by Stephen D. Hans | Feb 10, 2016 | Business Attorney, HR Guidelines
As an employer, you may wonder where to draw the lines as far as monitoring employees’ phone calls at work. Certainly for quality control purposes, it makes sense to monitor calls with customers or clients. But how do laws limit what you can do? If the call is made while in California and all parties are in California at the time, then CA state law requires you to inform parties when conversations are being recorded. Let’s say as a NY employer, you send a team of sales people to attend a conference in California. You would need to inform them that you’re monitoring calls based on CA state law. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, federal law under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act allows companies to monitor business-related calls without informing about monitoring. What about personal calls? This is where federal case laws places limitations. Based on the outcome of Watkins v. L.M. Berry & Co., if you know the employee is on a personal call, you must quit monitoring the call immediately. However, there is an exception. If you told your employees not to make personal calls from certain business phones, then employees making calls from those phones are at the risk of being monitored. At Stephen Hans & Associates, our attorneys routinely consult with business owners to help put company policies in place so they are in compliance with state and federal laws. Relying on trusted legal guidance is simply part of doing business in today’s world....
by Stephen D. Hans | Jan 6, 2016 | Employment Defense Attorney, HR Guidelines
NY Employment Defense Attorneys for HR Guidelines As the saying goes, “A little prevention can go a long ways.” You can often avoid employee lawsuits alleging discrimination or wage and hour law violations by having strong Human Resources (HR) policies in place. You can also train employees in anti-discrimination practices. However, local, state and federal employment laws are often subject to changes. How do you stay on top of the revolving door of employment and labor laws when you’re busy dealing with everyday operations? Many business owners are hands-on and run aspects of their businesses themselves, especially as some employees leave and the hiring process has not yet caught up with filling positions and training the new employees. For a small to medium-sized business owner, keeping up with legal changes can be stressful. Here is an example. The recent final rule on December 23, 2015 entered by the NY Labor Department changed how tipped workers in the hospitality industry are to be paid. When were they effective? By December 31, 2015. And how did they change from the earlier propose rules in October 2015? At Stephen Hans & Associates, our attorneys offer human resources consulting to help you ensure you’re complying with local, state and federal employment and labor laws. We can explain the recent wage law changes. We can advise you whenever new laws are passed and provide guidance on what to do. We can also help you deal with exisiting employment issues or lawsuits being brought against your business. Business owners are wise to work with employment law attorneys who can help them avoid costly lawsuits by...
