What is the best strategy for effective wage and hour employer defense in San Diego and throughout California? The best strategy for employers in a wage and hour dispute is to prevent it from occurring or to resolve a wage and hour dispute before a complaint is filed and external agencies or plaintiffs’ attorneys are involved.
California Employers Face the Constant Threat of a Wage and Hour Lawsuit
California employers face the constant threat of a wage and hour lawsuit. The number of these disputes has more than tripled in recent years and if you are an employer in California it isn’t a matter of “if,” it is a matter of “when.”
Employer defense and related litigation is no small thing. Each year in San Diego, employee disputes turn into wage and hour, PAGA and employee litigation cases that result in lost employee hours, damages, legal costs, settlements and lost profits for companies here, and across the world.
Not handling employee issues or disputes quickly, efficiently or properly can lead to wage and hour litigation for a California employer. This can result in substantial expense for your business or company, not to mention the hassles you will face at each step of the process.
Proactive Steps to Prevent or Diffuse a Wage and Hour Issue
Effective age and hour employer defense in San Diego and throughout California begins with a sound employee handbook and policies and procedures backed by consistent application of established processes and thorough documentation. If done proactively, it is possible to resolve wage and hour disputes before a complaint is filed and further action has to be taken. This also potentially saves the employee from prolonged stress or unnecessary suffering while saving the employer loss of time and money due to litigation, as well as legal ramifications from not addressing employee disputes or issues appropriately.
The key is to take immediate action the moment you think there might be a problem with any employee. Take five minutes and call the Watkins Firm at 858-535-1511 right now for a free, substantive consultation. As our founder, Dan Watkins, said in a recent podcast: “we can tell you if that mole is cancerous or not!” We can often provide insight and steps you can take to remediate the problem altogether or mitigate the amount of the consequences and financial damages you might face down the road. This is worth 5 minutes of your time and ours.
Be Timely: Take action now or panic later. Dealing with a dispute or issue sooner is always better than later.
Be Effective: Address the actual issue. Don’t assume! Listen and make sure you properly grasp the complaint of the employee before you take action.
Be Intensive: Don’t let the chance to resolve wage and hour disputes before a complaint is filed get buried in the grind of your day-to-day responsibilities. In the corporate environment, there are many things that demand time from your schedule. Things that keep the company moving forward, generate sales and ensure profitability. It’s easy to allow these demands to keep you from giving the attention and focus that an employee dispute can often require, but they are too important to allow to become buried.
Be Proactive: You should consider establishing clear channels for communicating problems, disputes or issues early on. Create avenues for your employees to raise issues with management or even appoint a person to focus on communicating with employees about their issue who is not their direct supervisor. Consider how to create opportunities for employees to safely and privately discuss issues in order to address problems before they grow to full-scale disputes.
Effective Wage and Hour Employer Defense for San Diego and California Employers
We have helped countless clients to resolve matters through an effective phone call followed by the right timely action by our employer clients. The good news is this: the Watkins Firm is able to resolve the vast majority of our employer client’s disputes through effective, leveraged negotiation. This is the fastest and least expensive path to resolve a potential complaint or wage and hour action.
We represent employers in all disputes and lawsuits and through every step of the process including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, agency hearings and conferences or litigation.
Having the right counsel ahead of time can save your and your company from the potential litigation as a result of not properly dealing with employee disputes. Having proven, experienced and effective employer defense attorneys at your side from the outset of the dispute will make a significant difference in the ultimate outcome. We invite you to review our recent podcast Episode 39 – What Keeps Employers Up At Night as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.
