legal discrimination for refusing/turning down business

[Leyeden]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

i am considering starting an electrical contracting company, most of my targeted market will be industrial and commercial business' but i will do some residential work.

i am trying to cover my bases with turning down work/refusing work, say i have a potential customer call looking to hire an electrical contractor for work and they seem unreasonable or like they may be a pain in the a**, what do i need to consider or do for a bulletproof way to not get in trouble for discrimination?

i don't believe this is likely to be a problem, but i like to be prepared.

say the customer calls and i ask for there address and what there problem is or i go to the location and look over the job with the customer and i just get a feeling the customer is going to be unreasonable, and i tell the customer "i am going to pass on this job", there going to ask why and i tell them " it's just not something i'm interested in doing". and say the customer turns out to be black or gay and irrational and calls the BBB and claims discrimination.

the things i can think of to do is keeping records of all work that i turn down with the real reasons and the reasons i gave to the customer, and also keeping records of jobs i did for classes that can claim discrimination. And also establishing a relationship with a local business attorney.

does anyone have any suggestions for me? whether it be what to tell the customer or proactive things to do.

thanks

 

[cbg]

The BBB is a consumer agency and has no regulatory authority. Your hypothetical employee can call the BBB and claim anything they want; the BBB has no authority to do anything to you.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Discrimination is only illegal if it is on the basis of someone being a member of a protected class (race, sex, national origin...). Being a pain in the butt is not a protected class.

You should also know that the BBB has no power to enforce anything. They use complaints to sell memberships to businesses.

That said, when you come across what you think might be a problem customer you don't refuse them you up the quote.

 

[Leyeden]

Discrimination is only illegal if it is on the basis of someone being a member of a protected class (race, sex, national origin...). Being a pain in the butt is not a protected class.

You should also know that the BBB has no power to enforce anything. They use complaints to sell memberships to businesses.

That said, when you come across what you think might be a problem customer you don't refuse them you up the quote.

i know my reasoning is not illegal, but are there things i can do to protect myself from false claims of illegal discrimination?


i guess not just for the BBB but getting in trouble in any way from it, NAACP, etc.

thanks

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

i am considering starting an electrical contracting company, most of my targeted market will be industrial and commercial business' but i will do some residential work.

i am trying to cover my bases with turning down work/refusing work, say i have a potential customer call looking to hire an electrical contractor for work and they seem unreasonable or like they may be a pain in the a**, what do i need to consider or do for a bulletproof way to not get in trouble for discrimination?

i don't believe this is likely to be a problem, but i like to be prepared.

say the customer calls and i ask for there address and what there problem is or i go to the location and look over the job with the customer and i just get a feeling the customer is going to be unreasonable, and i tell the customer "i am going to pass on this job", there going to ask why and i tell them " it's just not something i'm interested in doing". and say the customer turns out to be black or gay and irrational and calls the BBB and claims discrimination.

the things i can think of to do is keeping records of all work that i turn down with the real reasons and the reasons i gave to the customer, and also keeping records of jobs i did for classes that can claim discrimination. And also establishing a relationship with a local business attorney.

does anyone have any suggestions for me? whether it be what to tell the customer or proactive things to do.

thanks

In the service industry the more diplomatic thing to saw if you do not want to do a job is that you either do not have the necessary parts on the truck or that you do not have time to do it that day. I would recommend that you do NOT attempt to charge a "visit" or "service call" charge for going out there in that case. You already are risking an accusation of discrimination and if you charge for the service call when you did not actually do the work and know that you do not intend to come back, it just makes it look worse.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Again the NAACP like the BBB has no enforcement power. There is nothing you can do to protect yourself from a FALSE claim.

 

[Leyeden]

In the service industry the more diplomatic thing to saw if you do not want to do a job is that you either do not have the necessary parts on the truck or that you do not have time to do it that day. I would recommend that you do NOT attempt to charge a "visit" or "service call" charge for going out there in that case. You already are risking an accusation of discrimination and if you charge for the service call when you did not actually do the work and know that you do not intend to come back, it just makes it look worse.

i agree with not charging for the visit, that won't happen.

but in terms of what to say, i would rather be more honest with them that i am not going to do the work in the future either, i wouldn't want them to think i might get back with them to do the work later.

 

[Leyeden]

Again the NAACP like the BBB has no enforcement power. There is nothing you can do to protect yourself from a FALSE claim.

by protection, i don't mean to prevent there from being a claim, i mean to help with my defense against the claim.

by NAACP i mean, they could try to sue me.


thanks

 

[FlyingRon]

by NAACP i mean, they could try to sue me.


thanks

The NAACP can't sue you. Neither can the ACLU. Only the affected party can sue. So if you discriminate against Joe African-American, he can sue. NAACP can even provide legal assistance to him, but the NAACP can't sue because you discriminated against Joe.

 

[Leyeden]

The NAACP can't sue you. Neither can the ACLU. Only the affected party can sue. So if you discriminate against Joe African-American, he can sue. NAACP can even provide legal assistance to him, but the NAACP can't sue because you discriminated against Joe.

okay thanks, lol, so if joe sues me then.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Then you get a lawyer and defend against it.

But unless you there is something going on in your area these sorts of suits are really very rare. In general people you don't want to work with don't want to work with you.

 

[LdiJ]

i agree with not charging for the visit, that won't happen.

but in terms of what to say, i would rather be more honest with them that i am not going to do the work in the future either, i wouldn't want them to think i might get back with them to do the work later.

In that case it would be better to turn the job down entirely and not go out there at all. There is being honest and there is being insulting and quite frankly, pretty much everybody would be insulted by what you want to say. You need a vastly more diplomatic response than "its just not something I am interested in doing".

Plus, if you turn down every job where the homeowner might be too picky for you or too much of a pain, you are going to be turning down more work than you end up accepting.

 

[Leyeden]

In that case it would be better to turn the job down entirely and not go out there at all. There is being honest and there is being insulting and quite frankly, pretty much everybody would be insulted by what you want to say. You need a vastly more diplomatic response than "its just not something I am interested in doing".

Plus, if you turn down every job where the homeowner might be too picky for you or too much of a pain, you are going to be turning down more work than you end up accepting.

it wouldn't be about someone being picky, it's just some people you can tell they're probably going to try to screw you any way they can, or they just seem ridiculously unreasonable or ignorant.

i agree i need a better response, the best i can come up with is, "i'm not interested in doing the work". i think i would rather error on the side of honesty and come off insulting than be dishonest with them.


thanks

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Well, if anyone is going to get sued it is going to be you.

You increase the the chances of upsetting someone exponentially when you insult them. If that someone happens to be in a protected class and you are refusing their business they will often think it is because they are in a protected class. Upset people sue more often than those who aren't upset.

 

[Leyeden]

Well, if anyone is going to get sued it is going to be you.

You increase the the chances of upsetting someone exponentially when you insult them. If that someone happens to be in a protected class and you are refusing their business they will often think it is because they are in a protected class. Upset people sue more often than those who aren't upset.

i agree, that's why i'm asking for suggestions.