Legal Guidelines When Hiring New Employees

Legal Guidelines When Hiring New Employees

Business is booming again and many companies are hiring new employees to keep up with demand. However, your only challenge is not to find the right person for the job. You must also be sure you conduct your hiring process legally and professionally.

Before they even become employees, job applicants have legal rights. Employers are prohibited by federal law from discriminating against a job applicant based on his or her race, national origin, gender, age, disability, pregnancy or religion. These anti-discrimination laws must be observed during every phase of the hiring process.

Interviewing

There are several questions employers should steer clear of when interviewing prospective employees. These include questions about the applicant’s:

• Family situation, including marital status, children and even if they plan to have children
• Race
• Religion
• Sexual preference
• Age, other than verifying he or she is over the age of 18
• Health status, such as a disability
• Citizenship status
• Drug or alcohol use

Hiring

Before a new employee can begin work, an employer must take the following steps:

• Obtain a federal employment identification number (EIN) from the IRS
• Register with the Florida Department of Revenue for payment of unemployment compensation taxes
• Set up employee’s payment system to withhold taxes paid to the IRS
• Obtain workers compensation insurance
• Post required notices in the workplace as required by state and federal law
• Register employee for benefits
• Report federal unemployment tax to the IRS

Employers should be careful about making any promises to new employees that could result in a breach of implied contract. For example, if an employer promises a new employee that they will be promoted within the first year or will enjoy significant raises, this can constitute an implied contract.

Should You Have New Employees Sign a Non-Compete?

Employers typically utilize non-compete agreements to protect themselves against the transfer of proprietary information to competitive firms, or to bar an employee from setting up a competitive company using the information they gained while employed.

What both employers and employees need to know is that here in Florida, as long as the agreement’s restrictions are reasonable, a non-compete contract is enforceable. Under Florida Statute 542.335, a non-compete agreement may be enforceable if:

• The non-compete agreement is reasonable in time, area and line of business, and meets a legitimate business interest of the employer.
• The business interests covered by the non-compete agreement are legitimate.
• The non-compete agreement is necessary to protect these interests.

In order to enforce a non-compete agreement, an employer cannot have breached any key terms of the employment relationship or the employee may be able to prevail with a prior breach defense.

Business owners seeking to protect their business interests should seek a qualified, competent advisor for assistance. Contact one of the experienced Florida business attorneys at Jurado & Farshchian, P.L., at (305) 921-0440, or email us at info@jflawfirm.com. We offer free consultations to business owners seeking to find the right attorney to meet their business’ legal needs.

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