Los Angeles Employment Lawyer

Employment Law Compliance

Many employers – particularly small businesses or new start-ups – are painfully unaware of the requirements and guidelines set down in employment law at both the state and federal level. Whether due to a lack of concern, a shortage of funds, or simply a dearth of time, these businesses often fail to address important issues of employment law compliance – or wait until problems arise to deal with them.

One train of thought is that, for small, independent businesses, infractions of employment law are not serious issues, since the consequences seem to be far less severe than those which might be enforced against larger corporations. This is both true and false. On one hand, the penalties for employment law violations would most likely be less for a company with 20 employees than one with 2,000. On the other, the proportion of monetary losses may be equal or greater when compared to the company’s resources. That, plus the ensuing cost in time and employee morale, often outweigh any temporary benefits the small business gains from putting off the issue.

Even something as apparently simple as paying an employee’s wages can be a potential problem area, if an employer does not tread carefully. Federal overtime laws stipulate than an employee must be paid time-and-a-half for any work he/she does in excess of 40 hours per week. This is fairly straightforward; where employers run into trouble is overzealous application of overtime exemptions. Many well-meaning employers confuse the job task exemption requirement with a job title requirement; others may forget about the minimum salary requirement.

In short, employment law violations are sometimes all too easy to commit. For more information on the provisions of important employment law statutes, contact Los Angeles employment lawyer Perry Smith at 888-356-2529.