Asha Wilkerson

I get questions all the time from employers and employees asking about workplace privacy issues. The employees want absolute privacy, and the employers say, “yeah, right!”

What it comes down to is how carefully the privacy policies in the employment handbook are crafted. An employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy is directly tied to the expectation the employer creates for them.

So, can an employer search my personal belongings at work?  The answer is yes, they probably can.  If the employer has a policy that states desks and lockers are provided for the convenience of employees but remain the sole property of the employer, they may be inspected along items found inside the lockers or desks before, during, or after an employee’s shift.

In addition, any electronic devices such as cell phones, computers, or pagers that the employer provides come with zero expectation of privacy. That means, if an employee is using a work cell phone to conduct personal business, the employer has the right to search and inspect that cell phone and to use anything they find on that phone against the employee.

I have also had questions about police officers wanting to search an employee’s workstation or locker. The employer has no obligation to let the officers search the workstation, but they have every right to consent to the search so long as the privacy policies make it clear that the items searched are company property.

If you’re an employer and want to manage your employees’ expectations of privacy, carefully craft a privacy policy and disseminate it widely throughout the workplace. If you’re an employee, you really should have no expectation of privacy in your workplace when it comes to your physical items.

If you have any questions about your workplace policies, do not hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email and we’ll find a legal solution to your problem.

Now that you’ve decided it’s time to hire new employees, how do you go about interviewing potential candidates? With so many laws defining acceptable hiring practices, it can be confusing to know which questions are permissible and which questions are unlawful. Before you get started, check out Three Tips for Hiring Employees in the New Year and then follow these sample interview questions to get you the information you really need while staying out of hot water.

If you have any questions about what is lawful or unlawful, contact an employment law attorney in your area to help guide you on your way.

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You can have the best strategy and the best building in the world, but if you don’t have the hearts and minds of the people who work with you, none of it comes to life.  -Renee West, Luxor and Excalibur Hotel

Hiring new employees in any business can be a challenge, but hiring employees for the very first time can be especially challenging.  Finding the right fit culturally and professionally requires some forethought by the employer to determine personality and what skills will actually be a good fit and benefit the organization.  Take the following suggestions into consideration before you start the interview process.

1. Make a List of the Essential Job Functions

Once you’ve discovered that it is time to expand your team of employees, spend some time thinking about the list of qualifications you need the new hire to meet.  Make a list of absolute qualifications that the candidate must have and then a list of bonus qualifications that will help set candidates apart.  Be sure to double-check your lists to ensure that they are not unlawfully discriminatory.

Discriminating against an employee or a job applicant based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information is unlawful under federal and state employment law.

If you are unsure about the kinds of questions that are lawful or unlawful, contact an employment law attorney in your area to  help walk you through the process of fine-tuning your hiring practices and make them compliant with federal regulations.

2. Determine What Will Make an Employee Successful in Your Organization

Each organization is unique and employees require a specific skill set to excel within your particular business.  Take a look at the employees that you consider to be successful in your organization and look for those characteristics in the job applicants.

Keep in mind that soft skills are often a necessary component to success within a company, but they are frequently overlooked in the interview process.  How will the candidate interact with your customers?  What problem solving skills do they have?  Will they become easily frustrated?  These are all important factors that may not come across during the resume review.

3. Conduct a Practical Interview

One of the best ways to determine whether or not a job candidate will be able to preform the work you’re hiring them to do is to administer a practical exam during the interview process.  Ask the candidate to look at a particular problem that occurs frequently in your organization and ask them how they would go about solving it.  There doesn’t have to be one right answer, but watching the job applicant to work through a problem that he or she will have to handle on a regular basis can be quite informative to you as the employer.

If you are unsure about the best hiring process to use in selecting new employees, reach out to a local employment law attorney or a hiring coach to help you design a process that works for your organization. The time you spend up front getting it right will undoubtedly help the success of your organization.

Check back soon for our list of Useful AND LAWFUL Interview Questions.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

This year is winding down and I’m willing to bet you’ve already got big plans for 2016. Maybe your plans even include forming a new business! That is awesome!

As a new business owner, one of the first and most important decisions you will face is how to structure your business.  You have your pick between a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation, or a limited liability company. Each structure has its advantages and disadvantages, and each should be given consideration before you open your business to the public.  However, sole proprietorships, where the owner and the business are one single entity, have recently become a popular trend because of their minimal start up costs, easy management, and rewarding sense of independence.  While these benefits may sound appealing, here are 3 reasons why you should reconsider being a sole proprietor:

1. High Degree of Liability
Because the owner and the business are indistinguishable, business creditors can make claims directly against the owner.  Thus, a sole proprietor is responsible for any and all debts that the business incurs, and if they cannot fulfill the debt, then creditors can go after the sole proprietors personal funds and property.  Debts taken on by corporations and LLC shareholders, on the other hand, usually live and die with the company.

2. Limited Ability to Raise Capital
Only one owner is allowed in a sole proprietorship, so it cannot sell shares or interests in order to raise capital like a corporation.  Also, banks generally lend less to sole proprietors and subject them to much more scrutiny.

3. Self-Employment Tax
All the earnings of a sole proprietorship are subject to the IRS self-employment tax.  Corporations, on the other hand, benefit from more lenient tax regulations and a large number of tax write-offs.  Thus, in a sole proprietorship, the entire earnings will be taxed twice: once for self-employment taxes, then again for normal income tax purposes since the business and owner are indistinguishable.  This can result in thousands of dollars of hard earned profit being taxed in excess.

Keep your mind open when thinking about a business structure, do not base your choice on just cost and ease.  Also, if you have a sole proprietorship already and face some of these problems, then don’t worry, you can always change the company structure and reap the rewards!