Labor Laws

As companies grow, they encounter issues that smaller firmsdon’t. For instance, many employment laws, such as the federalFamily Medical Leave Act, apply only to firms of a certain size orlarger. As you grow, your employee policy manual has to grow withyou. Simply knowing what’s right isn’t enough. When the majorityof–or even all–employee supervision was handled by you or one ortwo trusted colleagues, maybe you could survive on faith in themand them in you. But as your company grows, you’ll hire newemployees and new supervisors, and that means you’ll need to committo writing exactly how employees ought to be treated and thebehaviors your company won’t tolerate.

Laws concerning sexual harassment are steadily evolving, andyour policies on harassment in the workplace need to keep pace. Forexample, one recent ruling says that a company without a stronganti-harassment policy is likely to be held liable if one of itssupervisors commits sexual harassment against an employee.

In general, anti-discrimination employment legislation isexpanding to cover a larger group of employees. Along with gender,race, color, religious beliefs, national origin, age anddisability, some jurisdictions protect employees who arediscriminated against on the basis of appearance or sexualorientation. Your employees may be protected from any retaliationby you because they reported you for violating a law or regulation.Take note of federal, state and local laws regardingdiscrimination, and make sure their intent is clearly reflected inyour employee policy manual.

If you’re unclear about which laws apply to your small businessor what to include in your employee manual, consult your attorneyor an attorney familiar with U.S. labor laws.