If you need to give managers another reason to pay attention during legal training, this one might do the trick.

It’s the new trend in employment lawsuits: personal liability. Seems like making companies shell out the big bucks wasn’t enough, so courts have started dipping their hands into individual managers’ pockets, too.

The thinking is that since supervisors are normally the ones carrying out the actions that make employees sue, they ought to be held accountable themselves.

Wage and hour

In one recent case, a company was sued for failing to pay overtime. The verdict: The company was ordered to hand over $141,000 in back pay.

But it wasn’t just the employer that got hit hard – the manager who was in charge of the employees was forced to pay the same amount in punitive damages, since compensation decisions were mostly in his control (Cite: Chao v. Hotel Oasis, Inc.).

FMLA

A similar case was decided after an employee was fired while taking FMLA leave. Except this time, both her supervisor and the company’s HR manager were held personally liable.

They tried to have the case thrown out, saying they couldn’t be sued for the company’s decision to terminate the women. But the judge didn’t buy it. As the FMLA says, “Any person who acts directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer to any of the employees of such employer” can be held responsible. In other words, as the primary decision-makers, the two managers screwed up and had to fork over the money (Cite: Spagnoli v. Brown & Brown Metro, Inc.).

Harassment and discrimination

What about discrimination and harassment cases? It depends. As far as federal law goes, the courts have agreed there’s no individual liability in those kinds of suits.

But the states are a mixed bag. For example, the California Supreme Court recently tossed out a retaliation suit against a manager, citing previous decisions rejecting the idea of personal liability in harassment and discrimination cases.

But that’s not true everywhere. In New York, a lawsuit was filed by a woman who claimed she was fired because of her gender. The higher-ups who made the decision to let her go were included as individual defendants. The court let the case go forward, finding that, under New York law, individuals with “significant supervisory authority” can be sued for discrimination (Cite: Heinemann v. Howe & Rusling, et. al.).

Regardless of where your state falls on the issue, it’s a threat supervisors need to be aware of – and it’s a good way to drive home the importance of paying attention to the law next time you give a training presentation.