Dealing with Legal Issues Against Your Business
It would be arrogant to think a legal issue will not affect your business at some point. Depending on its size and the number of employees, the likelihood is subject to change. Yet you aren’t impervious to the possibility. However, although lawsuits will happen, you can help your company using various methods such as adequately keeping and maintaining records, hiring, retaining or outsourcing a legal team and adhering to laws and regulations that apply to your sector.
Lawsuits will Happen
Slips, trips, and falls at work account for over 80% of claims against a company by employees. But these aren’t the only incidents that can befall an employee, and you could see legal action against your company for many reasons. For example, suppose you develop drugs on behalf of a pharmaceutical conglomerate. In that case, you could face a class-action lawsuit headed by a defective drugs and devices attorney if multiple parties have been affected by your product.
Should any cases made against you have reasonable grounds and merit, you will face legal action. This might result in a lengthy court proceeding, loss of licenses, a tarnished reputation and a possible custodial sentence. This is because a class action lawsuit will pool resources and make it possible for an individual or a group to bring charges against a company where they otherwise would not be able to do so alone.
Records are Your Friend
Like any court case, should a class action or any lawsuit be brought against you, you have the right to defend yourself in court. Evidence is required on both sides, and one of the most powerful ways to protect your business is with accurate record keeping. Records should cover everything, from purchases and policies to trials and corporate agreements. Employee files and personal data should be kept by your HR team. Additionally, You should also maintain purchase orders, patents, copyrights, insurance documents and confidential company information.
Record keeping is a simple process involving filing. However, you can further protect files in various ways:
Always store hard paper copies in filing cabinets.
Digitize records and store them on a secure local computer or company server.
Upload digital copies to cloud storage.
Store sensitive company data in a secure off-site facility (physical and digital).
Storing records in this way seems like a lot, yet if a false claim is made against you, you always have immediate access to anything helpful in your defence or counterclaim.
Retain a Legal Team
An effective legal team can defend you, and your company should any unfortunate claims arise. As such, you should hire a legal department of your own if possible or retain a reputable firm. If you do this, your team can check every significant decision with legal implications with your team. Of course, establishing a full-time legal department is expensive, but you can outsource or retain a firm. A legal team is always on hand to review any potential legal implications with these two methods.
Legal action can proceed against you for various reasons. But as a business, common cases include wrongful termination, breach of contract, personal injury, and harassment. These can result in expensive compensation costs.
The following figures are from recent 2019/2020 UK tribunals on a per case basis:
Unfair dismissal: 10,812
Sex discrimination: 9,801
Disability discrimination: 17,420
Age discrimination: 38,794
Sexual orientation discrimination: 27,936
These figures are on a per case basis, and as an employer, you can expect multiple cases per year. In the US, for example, over 90% of businesses face litigation on average 37 times per year. For most, the success rate of a workplace claim is 50%. But should you employ a solid legal team and keep records of all incidents, the chances of a successful claim against you will decrease so long as you are not in the wrong, of course.