Fair, Square & Legal: Safe Hiring, Managing, & Firing Practices to Keep You & Your Company Out of Court

Rating:
Summary: This Book Could Save Your Organization
Review: For small-to-midsize companies competing in a litigious society, this book is more than a "must read": it is an absolutely essential source of information to which decision-makers (especially owners) of such companies should constantly refer. The term "frivolous lawsuit" is really a misnomer. Check a reputable dictionary of synonyms and you will learn that the word frivolous connotes "trivial, trifling, piddling, unimportant, insignificant, inconsiderable, petty, and paltry." On the contrary, an adverse decision resulting from a so-called frivolous lawsuit can destroy a company which has limited resources...or at least create truly serious problems for it, most of which are preventable.

The subtitle of Weiss's book correctly indicates that he explains "safe hiring, managing & firing practices to keep you & your company out of court." He organizes the material as follows:

Part I Safe Hiring Practices [re recruiting, interviewing, and employment decisions]

Part II Safe Management Practices [re evaluations and promotions, preventing sex discrimination and sexual harassment on the job, employee action laws and labor rights]

Part III Safe Firing Practices [re discipline and firing practices, public policy, management of older employees]

With Weiss's guidance, it is possible for the decision-makers in any company to complete what amounts to a comprehensive "audit" of any and all areas in which that company could be vulnerable to litigation. Of at least equal importance, the same "audit" will help the company to determine precisely what its obligations are as an employer as well as what the legal rights of its employees are.

Ultimately, with all due respect to Weiss, qualified legal counsel should be consulted to ensure that all of a company's policies and procedures are "fair, square & legal." They must then be explained to all employees. Finally, they must be rigorously and consistently enforced. Even so, there may yet be frivolous lawsuits but at least the company has done everything possible to prevent them and is thus much better prepared to obtain a favorable decision in a court of law.