Creating a Fair and Enforceable Employment Agreement
As a business owner, you put time and money into recruiting and cultivating key employees, and it is reasonable to want to protect your investment. You may not need an employment contract for all staff members, but you should have a written agreement for: Key managers and professionals Any employee who is privy to confidential […]
Lawmakers Seek to Protect Social Media Passwords from Employers
Employers generally scan publicly available information on social media websites to prescreen employment candidates. Some employers may even request access to password-protected information as a way to further screen candidates. Until recently, many states have not had laws protecting workers who have been denied employment opportunities when they refused to grant access to personal account […]
The Legality of Random Drug Testing
Routine and random drug tests may be part of an employment agreement, but does exercising this clause violate an employee’s Fourth Amendment privacy rights? When employers do not have reason to suspect drug abuse, should drug tests be allowed? Employees across Florida are asking this question and seeking the advice of drug testing attorneys when […]
Discrimination: Why You Must File a Complaint with the EEOC
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) upholds federal laws that prohibit employers from condoning retaliation, discrimination or harassment in the workplace. An employee can file a complaint when race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability or genetic information play an inordinate role in an employer’s hiring, firing, promotion, training, wage, benefits or employment decisions. […]
Repetitive Stress Injury: Knee, Back or Joint Damage?
Heavy lifting, awkward postures and repetitive stresses on your bones and joints at work can cause serious damage that makes it impossible to continue in the same line of employment. These career-ending injuries require medical treatment and care, the cost of which should be covered by workers’ compensation insurance. Yet if weeks pass before the […]
Protecting Whistleblowers from Retaliation
Business professionals are ethically obligated to report illegal business activities to government investigators, but what happens to whistleblowers who cooperate? Without adequate regulations, whether the whistleblower continues on in an employment position could depend on the employer’s sense of fair play. In a classic case of retaliation, two former managers at a South Florida credit […]