Preventative Self-Audits

Dallas, Texas, Labor and Employment Law Attorneys

An Essential Part of our Five-Step Approach

Do you know where your company is vulnerable? At The Key Firm, our employment law attorneys use a five-step approach to strengthen employee relations and avoid litigation. The first step is the self-audit, which is designed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your organization in regard to personnel management and employment law. Some of the topics covered include:

• Are you providing your employees with appropriate job descriptions and defined expectations?
• Are your policies and practices current with the law and, more importantly, are you consistently enforcing your policies?
• Are your supervisors adequately documenting disciplinary matters?
• Are you providing necessary accommodation for the disabled?
• Are you maximizing the information gained through your application and interview process without exceeding legal restrictions?
• Are your anti-harassment policies and reporting procedures lawful?
• Are your leave policies compliant with the FMLA, ADA, USERRA, and FLSA?
• What are the top complaints from your employees? What are some cost-effective solutions? What about your supervisors?
• Are your wage and benefits packages compliant with the FLSA?

To learn more about our five-step approach or our self-audit process, contact a Dallas, Texas, labor and employment law audit attorney at 214.550.1800.

Custom Tailored to Your Organizational Needs

Depending upon your particular needs, our labor and employment law attorneys can tailor a more focused audit for your particular needs. Some of our most popular self-audits include:

Staying Union Free. Dollar for dollar, this is our most valuable program we offer. In this audit, one of our labor attorneys will sit down for a 20-40 minute interview, one-on-one, with each of your first-line supervisors to identify (1) areas of exposure, (2) warning signs of organizing activity, and (3) efficient, cost-effective strategies for shoring up vulnerable areas. The techniques developed and honed over decades of performing these audits have been instrumental in the more than 70 successful counter-union campaigns orchestrated by our labor attorneys. If there are problems, we will find them.

More importantly, when used in conjunction with our management training program, Staying Union Free we can take the results of your audit and incorporate them into a training program custom tailored to provide your supervisors with the tools necessary to create a workplace environment where employees have predictable and defined expectations, recognition and reward for accomplishment, and trustworthy and knowledgeable supervision, where employees are substantially less likely to seek out third party intervention from a labor union.

Even if you do not believe your company is vulnerable to union organizing, the ultimate purpose of this program is to identify systemic and environmental factors that frustrate your managers and foster discontent in your workforce and the lessons and insights from the audit and training will provide you with a solid platform for building a loyal, content and productive workforce.

Wage & Hour Compliance. The Department of Labor estimates that nearly 90% of U.S. employers are paying wages in violation of the overtime laws. In our experience, the number is likely higher than that. Our Wage & Hour Compliance self-audit provides a simple, cost-effective[ Link to Fee Page] analysis of your present wage payment practices so as to avoid the costly penalties associated with a DOL audit. While your employees may appear completely satisfied with their pay, all it takes is a single phone call from a disgruntled employee or a jealous competitor to guarantee an audit. You need to be prepared.

Policies and Practices. We recommend that employers have their personnel policy manual reviewed and updated by counsel at least every two to three years. The law changes regularly and your policies should too. The handbook is not only the foundation upon which you train, monitor, discipline and reward your workforce; it will also be the centerpiece of any employment litigation you face.

Our goal in providing employers with a self-audit is to build positive and productive employee relations that will avoid costly litigation. In addition to the self-audit, as part of our five-step approach, we offer training classes that address issues such as sexual harassment, effective discipline, staying union free, and other personnel management topics. .

If you are interested in a preventative audit for your company, contact our Dallas, Texas, labor and employment law attorneys at 214.550.1800.

At the Key Firm, our other practice areas include governmental relations, employee relations, union relations, union elections, litigation, and training.

Representing small to medium sized business management in all matters of labor, personnel, and governmental relations. Work with Stephen Key, a Texas Super Lawyer*.