Article  Small Business Employment Law Basics Owning your own business is no easy task. On top of managing cash flow and overseeing operations, you are responsible for ensuring that all aspects of small business employment law are properly adhered to. One wrong move and you could find yourself in legal hot water. Employees have rights, and as a business owner you are obligated to respect those rights and follow proper practices for a variety of procedures and circumstances. When it comes to hiring and firing employees, writing your employee handbook, determining your company policies for sick leave and vacation pay, and providing a safe workplace, don’t make your first step without first investigating small business employment law. The people that you hire to work for your are entitled to certain rights, among them, the right to a safe workplace free of dangerous conditions and potential safety hazards; the right to work in an environment free of harassment and discrimination; the right to fair wages for the work performed, and the right to be safe from employer retaliation for filing a complaint against an employer. In additional, small business employment law dictates that you extend certain rights not only to your employees, but to job applicants as well. For example, you may not discriminate against job applicants based on race, gender, religion, or national origin, and you may not ask certain questions during the job interview process. Depending on the size of your business, you may be obligated to follow different types of small business employment law. Title VII, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, applies only to businesses with 15 or more employees. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prevents favoring younger workers over those who are 40 years of age are older and applies to employers with 20 or more workers. Be sure you fully investigate which areas of small business employment law are relevant to your business size to avoid placing yourself in a potentially damaging situation. Some of the most complicated areas of small business employment law are the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FLMA). These laws are so involved that many human resource professionals spend a substantial amount of time learning and reviewing them with continuing education courses and professional seminars. The ADA prohibits discrimination against a person with a disability. As long as the individual is capable of performing necessary job functions, that person cannot be discriminated against. Employers may be obligated to make reasonable accommodations to allow the individual to perform the essential functions of the job. Essential functions may include changing work schedules, making the workplace accessible to people with disabilities, or acquiring special equipment. The ADA also prohibits employers from asking job applicants about the existence of a disability. You may, however, ask job applicants about their ability to perform specific job functions. Medical examinations may be allowed, but only if they are required of all new employees. FLSA is an area of small business employment law that dictates how many hours employees can work during the day and how many breaks employees must be given. It also provides regulation for salary and overtime. Another area of small business employment law, FMLA, protects employees from losing their jobs if they need to take a leave of absence for medical reasons, whether to attend to and recover from a personal medical condition or to care for an immediate family member with a medical condition. FMLA also covers leave for the birth and care of a new child. As a small business owner, you may not have the resources to employ a knowledgeable full-time human resources professional. If this is the case, you may want to work with an outside small business employment law service or attorney to make sure that your company policies would stand up in court. Even if you do have a human resources manager or staff, as the company owner it is ultimately your responsibility to make sure that your policies are in compliance with all applicable laws. Category Law Author Anonymous Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On Fri Oct 23rd,2009