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Employment Essentials
What you should know about hiring and firing.
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In many cases, legal problems can be prevented by simply planning ahead and using common sense. Provide written job descriptions. A formal job description for every position prevents confusion down the road. Without a job description, frustrated employees and managers have nowhere to turn for objective guidelines on what type of performance is expected. "The employee gets disgruntled, morale suffers, and even if there isn't a legal problem, it tarnishes the church's reputation," Frieze says. Have more than one person involved in hiring decisions. Some churches have a personnel committee to deal with hiring issues while other churches leave it up to the minister. Chawaga suggests having at least a couple of people involved in the hiring process. "It's all too easy to delegate that to the pastor," he says. "[But] then the person hired winds up working with other people who may or may not have the same view of the job. Even if the minister has the final hiring-and-firing power, it behooves him or her to involve other people." Don't discriminate. When interviewing prospective employees, churches may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, marital status, disabilities, or age. The only exception to these general standards, as mentioned above, is religion. Despite this exemption, some churches don't like to hire employees from within their congregation. Jay Sage, church administrator for the past five years at Community Church of Vero Beach, Florida, explains why his church doesn't hire from within. "One of the reasons is that if an employee doesn't perform adequately, it creates an unpleasant situation and families may become involved," he says. "I myself am not a member at this church. If people see me at a church function, it's human nature to pull me aside to ask about this or that. So by worshiping elsewhere my worship time is free and apart from my work." Check references. While it may seem obvious, Frieze says churches still need to be reminded to contact prior employers and references before hiring someone. "Someone will come in based on an ad in the paper," he says, "and because the pastor is too busy he or she will hire that person on the spot." Frieze points out that even church members should be screened. Especially if children are cared for on the church premises, he says, every employee must be screened. "If these people are working with or near children, you have a responsibility. If you don't screen an employee, you've exposed yourself to liability," he says. Chawaga agrees. It isn't that a church is responsible every time an employee does something wrong, he says, but the church can be held liable if someone should have foreseen the problem. Two cases show the distinction. The Second New St. Paul Baptist Church in the District of Columbia was sued because some children were sexually assaulted by the church janitor. The Court of Appeals said that the janitor was not acting within the scope of his employment, and there was no proof of negligent hiring. So the church was not held responsible. |             |
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