Legal Advice At The Restaurant: How Can You Prevent Employee Lawsuits?

Lexington Wolf is one of the most important restaurant employment lawyers in the country. Indeed, he has seen it all, and hence, can provide quite the story.

After representing a myriad of restaurants when it comes to employment lawsuits, she noted a certain pattern that was appearing to take place.

Lawsuits can be easily avoided if there is a better understanding between employer and employee

A Myriad of Lawsuits At Restaurants

As a matter of fact, she discovered that quite a number of lawsuits in question could have been easily avoided had the restaurant in question received better information regarding their duties as well as obligations.

Nonetheless, as Lexi informs, once you are in a fix, it can be difficult to get yourself out. In fact, it won’t matter anymore whether or not the practices that you incorporate are legal.

If an environment stems up where your employees feel threatened and do not understand a given policy, they might resort to taking you to court, which is costly, regardless of whether it is your fault or not.

That being said, here are some of the most burning questions regarding common issues with employees such as unpaid overtime, and harassment.

For example, the recent lawsuit on Au Fudge, Jessica Biel’s restaurant, is that the restaurant was accused of finessing its employees of more than $430,000 in tips, as well as denying them rest breaks as well as meals.

Despite the lawsuit being dismissed, Biel’s team had to pay over $4000 for the file to be dismissed. That being said, what if the same case happened to restauranteur without the same fortune and fame that Biel has? It would have been financially detrimental to the restaurateur, to say the least!

Analyzing the #MeToo movement

Moreover, there is also the issue of the #MeToo movement and how it has affected our industry.

Indeed, with massive names such as Todd English, John Besh, and Mario Batali seeing their credibility and names being tarnished, it is vital that restaurants do not get embroiled in such controversies, or else face a wave of allegations.

Despite it being crucial to foster a culture that does not tolerate any form of harassment, it is also important to outline in bold exactly what and what is not acceptable in these kinds of situations, and what should be swiftly dealt with.

That being said, here are some of the most common types of employee lawsuits you might find yourself facing

Issues such as harassment are some of the leading factors of employee lawsuits today

Overtime

Overtime can be a tricky affair especially if it is not tracked properly, or if it is not well understood. To prevent any lawsuits associated with overtime, employers should put in place processes and systems that correctly track the time that an employee has worked for.

By ensuring that these systems are in place and working effectively, employers can stay relieved that they have proactive measures put in place to monitor the status of their employees.

Discrimination

Sadly, discrimination is one of the most rampant forms of employee issues in just about every workplace in the United States.

Employees that happen to be a member of the following protected classes can choose to file a lawsuit if they believe they have been treated unfairly. The following classes include;

Genetic Information

Familial Status

Citizenship

Pregnancy

Veteran Status

Religion

Disability

Age

National Origin

Color

Race

Gender

Avoiding discrimination lawsuits can be averted by simply maintaining all procedures, policies, and business protocols.

Personal Injury

One of the biggest and most annoying lawsuits are personal injury lawsuits. Indeed, just about every employer can attest to the nightmare that such a lawsuit can cause.

The truth of the matter is that, most personal injury lawsuits are easily avoidable.

Indeed, to avoid such injuries, employers need to ensure that employees safely monitor potential safety hazards with diligence, follow any guidelines in the workplace, as well as get adequate training on safety.

Unlawful Termination

Unlike harassment and discrimination, wrongful termination is not always a credible case from which a lawsuit can be filed.

Indeed, there has to be a contract that is either implied or written that ensures that continued employment, hence an employee must prove that the firing not within legal means.

In fact, this includes breach of fair dealing, whistleblowing, as well as the violation of public policy, fraud, and other issues.

That being said, it is important to have detailed records touching on the performance and discipline of employees.