How to Stay Legal While Hiring for your Business

As a small business person you have the right to hire whomever you want, however you are not allowed to discriminate against prospects because of non job related issues that are specifically covered by the law. To do so puts you at risk for a law suit. Conversely, if you do hire somebody covered by one of these provisions and you do fire him, you could run afoul of the same laws. When dealing with all employees from the beginning, it’s a good idea to keep a paper trail. Here are some of the provisions to which you must adhere:

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. The granddad of all employment laws in the United States is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law prohibits discrimination against an employee for color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth and national origin
2. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 extended the national origin discrimination to those who hold citizenship in another country. Conversely this same act requires an employer to verify that an employee has the legal right to work in the US.
3. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination against employees who are age 40 or older. I’m a good cameraman, shooting regularly for LA CityView Channel 35. In fact, I recently won a Telly Award for my documentary work. A while ago because the work sounded like fun, I applied as a shooter for the "Girl’s Gone Wild" series of videos. I passed the initial screening and was asked to send a photo. On that basis I was rejected. Why? I’m over 40. I could of course take 24 year old Joe Francis, the man behind the videos, to court, but he has enough trouble. He’s already been indicted on federal charges for tax evasion.
   
   If somebody is physically able to do the work you need done and you have two equally qualified candidates for the job, you can’t make your hiring decision on the basis of whether or not somebody is over or under 40. The act does not apply to governments or employers with less than 20 employees.
4. The Equal Pay Act requires that employers pay men and women equally. Job title has no bearing here. If Maitre D’s and hostesses are paid differently, one has to catch up. It’s the actual work that is done. If the pay difference is based on seniority, that’s allowed.
5. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against a person with a disability in any aspect of employment. People who have a relationship with somebody disabled are also protected from discrimination. For example, you can’t refuse to hire somebody because under terms of your health plan a spouse would be covered and you just learned that that spouse has cancer which would cause your rates to go up.