Managing Employment Liability

Originally Published MX September/October 2002

BUSINESS PLANNING & TECHNOLOGY

Managing Employment Liability

A complete risk management program encompasses all types of employee–employer relationships.

Joni E. Johnston

For most medtech executives, the concept of company legal risks brings to mind issues of regulatory compliance and product liability exposure. Recent United States Supreme Court decisions, however, in conjunction with some key medical device industry trends, signal the need for medical technology companies' risk management programs to include a strong employment liability component.

Employment liability diagnosis and management is indeed an area of increased focus in the medical device industry. Three industry forces lie behind this: the growth of global economic interrelationships, the recognition by senior management that risk and reward decisions made within an organization are interrelated, and the increasing evidence that top management decisions regarding risk management affect shareholder value directly.

This article examines the current employment liability atmosphere,