Bell Nunnally Partner Katie Beaird authored the Dallas Bar Association (DBA) Headnotes article “Workplace Risk Avoidance by Management Training.” The piece stresses the importance of ensuring employees receive proper and thorough trainings at the onset of a position, promotion or expansion of duties. She notes, “Without knowing, employees will step on employment law landmines they cannot see because they do not know what they are looking for. This ignorance to the law, however, will not keep the landmine from blowing up and causing liability for an employer.”

Beaird details that employees should be aware of and trained on issues including: family and medical/disability leave, reasonable accommodations, wage and hour issues, harassment and discrimination complaints, preventing retaliation, discipline and injury and safety issues.

“While training cannot guarantee perfect compliance and execution by management, under many of the key employment laws, completing the trainings gives employers a strong defense against any claim of punitive and liquidated damages, even if liability is found against the employer,” notes Beaird.

Beaird concludes by stressing that all employers should implement a training program for any management-level employees, as well as lower-level “leads” or “supervisors” that may be perceived as management by others. “Doing so will help circumvent avoidable workplace litigation that results from someone simply not knowing what he or she is supposed to know.”

To read the full article, please click here (see July issue, page 18).