Sitting on a sleeping alligator

Connie Laughlin

Gator Hunting Tale
Here’s a tale about a local fellow that harvested a gator many years back. A crowd gathered and everyone couldn’t wait to take pictures, even poising their children atop the beast for some fun shots. When he got back in town and was heading home frantic motorists started passing him honking and making all kinds of crazy hand gestures. He hurriedly exited into the first side street and came to a screeching halt. Scrambling out of the truck he found the gator had come back to life, was thrashing about, and hanging half-way out of the pickup bed.  From what I recall he shot it again, shoved it back in, and got the heck out of there.
I have no idea how he could have prevented that from happening. There are so many what ifs I don’t even want to think about! And, what if the gator had fallen out of his truck, on Saratoga? That would have made for some interesting insurance claims.  At the end of the day - it was his responsibility.
Moral:  Harvested gators and other wildlife might be unconscious - not dead! Before you start caping out your trophy, or posing children for an irresistible photo op, make sure he’s literally taking a dirt nap, not just napping.

Barehanded Golf Ball Retrieval
If you want the dish on gator stories there’s plenty of capturing headlines on the internet or television, such as; 77 year old golfer loses arm retrieving ball, young boy drags alligator home from canal, alligator poacher's slate wiped clean by Obama pardon, along with stories warning you to not kiss gators because you might get salmonella, and so on.
Moral:  If you hit your golf ball into a water hazard in a coastal region, don’t be a bone-head! Grab another ball, drop it, and go on. Don’t take the risk.

Danger, Danger …  You Could Be Headed for Litigation
If you’re in business dealing with employees at times it feels like wrestling gators. Or, you might very well prefer to wrestle a gator than end up wrangling in a courtroom.  All in all, it can get pretty nasty for all sides if you don’t have a team of human resource pro’s, risk management specialists, and a safety manager to effectively handle employees, keep assets protected, and ensure you don’t fall into the legal arena.  You must provide a safe and legal worksite - due diligence is mandatory.  You’ll find in most small to medium sized businesses it’s just the owner and possibly one other employee overseeing all these duties – or not.  Going it alone provides little protection for keeping your costs low and predictable.

Litigious employee activity, depending on number of plaintiffs and your case, can set you back anywhere from $0 to over millions of dollars. Would it be fair to say that EEOC is now trying to discourage the entrepreneurial spirit our country was built on? I keep hearing them referred to as a wet-blanket deferring the prosperity of companies or wiping them out all together. This is due to new interpretations of the laws, for example, ADA, and employers’ merit-based hiring, etc.  So, basically companies can be sued for not hiring specific Individuals, then they can be sued for hiring them.
Moral:  Pay your due diligence learning all there is to know about risk mitigation, safety, and EEOC, amongst numerous other things having to do with being an employer, or outsource your human resources to a PEO (Professional Employer Organization).  Or, you could pay big-time in court.
Connie Laughlin is a Business Consultant for UniqueHR. You may contact Connie at (361) 852-6392 or conniel@uniquehr.com.