Fair, Square & Legal: Safe Hiring, Managing, & Firing Practices to Keep You & Your Company Out of Court [Hardcover]

Donald H. Weiss (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814405312 | ISBN-13: 978-0814405314 | Publication Date: October 29, 1999 | Edition: 3rd

Tells middle and executive managers how to stay out of legal trouble in hiring, managing, and firing employees in an increasingly litigious workplace. Coverage includes recruiting and interviewing practices, preventing sex discrimination and sexual harassment, family and medical leave, managing people with disabilities, firing practices, and management of older employees. Fictionalized cases illustrate problems and solutions, and real case studies highlight precedent- setting court decisions. This third edition is revised to reflect new regulations and court decisions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donald H. Weiss, Ph.D., is president of Self-Management Communications, Inc. and has been a training and development executive and consultant for more than 30 years. In addition to consulting work, he has held management positions with Citicorp, Millers Mutual Insurance, and Equitable. Dr. Weiss's many books include the first two editions of Fair, Square & Legal, Why Didn't I Say That?!, Secrets of the Wild Goose, and The Self-Management Workshop: A Trainer's Guide. He lives in the St. Louis area.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 3rd edition (October 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814405312
• ISBN-13: 978-0814405314
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,556,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Could Save Your Organization, January 4, 2001

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fair, Square & Legal: Safe Hiring, Managing, & Firing Practices to Keep You & Your Company Out of Court (Hardcover)

For small-to-midsize companies competing in a litigious society, this book is more than a "must read": it is an absolutely essential source of information to which decision-makers (especially owners) of such companies should constantly refer. The term "frivolous lawsuit" is really a misnomer. Check a reputable dictionary of synonyms and you will learn that the word frivolous connotes "trivial, trifling, piddling, unimportant, insignificant, inconsiderable, petty, and paltry." On the contrary, an adverse decision resulting from a so-called frivolous lawsuit can destroy a company which has limited resources...or at least create truly serious problems for it, most of which are preventable.

The subtitle of Weiss's book correctly indicates that he explains "safe hiring, managing & firing practices to keep you & your company out of court." He organizes the material as follows:

Part I Safe Hiring Practices [re recruiting, interviewing, and employment decisions]

Part II Safe Management Practices [re evaluations and promotions, preventing sex discrimination and sexual harassment on the job, employee action laws and labor rights]

Part III Safe Firing Practices [re discipline and firing practices, public policy, management of older employees]

With Weiss's guidance, it is possible for the decision-makers in any company to complete what amounts to a comprehensive "audit" of any and all areas in which that company could be vulnerable to litigation. Of at least equal importance, the same "audit" will help the company to determine precisely what its obligations are as an employer as well as what the legal rights of its employees are.

Ultimately, with all due respect to Weiss, qualified legal counsel should be consulted to ensure that all of a company's policies and procedures are "fair, square & legal." They must then be explained to all employees. Finally, they must be rigorously and consistently enforced. Even so, there may yet be frivolous lawsuits but at least the company has done everything possible to prevent them and is thus much better prepared to obtain a favorable decision in a court of law.