Terry Meany - How to Start a Home-Based Handyman Business

Terry Meany has been a contractor, landlord, columnist, and author of home repair books. He maintains a love/hate relationship with his tools and home, but keeps maintenance in check. After far too many years living in the drizzly Northwest, he and his wife are planning a move to sunnier climes. Their next home will be all concrete and built to penal institution standards, where nothing ever breaks under normal use.

As soon as you start hiring employees, youre subject to federal and state laws which spell out what hiring practices you must abide by. These practices range from safety standards to illegal discrimination. They are basically overwritten legalese versions of everything you should have learned in kindergarten, including play fair, show some concern for others, dont create unnecessarily dangerous situations, and being a jerk isnt in your best interest.

Some laws kick in when you have a certain number of employees, usually fifteen or more, but state laws might have different criteria and affect smaller employers. The federal laws that affect all employers include:

The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)

Whistle-Blower Protections

The Immigration Control And Reform Act (IRCAright to work in the USA)

Swell, you say; what do all these mean?

Polygraph protection means, essentially, that you cant mandate an employee take a polygraph test; there are exceptions for some jobs in the security business, or in the case of suspected employee theft.

The FLSA covers wages, including overtime and minimum wages ($7.25 an hour for 2009) and related issues (go to www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whd_fs.pdf for a wage and hour information sheet).

The Occupational Safety and Health Act regulates, on a federal level, safe working conditions. Each state has its own safety requirements which can exceed those of OSHA.

USERRA protects reemployment rights for those returning from a period of deployment in the uniformed services, including those called up from the reserves or National Guard, and prohibits employer discrimination based on military service or obligation.

Whistle-blower Protections prohibit recrimination against any employee who turns you in for unsafe or unfair work practices.

IRCA requires employers to document, within three working days, an employees eligibility and right to work in the USA. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has an I-9 form (effective until 6/30/09) that all employees must submit. It verifies two facts about an employee: 1) the right to work in the US and 2) personal identity. A new I-9 form will be available after 6/30/09. ( Go to www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf). You must keep these forms on file for three years after the date of hire and one year after employee termination.

Your states Department of Labor and Industries will have information on applicable state laws for fair employment and workplace practices.

If the world is looked at objectively, theres no such thing as racejust humans who, over thousands of years, adapted to different climates. The results? Different sizes, skin colors, and body features, all of which we have managed to attribute highly undeserved degrees of social importance. Thus, we classify ourselves by race, among other categories.

As an employer, you cant discriminate by race in your hiring practices. You can, and should, hire the best people you can find and leave it at that. You can make these determinations by:

Gathering background and past job information

Administering a written test (e.g., how to estimate the amount of paint needed for an exterior, the correct way to ensure a fence is level or following a slope properly, etc.)

Discussing the companys pricing and work policies to be sure the candidate for the job agrees with them

Having the candidate take you through a simple job, such as installing a door, so you can ascertain a competency level

When it comes to age, you cant hire someone too young (www.youthrules.dol.gov/states.htm for state minimum age laws), and, if you have more than twenty employees, you cant, for the most part, discriminate against anyone forty years of age or older.

For All to See

Federal and state laws require you to display official labor and employment posters detailing applicable labor laws. They must be posted where employees can easily read them. These are available free of charge from your state office of Labor and Industries and from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/osbp/welcome.htm). For more small-business information from the Department of Labor, go to www.dol.gov/osbp/sbrefa/main.htm.

Once youve hired an employee, you should follow up with appropriate training both for the customers sake and your own, as you dont want to send someone to a job site with insufficient ability to do the job properly. Training should include:

How to dress for the job (company uniform or acceptable clothing)

Comportment on the job site

Familiarity with the products used on each job, along with their proper handling and installation

Scheduling and time management

Billing and collecting payments due

Any and all administrative work done in the field

Promoting the company

Noting any additional work the customer might need and offering an estimate for it

Throughout the United States, work at-will is the law of the land. The Employment at Will doctrine means that employment is voluntary for both employees and employers. With the exception of Montana, at-will allows a nongovernment employer to terminate employees who are not under contract for a specified period of time for any legal reason, or without any reason at all, at any time. It also allows an employee to leave or resign just as abruptly. This does not mean youre free to assume the crown of royalty and dismiss your employees like so many tenant farming peasants youd like to force off the land. Arbitrary dismissal can lead to expensive discrimination claims if the dismissal is found to be wrongful or discriminatory. Various court cases have resulted in a state-by-state interpretation of the at-will relationship, so its imperative that you understand the laws in the state in which you will be doing business.

Overall, you cannot fire an employee for:

Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin

Filing workers compensation claims

Union membership

Fulfilling jury service

Being called up for military service

Refusing to perform an illegal act, or, in some cases, reporting an illegal act (whistle-blowing)

If you live in Montana, you need to be aware of the Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act, which calls for reasonable, job-related grounds for dismissal based on a failure to perform job duties satisfactorily, disruption of the employers operation or other legitimate business reason.

Sounds a bit ominous, doesnt it? You want to control whom you hire and let go without worrying about meeting jury duty requirements or the specifics of civil rights legislation. You can, but youll need to establish some processes and procedures to stay legal, protect your business, and do the right thing for your employees. To prevent the wrongful discharge of an employee, consider the following: