Small Businesses at Particular Risk to Land Troubled Employees

We've all had the misfortune to work with a few: employees from hell. They drive their co-workers crazy and cause their bosses endless grief. And they can do a lot of damage to a company -- especially when the company is a small business.

Fortune Small Business magazine's recent cover story, "Employees from Hell," explains why it's getting harder to fire these wicked workers and how to avoid hiring them in the first place.

Writer Phaedra Hise relates some disturbing true stories. One storage facility business thought it had all its bases covered with a rigorous interview process that included a seven-page questionnaire and drug-testing, but a forklift operator with a drinking problem snuck through the screens -- and bashed in a 40-foot wall.

Another boss was blindsided when she learned her No. 2-in-charge had spent more than a year laying the seeds to take over her startup by telling lies about her to employees and investors alike -- and when he failed to oust her, he had the gall to list her as a reference when he tried to get a job elsewhere.

One shipping company hired an administrative assistant who seemed like a dream with a wide range of skills -- but she ended up getting caught for opening credit-card accounts with identities she stole from employee records.

Recent court decisions have made it tough to make nightmares like these go away. What those decisions boil down to is this: "if an employee fears he may soon be fired, he can preempt the action by filing a complaint against his boss. Then he can argue that any subsequent disciplinary action is retaliatory."

It's hard for small businesses to nip these problems in the bud because these employees are often essential members of the company team, but Hise urges small business owners to know the laws, keep written records, and try to make smarter hiring decisions.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism