These are tumultuous times for small business owners. The economy has not only made running a business difficult, but managing the business is difficult as well.

Small business owners can no longer look at their employees as one big happy community working together for common good. When the effective unemployment rate is at 15% (or higher depending where you look), employees get desperate.

Your employees are not your friends. Your employees are not your family. And even if they are. . .

Your Employees Are Your Employees

Gone are the days of losing your job and quickly jumping into a new one. So when a business decides to let an employee go, every “T” must be crossed and every “i” must be dotted.

More and more former employees are looking for ways to cash in on being fired.

According to an article in the NY Times by Paul Sullivan, a report released in March from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said claims were up 15 percent last year, to 95,402. The highest number in the agency’s 44-year history. Mr. Sullivan hypothesizes that with the unemployment rate continuing to increase, this trend of discrimination and wrongful termination claims will likely climb again this year.

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