Of all the job responsibilities that HR professionals have, one of the most important is handling employee relations situations which have the potential to raise legal issues. For this reason, it is vital for all HR professionals to fulfill employee relations training which will give them a basic knowledge of employment law. This way, they will easily be able to recognize situations with legal implications. Although every company handles these situations differently, all HR professionals need to be aware of how to go about processing the various scenarios while keeping the law in mind.

No matter what a company’s standard operating procedure is, it is important to identify the roles and responsibilities of HR within the organization. This way, everyone working in HR will be aware of how to respond to these possible legal situations. When deciding which member of the HR team will handle legal issues when they arise, the company must take into account a number of factors. Project team development may determine whether to centralize the HR department or have it decentralized with specialty groups. In a centralized HR department, everyone is able to handle all the different types of concerns that the division is given. In other companies with specialty departments, each subgroup holds expertise in handling specific issues such as EEO, labor relations or ethics.

Different organizations have implemented different techniques for how HR should approach employee relations training with respect to legal issues. Usually the chosen approach will be directly related to the context in which the issue occurs. It has been recognized that in most organizations, a great majority of the issues are informally addressed with a manager or an HR generalist. Other companies have easily accessible procedures in place which allow employees to report a problem, including hotlines to call or drop boxes to submit a problem in writing. HR should establish a method for approaching an issue with the legal department before it arises.

No matter what process the organization chooses, HR professionals must work on project team development as they are often responsible for a multitude of duties and can use all the help available to them. First, it is the responsibility of the HR professionals to gather information related to the problematical situations that arise. Second, they are in charge of seeking legal advice from experts previously identified and selected by the organization. Last, HR is frequently asked to partner with and trust the advice of the legal experts when deciding how to respond to these types of instances.

Since HR professionals do not hold law degrees and cannot practice law, they should not rely solely on their own research. Their means are limited to the use of the Internet to find information relative to the legal dimensions of employee relations issues. Due to the fact that the Internet cannot always be trusted, HR employees must seek the advice of a professional lawyer. Organizations should therefore establish and maintain a relationship with legal experts who have a background and understanding in employment law. Some organizations even choose to employ lawyers on a full-time basis, while others choose to reach out to external sources. A third option, which a relatively small amount of organizations choose to do, is to employ someone to work in HR who has a law degree. Successful employee relations training will allow the HR professionals to work together, along with legal counsel, to manage risk and legal issues for the company. (more…)