Why Utilize an HR Attorney as a Consultant?

Continued from previous article “Macro and Micro HR”
Although all businesses with employees practice HR, and some even have an in-house HR people, many businesses still encounter HR related problems.
Moreover, there are legal ramifications associated with many human resources issues that many HR professionals just aren’t qualified to deal with. When these costly and sensitive situations arise, a company needs to rely on a professional who understands the law, enforcement agencies and adjudicators, and macro and micro HR. This is where I come in.
Problems generally start with conflict between business strategy and HR practices (again, macro versus micro). It could be as simple as a business not recognizing that its HR philosophy is out of synch with its business strategy. Subsequently, policies are misinterpreted and misapplied, and costly mistakes occur. Such mistakes include improperly administered performance appraisals and improperly allocated wage and salary increases.
Generally, resolving micro issues, while ignoring the macro issues, will most likely result in that business throwing more money at continually resolving the same issues and continually wasting capital. I have seen this happen again and again.
For example, two unionized companies enter into merger negotiations. Neither company approaches their respective unions in a meaningful or timely manner to discuss integration issues (e.g., compensation, pensions and seniority). Consequently, each union commences campaigns to destroy the merger. There is further talk of boycotts, slowdowns, “blue flu,” and other obstacles. Thus, fear and misunderstanding among each company’s officials and customers bring merger discussions to a halt. Eventually, both companies call off the proposed merger.
Or consider this example: Company officials hear of a union organizing campaign. In order to prevent unionizing, the company commences an overly aggressive union prevention campaign which incorporates talk of layoffs, relocation and creating new compensation and benefits policies. Consequently, the prospective union fights back by proliferating fear and filing agency complaints (e.g., unfair labor practices charges), which the company now has to defend. Thus, productivity decreases, expenses increase, morale deteriorates and the potential for unionization is significantly increased.
Poorly aligned macro and micro HR practices led to the above discussed problems. The fact is, in order to prevent money from escaping out the “back door,” a business needs to anticipate and fully understand HR related problems before they arise or escalate.
I will be explaining more on Labor & Employment Relations/Law in my next article. Do look out for it.
As a labor and employment attorney and businessperson,
Charles Krugel has represented management in hundreds of negotiations, in-house and 3rd party proceedings. Charles has over 13 years of experience in the field and he has run his own successful management side practice for the past 7 years.