Deep-pocketed firms like Citibank, Morgan Stanley or Mitsubishi get sued for alleged sexual or racial discrimination and turn to in-house counsel and outside law firms for their defense. But what if a smaller firm were the target of such a suit? The risk is all too real and business survival hangs in the balance.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 authorized jury trials where none were available beforehand, provided compensatory and punitive damages (subject to certain caps on those damages) and provided that when employees win at trial, they may recover their attorney’s fees, as well as their expert witness fees. Even before this genuine revolution in employment law, a steady growth in the law had occurred as a result of other amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the passage of the Equal Pay Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and changes in state laws on wrongful termination beyond those changes wrought by the aforementioned federal civil rights laws.

Judicial activism used these statutory tools to augment what had already become a whole host of potential legal liabilities surrounding every aspect of the employment relationship, from hiring to firing, from promotion to pay distribution, and from sexual harassment to dating among employees. Although, in some cases, one may have intended to harass or unlawfully discriminate, it is extremely easy to be accused of these acts (and be forced to pay damages as a result thereof) even when no such intent existed.

Positive employee relations and employment law compliance are necessary and important goals for all employers. Decisions and actions on hiring, managing, motivating, and separating employees determine not only organizational success--but often survival. While the value of achieving these goals is universal, how they are achieved varies with each employer. Your Employment Risk Solutions, Inc. was established in 1994 to develop employment and labor law compliance software for employers who may or may not have recognized the risk, but had no cost-effective guidance or resource available. Such guidance is particularly important since so many business establishments are small to medium sized (employing fewer than 250 employees) with limited resources to follow the complexities of federal regulations.

Compliance Pro*, a composite of highly successful tailored program written for large corporations since 1987, provides that cost-effective guidance/resource which draws the maze of laws, publications, regulations and court decision together in one place; provides a description of each relevant area; refers the employer to authoritative sources for full detailed information on each area; shows the relationship of each area of law or regulation to other areas; and provides practical pointers with suggestions based on the authors’ many year of experience.

Maryah M. Sautter
President