Employment Law Information

Crystal Lake, IL (PRWEB) February 28, 2012

Automotive Compliance Consultants, the only auto-dealership-exclusive compliance experts in the industry, said today that auto dealerships must continually review harassment risks with employees. Dealerships can be fertile environments for employee behaviors that violate the law and can cost ownership millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages.

Its a huge problem, says dealership compliance expert Terry Dortch, president of Automotive Compliance Consultants. The car business is still male dominated, and due to the time staff spends together it can often feel okay to become too familiar with others in what we say to them and how we might touch them.

Most times these comments or this contact isnt meant to be malicious but can be construed that way by the recipient, he notes.

Dortch relays a story about how one dealerships sales staff placed camel-shaped crackers around the workspace of one of their colleagues, a man of from the Middle East. They might have been trying to be cute but their actions were offense and put the dealership at risk,” Dortch says.

Where the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) gets involved the compensatory and punitive damages can reach upwards of $ 1 million.

Harassment and discrimination training can help raise awareness among staff and help reduce the incident of and risks to the business from such behaviors. Training itself cant protect against an employee who wants to be malicious, however.

Dortch says dealers can ferret out troublemakers by conducting thorough background checks. And if you do have someone on staff like this now, get rid of them, he advises.

Automotive Compliance Consultants specializes in dealership compliance, providing in-dealership consultations and analysis, compliance audits, and training, and offers solutions for all compliance needs. The Automotive Compliance Consultants staff has extensive experience in the retail automotive industry and focuses exclusively on dealership compliance issues.

For more information, contact Terry Dortch at terry_dortch(at)compliantnow(dot)com or visit http://www.compliantnow.com.

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