The Law: Understanding Employment Law
Your patients aren’t the only ones who can sue you. Keep your eyes open.
By Barbara A. Gabriel When Mark Anthony LaPorta, an internist in Miami, Fla., received a letter from an employee at his practice alleging that he was at fault for causing her a serious injury, he didn’t bother calling his attorney. He simply asked her lawyer to prove the allegation. Why? LaPorta knew that not only was the claim false, but it also could never be proven.
Being an employer means following federal and state laws that protect your employees. Of course, the law also provides you protection against frivolous employee claims and lawsuits. But do you know the difference? Do you know when it’s time to simply inform your employee that you are within your legal rights and when it’s time to call a lawyer?
Luckily, LaPorta did.
“She alleged that I had been cruel to her and yelled at her and caused her to go blind in one eye as a result,” recalls LaPorta. “We knew the poor girl was just sick and emotionally ill. I remember the afternoon that I yelled at her. She wasn’t blind when she left, and she came back to work the next day. The bottom line was, there was no way anyone could prove that … and I think even she didn’t believe her own story.”
But what about allegations that are not so cut-and-dry? After all, the legal system wouldn’t exist without the shades of gray that cloud all aspects of the law.
Although federal law affords protections to most employers, individual state laws can add to those protections or modify the mechanisms through which employees and employers must adhere regarding complaints and remediation procedures. And there are state and federal “threshold requirements” that must be met for certain employment laws to apply. For example, federal laws that protect some aspects of discrimination, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, do not apply to employers with 15 or less employees. Continued...
