Stevens & Lee places a heavy emphasis on preventive services to protect our clients from unintentional violations and to guard against costly penalties. We are often called upon to update and audit our clients’ practices and procedures to ensure compliance with ever-expanding employment laws and regulations.
In addition to regularly providing practical assistance on day-to-day employment law issues, we design and review personnel policy manuals, employee handbooks and job descriptions. We counsel employers regarding job duties, drug and alcohol policies, employee hiring and termination and leave regulations.
We have developed non-harassment, non-discrimination and other policies that are compliant with federal and state law and include internal complaint/reporting procedures tailored to our clients’ unique situations. In most cases, the existence of an effective harassment/discrimination avoidance procedure and an internal complaint procedure will require an employee to exhaust all such avenues before filing a lawsuit, giving the employer an opportunity to address the claim and avoid the expense of litigation. In addition, the existence and enforcement of effective harassment/discrimination avoidance policies frequently provide an effective defense for an employer in the event a lawsuit is filed.
