Each year over 90,000 U. S. employers will get a notice of charge of discrimination from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If that happens, are you prepared to provide an effective response? Who in your organization has the experience to respond?
It’s no surprise that many employers are not prepared for this situation and end up hiring an employment law specialist or attorney to manage and resolve the situation. Even if your organization is not guilty of the allegations, how much is it going to cost you to prove your innocence? A good employment law attorney will charge you between $5,000 and $7,000 just to do an internal investigation to uncover the events and facts that led up to the charge.
If the EEOC decides to issue a “Letter of Determination”, that indicates they think your company is guilty as charged. Your attorney will bill you between $40,000 – $50,000 to prepare for the pending legal actions the EEOC has in mind. This will be either a negotiated settlement or a lawsuit filed in federal court. A negotiated settlement might cost between $150,000 – $300,000 and a lawsuit might end up costing much more depending upon the outcome.
In this case, the best defense really is a good offense.
• Your management team needs to know how good leadership will prevent the kind of incidents that can lead to an EEOC charge.
• Your organization needs to have policies and procedures in place.
• Your managers need to be trained on how to apply those policies and serve as a “firewall” against spurious claims of wrongdoing.
Achilles Group will help you create the policies you need and train your staff and management to uphold them. Please call Deborah of our Business Development team and she will tell you how we can help keep you out of this costly situation. 281-469-1800.
