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If you run a business with a moderate or large number of employees, the chances are at some point one of them might get in trouble with the police, the government, or another authoritative body. It happens. It might be something serious, or something minor and trivial. Odds are, they’re going to have to tell you about it and you’ll have to take the right steps to protect yourself, your business, and in some cases, the individual themselves. Here are some tips to help you out.
Ensure Your Business Is Protected
First you need to make sure your business is going to be okay. Sometimes, crimes can be committed on your own premises by the individual in question. Think about them committing crimes online, such as fraud or white-collar crimes. As the crimes were committed on your premises in business hours it might draw some suspicion which you need to put to bed immediately. Contact a lawyer if you need to or talk to the police right away. Suspend the individual if what they’ve done draws bad publicity to your business. Once you know your business is protected, you can look to your employee.
Guide Your Employee
They might not come to you for advice, but they might. A lot of employees respect their bosses and will logically ask them for help. You need to suggest they hire a lawyer. Preferably a lawyer in your area, specializing in the area they need help. So if you lived in Canada, or zooming in a little, one of the cities like Mississauga, you’d want to look for a lawyer in the immediate are, just searching for criminal lawyer Mississauga is a start but if you know of any who can provide some good advice, then suggest them accordingly. You should only ever give them advice which is within legal keeping and which doesn’t break the law. Again, reverting to the first point, you need to ensure your business is protected.
Be Flexible With Time Off
Try to be as flexible as you possibly can. Especially if you like them and want to keep them long term. Dealing with prosecution is an extremely stressful thing to do and might lead to a performance slump workwise. Let them have the time off they need. This is all depending on the crime of course. For example, if the crime was immigration based, and they were working in Mississauga or the wider Canada illegally, you might not be able to offer them continued work.
Be Prepared To Get involved
This is especially the case if you run a small, close-knit business where you work with the employees every single day. You might be called in as a witness, either to the employee’s character, or whereabouts. What’s required of you will differ depending on what they’re asking of you. Sometimes, you might not even be asked but be prepared for it and realise you might have to take some time away from work.
Essentially, you can help however much you want depending on what kind of trouble your employee is in and depending on your relationship with them. The key takeaway is to ensure your business is shielded from whatever they did wrong before looking more closely at home you can actually help.
You may also like: Reasons to Hire an Employment Lawyer
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