HR Specialist: Employment Law

Clear, common-sense employment law advice that cuts directly to the bottom line. An attorney may say what the law is – but the monthly issues of HR Specialist: Employment Law and its related weekly e-letters explain what managers and human resource professionals should do that is both safe and practical in the real world of business. Learn more about HR Specialist: Employment Law and the two free reports you'll get when you subscribe...

When an El Pollo Loco restaurant manager filed a wage lawsuit, the company pointed to its handbook that said (in English and small type) “all employment-related disputes must be resolved through binding arbitration.” The manager argued that employees didn’t understand what they were signing and, therefore, the policy wasn’t valid. The court agreed and let the class-action case proceed. (Olvera v. El Pollo Loco, California Court of Appeal)

Lesson: Use plain language in key documents and policies. Use simple sentences and a readable font. Also, publish them in Spanish if that’s the first language for some employees. Courts rarely interfere with agreements that are clear and that employees enter into freely.