What are the steps to protect an employer from employee lawsuits in San Diego?  What are some specific strategies for maintaining a productive, focused work environment while protecting your company?

California is Challenging for Employers

California is a challenging legal environment for employers.  The combination of federal employment laws, California’s own codes and San Diego’s additional regulations make it legally and logistically challenging to effectively manage the employment relationship.  This complex range of requirements also creates ample opportunity for disputes between an employer and their workers as well as incentive for plaintiffs’ attorneys to create opportunities for a legal challenge.

It is important to note there has been a substantial increase in cases against employers in San Diego and Southern California in recent years based upon the California Private Attorneys General Act or PAGA.  PAGA provides an employee and their plaintiffs attorneys incredible tools for attracting additional existing or former employees to join the legal action resulting in a potentially contentious and expensive risk for any employer.  The Watkins Firm has extensive experienced defending are employers in PAGA actions and disrupting these actions before plaintiffs attorneys can get them off the ground.  It is well known that the law is stacked in favor of the employee here in California, and our employer clients rely upon the Watkins Firm to keep them up to date on all federal, state and local changes and developments in the law while providing specific strategies to prevent issues before they arise.

What are the Steps to Protect an Employer from Employee Lawsuits in San Diego and Southern California?

How can a San Diego employer prevent employee lawsuits or reduce the likelihood of trouble?  What are the specific steps to protect an employer from employee lawsuits in San Diego and Southern California?  Here are a few ideas that will help to tighten compliance with employment law while reducing the likelihood of employee lawsuits.

1. Document Consistently – creating a document trail “after the fact” is more suspicious and less credible in a lawsuit.  Employers and their managers must consistently document areas of performance for all employees.  Your policies and procedures should create a consistent formula for documenting employee complaints and the action taken to resolve them, as well as employee reviews and performance metrics.  Ensure that every position in your company has established metrics that can be measured and recorded.
2. Coach Under-performing Employees – and document the situation thoroughly from start to finish.  California judges and juries lean toward the side of a terminated employee, and if you have not provided a documented performance improvement plan and worked with the employee at each step to improve performance your company appears harsh and non-compliant with the “spirit” of California employment law.
3. Keep Abreast of Federal, State and Local Employment Laws at All Times – a Judge or jury expects you to know employment laws inside and out.  They and the employee’s attorney will ask “If you don’t know them how can you follow them?”  The experienced employer defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm keep our clients up-to-date on all federal, state and local employment laws and work with them to update all internal policies and procedures, employment and managerial handbooks, employment contracts, time reporting and payroll reporting to ensure that our clients consistently understand and apply all employment laws and regulations.

If you are a San Diego or Southern California employer of any size you need an experienced, proven employer-focused law firm to help you to navigate all of the complex laws and regulations in place while reducing the opportunity for any dispute to arise.  If any hint of a potential dispute arises or you receive a letter requesting specific information on an employee you need to take immediate action and seek the guidance of the Watkins Firm.  The call won’t cost you anything and we can help you to assess the situation and quickly work to remediate any issues and take prudent steps to resolve the matter before it escalates.

We invite you to review the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.