procedures, as well as employment law basics, will not only build their skills and confidence, but prevent liability as well.

 

 

This blog is intended for general information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice.

 

Partner Violence: If You Are in Business, It IS Your Business

Less than a generation ago, domestic violence was not part of our cultural dialogue, and it certainly was not discussed in the workplace. Even now, only a handful of companies have started that conversation. You may be thinking, “partner violence is a private matter.  As a business leader, it is none of my business.”  As a business leader, partner violence is your business. Partner violence directly impacts your bottom line, not to mention employee safety. These statistics, courtesy of Standing Firm, make a clear case for businesses to take a stand against partner violence.

• More than ONE in FIVE full-time employed adults have been victims of partner violence and 64% of them indicated their work performance was significantly impacted.
• 8 million paid workdays are lost annually due to partner abuse.
• Partner abuse accounts for $6 billion in healthcare expenses each year.
•  Partner abuse costs businesses $727.8 million in lost productivity each year.
• A staggering 74% of abusers report having easy access to their partner’s workplace.
• And frighteningly, 21% of abusers admit to contacting their partners at work.
• One quarter of workplace violence events in the U.S. each year are related to partner violence.

That’s right. Partner abuse may seem like a private matter, but it can have an enormous impact on the workplace. Not only does partner abuse cost your business money in the form of productivity, lost work days and healthcare costs, but it creates a safety risk for your employees.

What can employers do? Fortunately, resources exist to help you assess risk, develop policies and train managers in recognizing and managing victims of partner violence. Since 2009, Standing Firm’s mission has been to alert employers to the financial, safety and human costs of partner violence on the workplace and workforce, and to equip employers with tools for taking effective organizational action. Membership in Standing Firm is free, and the benefits may be life, and business, saving.

For information on Standing Firm membership and additional information on the business case to end partner violence, visit their website: http://www.standingfirmswpa.org/

To learn more about ending partner violence and sexual assault, check out:  http://nomore.org/

Keep an Eye on Your Frontline (to Keep an Eye on Your Bottom Line)

Frontline leaders make up 50-60% of a company’s management ranks and supervise as many as 80% of the workforce. From the C-suite, you may not feel the impact of the day to day actions of frontline managers, but they make critical business decisions each day as they execute on your strategy, and these decisions impact your bottom line.

Consider the landmark case of EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, where a store manager and an assistant manager decided against hiring a Muslim teenager as a store sales person based on an assumption that the teen would need to wear her head scarf while working.  Head scarves, and hats generally, violated Abercrombie’s (then in place) “look policy.” That decision cost Abercrombie not only legal fees and a drop in earnings, but credibility as well. Coverage of the case was (and is) widespread. A Google search for “Abercrombie Supreme Court” yields 412,000 results from publications as diverse as NPR, The New Yorker & Fortune, Huffington Post, People and Slate.

What went wrong here?  I suspect (read: Monday morning quarterback) it was that the store manager & assistant manager (and district manager, whom they consulted) made this particular hiring decision without consulting the legal or HR department, showing either a lack of judgment, or lack of understanding the significance of the decision.  Giving the benefit of the doubt to these managers, they may not have understood the look policy’s potential for discrimination where the candidate is wearing a hijab instead of, say, a fedora.

The lesson: There is something to be said for strict adherence to company policy.  But- all managers at all levels must understand how to spot issues that can get the company into hot water, and know who to consult and when.

Putting this lesson into action:                  

Train well, and often. As a best practice, all people managers should be trained and refreshed frequently on company policies (and legal updates) relating to hiring, firing and performance management. Do this in person and practice with role playing scenarios. Warn against making assumptions about candidates based upon appearance.  Understand that what may seem obvious to you as a practice, may not be for the less experienced frontline manager, who probably interfaces with far more (and more diverse) people each day than you do as an executive. Make it clear who should be consulted and when (ex: HR or legal). Since front line managers supervise up to 80% of the employees in the company, and interview many more, it’s a good investment.

Lead from the front.  While none of this sounds like rocket science, it is worth noting (and reminding yourself often) that your front line leaders (often the least experienced and lowest paid leaders in the company) can have an enormous impact on you strategy, brand and legal liability.  It would stand to reason that the C-suite should keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening on the ground.  Moreover, frontline managers are responsible for bolstering morale on the ground, and executing on company strategy, so they are critical sources of feedback.  So how do you tap in to frontline managers as a resource? Strategically align with a select few front line managers, spend significant time with them, and use those relationships to mobilize the entire organization.  Fred Hassan, writer for Harvard Business Review calls this “Leading from the Front.”

Walk the Walk.  What else can execs do to reduce the risk of liability from the front line? It is up to you to set the tone of company culture.  While you surely have a policy that says “we don’t discriminate,” make sure you are modeling that behavior.  Policies and practices aside, leaders look upward to determine what behavior is acceptable in the workplace.  If the CEO is a “yeller” or routinely makes sexist comments, other managers will follow.  I once had an employer tell me in an interview that the firm did not hire a*%holes.  That turned out to be untrue, starting at the top and cascading downward, because the leaders at the top set the example.  Allowing hostile or discriminatory behaviors will most certainly impact employee productivity and loyalty.  This behavior can also subject the company to employment claims down the road.

Want to read more about why a*%holes are bad for business?  Check out Robert Sutton’s book, The No Asshole Rule, or read this article on why he wrote it.

This blog is intended for general information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice.

The First Rule of Leadership: It’s Your Fault

 “First rule of leadership, princess- everything is your responsibility!”   -Hopper, Bug’s Life

From day one of my legal career I have lived by these words:  “Never blame your assistant (or someone below you).  You are the leader.  You are accountable.”

