The Commonwealth of Virginia is an at-will employment state. What that means is that without a written contract specifying the terms of employment and the conditions under which an employee may be terminated, an employer can dismiss the worker without cause. This is obviously a tremendous benefit to the management of a Virginia business that finds itself in a position where it has an unproductive employee, or needs to reduce staffing levels, or just wants to change its employee mix.
Even in an at-will employment state, like Virginia, businesses should to adopt practices that make their decisions to terminate, demote, or pass over for promotion defensible in court actions. The following are some guidelines to help businesses avoid labor-related litigation.
Include a Disclaimer in Letters of Engagement
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, letters of engagement are usually not considered contracts as long as they only state the terms of employment: salary, bonuses, holidays, sick time accruals, et cetera. However, if there is any wording that discusses conditions upon which an employee could be terminated or a length of employment, a letter of engagement could act as a contract. To avoid this, Virginia business attorneys will usually include specific language that clarifies that there are no set terms of employment and that the employer may terminate the employee without cause.
Adhere to a System of Evaluation
Creating and maintaining a standard evaluation system for employees is one of the ways that a business can show that decisions to terminate, discipline, promote, or demote are based strictly on work performance. In the event that the management of a Virginia business is accused of discriminatory practices, it can point to performance records to justify its choices.
Familiarize Management With Applicable Labor Laws
The following are a few of the laws that affect employers/employees in the Commonwealth of Virginia:
– National Labor Relations Act
– Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
– Americans With Disabilities Act
– Title VII (Civil Rights Act amended in 1991)
– Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
– Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
This is obviously a large body of legislation, and its unlikely that your management can be familiar with all of the tenets and case law involved in each act, but they should have a working knowledge as to how it affects your company’s labor practices. A professional Virginia labor attorney should be able to guide you when adopting policies for your business concern.
Whenever, a business is drafting labor policies, it should retain the services of a qualified, professional Virginia labor law attorney.
