As government regulation proliferates, enforcement agencies and the courts have been unsympathetic to banks that are unable to maintain strict compliance. Lawyers representing disgruntled employees have exploited the threat of expensive and time consuming litigation to extract settlements from bankers.

Few bankers have validated their satisfaction of these new and complex requirements by carrying out a thorough employment compliance assessment. Helms & Greene's lawyers are very familiar with the employment laws regulating the banking industry, have performed these assessments regularly, and have developed an efficient methodology. Employment Law Compliance, Inc. now offers this service at a specially reduced member rate.

The Assessment begins with a review of personnel documents to determine whether the legally required documents are in place at the Bank, whether the documentation violates any federal and state law prohibition, and whether the documentation gives rise to potential employment liabilities. During the Assessment, an employment attorney will review the following types of documents:

The attorney will interview the appropriate Bank representatives, Human Resources Manager, Operations Manager, Bank President, or other officer responsible for human resources matters. The structured interview is intended to examine various personnel processes regulated by a variety of federal and state employment laws. The processes that will be examined during the Assessment are:

We will focus on those laws that most extensively regulate banks and financial institutions. We examine Bank compliance with the following critically important employment laws and executive orders:

Each Assessment will create an attorney/client relationship between the law firm and the Bank for the purposes of this project. Therefore, all communication between the lawyer and Bank representatives will be protected by the attorney/client privilege. This provides a unique opportunity for complete candor, teamwork to identify where human resources practices could be enhanced, and little risk of subsequent disclosure in an investigation or lawsuit.

Participating banks will receive a written report identifying any areas of significant potential liability, prioritized based on the extent of the potential liability and the likelihood of detection.

In the course of our extensive work in the banking industry, we have found that areas of deficiency can often be easily cured with a policy, document, checklist or other tool we have already developed or is otherwise readily at our disposal. If deficiencies are identified that can be addressed by tools at our disposal, those documents will be provided with the report at no extra charge.

We have agreed to a specially reduced fee schedule for members. The fee varies depending on the number of employees employed by the Bank.

Bankers interested in purchasing the Employment Compliance Assessments may call 1-866-801-6302 toll free, email to aba@employlawcompliance.com, or fax us at 770-206-3381.