The High Cost of not Properly Training Manager Level Decision-makers

On Monday, February 28, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that bloggers, commentators, and naysayers all seem to think is the key to opening more opportunities for employee to sue their employers. In an 8-1 decision, the court expanded the standard for finding discrimination in the workplace. Up until Monday, plaintiffs had to establish that the decision maker for the employer had to acted with discriminatory intent when an adverse employment decision was made with regard to an employee. After Monday’s decision, employers can be liable for the acts of their decision makers when other employee, supervisor or manager, with discriminatory intent influenced the decision.

As Chicken Little said…”the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” Some would have business owners believe that all their employees are just waiting to sue now that the Supreme Court has given them the key to open the litigation flood gates.

I don’t buy it, and neither should business owners. The issue has not changed. The issue for small business owners is the same as for all businesses, regardless of size. The issue is the protection of the most important and expensive resource a business has. Its people!

Businesses expend a lot of effort to identify good solid candidates for employment, then more time and expense to actually hire and orient these new employees, then train the employee on the specifics of their job and every time an employee leaves the cost of replacing that person becomes higher and higher.

The solution as I see it, is too simply invest a little to save a lot. Experienced staff means higher productivity, better customer service and more profits.

Never allow an employee to be terminated or suffer a negative employment action without a systematic review by at least one additional uninvolved manager/supervisor and never take a final action until the decision is supported with appropriate documentation with justification for the employment decision.

The days when terminations and disciplining employees without following a process that protects and minimizes the business from employment lawsuits is over. The Supreme Court did not announce an earth shattering employment law decision last Monday. They did remind employers to be more aware of the valuable resources that each staff member is to the success and profitability of every business. It reminded employers that a little care in designing the discipline/termination procedure can reap great rewards.

Glenn Brown is the Co-Founder and Principal of the Kansas City based HR consultant firm, G & J Consultants, LLC. In addition to having directed the HR Department of a health care services company, Glenn is an attorney with 15 years experience assisting businesses of all sizes and industries in complying with employment and labor legal issues. G & J Consultants specializes in providing small and medium sized businesses with traditional HR services as well as compliance with employment laws and regulations.

I-9 Compliance and the high cost of mistakes

Now I know that most the people who read the title of this entry are already saying something along the lines of, “tell us something we don’t already know” or “we’re already familiar with the penalties for hiring illegal workers”.

That’s the interesting part. It seems like everyone I talk to assumes that the I-9 form is only checked for whether or not the employee on it is legally allowed to work in the U.S., and they couldn’t be more wrong!

The perfect example of this was publicized toward the end of 2010 – Abercrombie & Fitch was fined over $1 Million for violations of I-9 forms… and Abercrombie & Fitch hires NO illegal workers! The fine was because of paperwork violations. Even more impressive is that this fine wasn’t a result of a companywide audit, rather ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) inspected only A &F’s Michigan stores! (According to their website, Abercrombie has a total of 9 stores in Michigan)

One of the big violations uncovered in the audit was related to technology and issues with their electronic I-9 verifications. It looks like the vendor failed to confirm the system was accurate, or did a poor job of training on the program. Either way, it adds up to a big hit to Abercrombie.

What the average business owner should take away from this is simple: Get your house in order! Just because you don’t think you hire illegal workers doesn’t mean you’re immune from ICE audits. If you utilize electronic I-9 systems, are you sure that the system is complaint? Do you know who is responsible for checking that your I-9’s are correct and have been checked? Just because you have a 3^rd party “taking care” of your I-9’s doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook.

Now more than ever, it’s in a business owner’s best interest to keep a close eye on the I-9 process they use. The new policy at ICE means that not only are businesses getting audited and investigated long before the business is ever notified, but that issues uncovered during audits are being used as the base for CRIMINAL penalties in addition to civil.

Don’t let this happen to you. The easiest way to prevent this is to have someone take a look at your I-9’s with a fresh pair of eyes. The cost incurred to have a consultant audit your company will save you money, headaches and quite possibly criminal charges.

Joshua Brown is the Co-Founder and a Managing Principal of the Kansas City based HR consulting firm, G & J Consultants, LLC. G & J Consultants specializes in providing small and medium sized businesses with traditional HR services as well as compliance with employment laws and regulations.