When employees write documents or invent a new method of doing business, everyone has to be clear about who owns the rights to their work. Unfortunately for them, the labels don't determine legal status and the practice can expose them to hefty fines and back payments. Such feedback is critical, however, not only to improving performance but to creating a record that will be available for future personnel actions. An employee's functions determine whether he or she is entitled to overtime pay. This can be a costly mistake.
Penalties attach for failure to obtain and maintain immigration forms.
Training can prevent discrimination, increase fairness in the workplace, and allow employers to avoid liability in certain situations. But failure to set up discipline procedures and to follow them will set an employer up for legal liability. Some records must be kept in accordance with statutes or regulations, and other should be kept as a good business practice to provide evidence if an employer later needs to defend him or herself. But it is also important not to keep everything. A good records retention policy is a must.