As a small business, you get certain breaks from employment rules, like offering family leave and bereavement time. However, you do not get a break from all rules and laws. Before you start your small business, you should sit down with an employment attorney and make sure that you have drawn up policies and practices that will put you on the right side of employment law. Here are a few tips for making sure you are following all applicable employment laws.
#1 Hire An HR Expert
When your small business grows to the point where you can pay someone to run a one-person human resource department, make sure that you spring for this expense. A human resource department, even a small one, can help you manage employment relationships, scheduling, complaints and even taxes. If you don't have room in your budget for an HR employee, consider out-sourcing this task to an HR firm. That way, you can still get an experienced HR perspective without spending the same amount of money it would take to hiring an entire human resources staff.
#2 Train Your Employees In HR Matters
Even though your business is small, that doesn't mean you can skip over employment training. You are going to want to make sure that all of your employees are trained in anti-discrimination and harassment policies and practices. Your employees should know where you stand regarding discrimination and harassment and what to do if they see it in play. You can run these training seminars yourself or hire an outside organization to run them for you.
#3 Have Written Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Policies
It is not enough to just train your employees in anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, you also need to have these policies setup in writing. You should work with an attorney to draft these policies; you want to make sure that you cover all legal groundwork that you are required to cover with your policies. You also want to make sure that you have a system in place that will protect you from discrimination and harassment lawsuits from both customers and employees.
Make sure that you work with an employment lawyer as well as an HR expert when drafting policies, procedures, and training for your small business staff to make sure that you follow all federal and state employment laws and set the right type of culture within your business. For more information, consider checking out the page at http://www.vanblk.com.
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