It is hard to imagine a business or organization that has not had to deal with some sort of crisis that impacts, or has the potential to impact, its reputation.  Social media, and the speed by which it can be used to spread information, has enormous potential to accelerate a reputational crisis.  Conversely, social media can be one of your most valuable tools when it comes to crisis management.  Your ability to manage a crisis may, however, be directly impacted by how prepared you are to utilize social media in a focused and comprehensive way when a crisis occurs.

As more and more employees are tasked with -- or even hired for the express purpose of -- tweeting on behalf of their employer, it is important to think about ownership of the twitter account from which they tweet.  A twitter account can be an important asset to a business or organization because the account (and the owner thereof) amasses followers who can become customers, fans and/or contributors.  Those followers can also share the marketing and informative content your company or organization chooses to share with others by re-tweeting, liking or quoting your tweets, or by old-fashioned word-of-mouth.  If they suddenly disappear, it may take significant time and effort to amass those followers again, and some you may never get back.

Rolling out policy changes appropriately is a necessary part of updating policies. A company can write and update its manual and have the most effective policies ever, but if they are not presented to the workforce in the proper way, policies are ineffective and just another stack of papers on everyone’s desk. Whatever your detailed course of roll-out, from individual meetings to a company-wide email, you have to go beyond announcing policy changes. Get written acknowledgements from every employee on every change. It is often common practice to issue updates and send out each policy change-by-change, like an addendum to the manual every few months. This is necessary to keep your employees aware of the changes occurring in the workplace policies. However, all those loose papers might get lost in the minutia of daily business and never actually make it into an employee’s manual. So the reality is employees may not be operating with an updated version of the manual. Re-issuing the employee manual in its entirety is the best policy to ensure that employees have the most up-to-date version; once a year should be sufficient, unless significant changes occur. This can be a mitigating factor in unemployment hearings – if an employee was terminated because of a policy violation and the employee had notice and acknowledged changes to the policies and procedures, the company generally has a better chance of justifying the termination for misconduct.

An employer’s best defense to ever increasing employment claims is an employee manual, and more importantly an up-to-date manual.  If your company does not have a manual or has not updated its manual in several years, your company could be at risk.  Kentucky does not require that an employer have an employee manual.  However, the main advantage to issuing such a document is to create expectations and boundaries that are clear and consistent for your workplace. A good employee handbook goes further than merely outlining policies and procedures that pertain to conduct and safety in the workplace, it promotes positive employee relations. As well, adopting an employee manual substantially reduces the legal risks that often arise – especially surrounding discrimination, harassment or termination.  Even in an at-will state, a manual gives an employer more leverage with agencies, commissions and state boards who regulate employment concerns. A strong employee manual coupled with proper documentation of employee offenses safeguards against a “he said, she said” situation when serious issues arise.

With instant access to all things via smartphones and the internet, it has become increasingly easy for employees and employers to stay connected to work all the time. Smartphone access and being constantly connected is part of our professional make-up, and necessary to keep pace with the speed of the information highway. Right? Connectivity is firmly woven into everyday business practices but at what price?

Do you need to have a supervisor present when associates are working after hours or on the weekends? There is no law that requires that all work be supervised. So, it is perfectly legal and acceptable to have employee’s work after hours or on the weekends on company premises.  However, doing so raises some legal concerns.

Terminating an employee can be one of the most difficult tasks for a business owner or human resource manager. It is however the responsibility of both positions and a necessary part of doing business. Termination is difficult under most circumstances because of the personal information an employer may know about an employee. After an employee becomes part of the workforce supervisors often discover personal information, such as an employee’s financial hardships or family difficulties, which makes difficult decisions uncomfortable.

In a perfect world, all employees would report to work on time and in a regular manner, perform their responsibilities with competence and be a productive team player. In reciprocation, each employer has an obligation to pay the employee an agreed up on amount for the work performed, treat every employee fairly and provide a safe work environment. Of course, we do not live in a perfect world and inevitably every employer will be faced with employee misconduct. The challenge is handling misconduct appropriately, to avoid financial and legal repercussions in the form of unemployment claims, discrimination or wrongful termination suits.

For many employers, the summer season brings with it an increase in employee vacations. With that in mind, now may be a good time to re-visit vacation pay policies as they pertain to employee separation. In particular, how does your company handle accrued, but unused, vacation pay at the time of separation?

Employment discrimination claims under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act (“KCRA”) are subject to a five (5) year statute of limitation.  This lengthy amount of time during which terminated employees may bring claims under the act may place employers in an uneasy position, even when the claim is less than viable.  For example, an employer terminated today may be able to file a KCRA claim against his or her former employer as late as July of 2017.  It essentially requires an employer to preserve evidence which may be utilized for its defense for several years in the future – during which time other employees alleged to have done wrong may leave the company, or move departments or locations, or during which time memories may simply fade – just in case the former employee decides to initiate an action under the KCRA.