I was sitting in court one day and the judge, speaking to another attorney, pointed out that the attorney had failed to attach an order to his motion (in violation of the court’s procedures).  The lawyer stammered a bit and said “That was my secretary’s fault, I’ll have a word with her when I get back to the office.”   I cringed, and I hope the judge did too.  The attorney signed the motion, and regardless of who made the copies, the attorney is accountable for the motion and its compliance with court rules. As leaders, we must take accountability for our work product.

Regardless of where you stand on the corporate ladder- for front line managers up to CEO- being responsible for “everything” can be daunting.  And let’s face it- you can’t do your job well without a good team in place- from senior managers to support staff.  So, how do you ensure your team produces work you can rely upon?

1. Hire the right team. Thoughtfully craft the job description to reflect the skills you desire. Ask behavioral questions (“tell me about a time when. . .”). Trust your gut. If it has been awhile since you’ve interviewed, you may want to brush up on the current state of discrimination in hiring practices law.
2. Train well, and often. Employees are more engaged, and more successful when they know what is expected of them.  Give employees the tools they need to succeed by providing ongoing opportunities to learn. “Training” can encompass, among other things, learning about company policies and procedures, taking stretch assignments, and learning about “cutting edge” developments in the field.  Recognize that “training” does not end at the end of the first week.
3. Provide timely feedback. That lawyer I observed? I hope he went back to his office and conveyed (professionally) to his assistant that each motion filed with the court should have a draft order attached, and that he expects her to do just that.  The conversation may have started like this “It’s my fault for not checking that motion I presented to make sure the order was attached.   Going forward, I would like for you to take the lead on making sure each motion has an order attached to it.”  Feedback, to be effective, must be timely.  Waiting to year-end reviews to bring up a single incident or a pattern of behavior doesn’t help you or your employee’s performance.
4. Bite your tongue. You’re embarrassed because there was a data error in the presentation you just gave to a potential client.  Now is not the time to march down the hall, fling open the door and scream about how you expect a flawless presentation…. or else.  Take a deep breath, maybe wait a day, and then sit down with your employee to discuss the implications of the error and your expectations of the employee.  If you value the employee, you’ll want to make him/her aware of the error in a way that does not alienate or disengage.
5. Cut your losses. Poorly performing employees are bad for your business, and your sanity.  Leaders often hang on to underperformers because (1) terminating an employee requires tough conversations; and (2) fear of liability.  The conversations will be tough (unless you are like George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air), but a good employment lawyer can help you assess risk of liability, as well as make sure your employee policies and procedures reflect changes in the law.

“Get Over Yourself” (and other truisms powerful women would tell their younger selves)

The Pittsburgh Business Times asked its 2015 BusinessWomen First Awardees the following question:
What advice would you give to your 16 year old self?

Here’s a sample what these smart, powerful and articulate women said:
• Be less afraid
• Trust your instincts
• Build great teams at work
• Create good will
• Work hard
• Learn from others
• Save for retirement
• Worry less
• Silence your inner & outer critics
• This too shall pass
• Be yourself
• Write, write, and write some more
• Get over yourself

What words of wisdom would you have for your younger self? Knowing what I know now about running a business, practicing law and career growth, I would tell my 16 year old self to CHILL OUT. Worry less & DECIDE MORE. As one of the BusinessWomen First nominees stated “the only bad decision is the one you DON’T make.”

As a lawyer, I was taught to think and learn and research until I know everything about a topic there is to know before making a decision. “Winging it” is not in my nature. But that’s not always practical, or even in the best interest of the client.  In fact, it’s often paralyzing, especially in those scenarios when I don’t have the luxury of endless time and/or budget to analyze an issue to death. In making decisions without knowing “everything” I learn how much I already know. My instincts are good and I have learned to trust them.

So there you go, 16 year old self. Relax and go make some decisions. Start doing it now so it is routine when it matters most.

To hear more from the BusinessWomen First winners and nominees, click here and here.

Meet the 2015 BusinessWomen First Class

MAZURKRAEMER Business Law Offers Employment Law Services for Employers!

Whatever employment law matter your company faces, we can help you through. Our practice is focused on preventing employment law problems when possible, and resolving them quickly and cost-effectively when they do arise.

Examples of the types of matters we now can handle are:

Risk Prevention:  Preventing employment law risk is critical to your company’s success, and we know that.   We help our clients maintain compliance with federal and state employment laws governing employee relations.  We can guide you through all of the necessary steps in creating sound workplace policies and practices, including:

• Establishing policies and procedures
• Creating employee handbooks
• Establishing employment contracts
• Establishing and enforcing non-compete contracts
• Addressing employee classification issues
• Handling layoffs and terminations
• Handling issues related to medical leave
• Addressing wage and hour disputes
• Implementing training for prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination and other unlawful acts by employees

Dispute Resolution:  When employment law issues arise, it is critical to address them as soon as possible.  Contact us regarding employment law claims, including the following types of disputes:

• Discrimination based on age, race, gender, national origin, sexual preference and other protected classes.
• Fair Labor Standards Act Claims
• Harassment claims for hostile work environment and sexual harassment
• Wrongful termination claims including those based on protected classes, and as retaliation for whistleblowing
• Retaliation claims alleging retaliation against employees for whistleblowing, taking medical leave and other actions
• Wage and hour disputes for unpaid overtime and employee misclassification
• Medical leave:  Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA),  including pregnancy and disability leave
• Employment Contract Disputes including non-competition agreements

Contact Amy@mazurkraemer.com with any inquiries.