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A federal court has decided that employees like HR professionals and supervisors can sometimes be held personally liable for FMLA violations. That means their assets can be seized to pay damages.

The cost of defending even a meritless lawsuit can run into the thousands of dollars. One way to prevent such costs and embarrassment is to teach supervisors to avoid angering employees in the first place. Train them to be aware of these four common mistakes.

We are a small business that provides temporary staffing to hospitals in California. California law requires paying overtime when employees work more than eight hours in a workday. A hospital to which we supply workers has asked us if our employees can work four 10-hour shifts with no overtime instead of five eight-hour shifts. Can we agree to the hospital’s request?

Competing needs may mean that even well-intentioned supervisors mishandle ADA accommodations. That’s why it’s important to train supervisors that they must honor approved disability accommodations and immediately refer all requests to modify accommodations to HR.

Most organizations conduct exit interviews with departing employees to determine why they’ve resigned. Exit interviews can be a great HR tool, but you have to know what questions to ask and, at the same time, what questions to avoid for legal reasons.

It doesn’t matter if the underlying complaint is legitimate. If anyone in a position of authority acts against an employee who has filed a complaint, you can expect a retaliation lawsuit.

If it appears you’re pushing an employee out the door based on his age—or if you suddenly eliminate his position after discussing retirement—you’ll set yourself up for an age-discrimination lawsuit. Apply these tips to ensure well-intentioned conversations don’t trigger legal trouble.

Advise your organization’s managers never to rely on memory to evaluate an employee’s performance. Instead, create a simple recording system for them to use.

Many states and municipalities have wage-and-hour laws that go beyond the mandates of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA sets the floor for wage-and-hour rules, but states and cities are free to set standards that are more generous to employees.

The smartphones we carry in our pockets and purses give us 24/7/365 access to work-related phone calls, emails and texts—which gives our bosses 24/7/365 access to us. Thus, many managers expect their employees to be available to instantly respond to questions or solve problems. That is taking a mental toll.