Research Paper on Employment Law: Protecting Rights and Regulating Relationships

Introduction

Employment law plays a significant role in the creation of the human resources framework and guidelines which are instrumental in protecting the rights and needs of the employees and ensuring that the employees conduct themselves in a professional manner (Boone, 2015). The employment law facilitates the creation of policies and procedures within the organization and industries that regulate the relationship between the employees and the employers. However, the employment law is faced by multiple risks from within the business operating environment and also from the external factors (Boone, 2015). Businesses have the responsibility and the ability to mitigate the employment law risks by initiating internal actions that can be instrumental in facilitating the human resource department to function and operate within the constructs of the employment law when selecting, hiring, disciplining, terminating employment contracts, selecting employees for professional development, creating internal human resources policies, complying to government policies, compensating employees, dealing with harassment cases, and promoting the workplace safety (Boone, 2015). This paper will seek to establish the approaches through which businesses can uphold the employment law and mitigate the potential risks.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Ways to Predict Conditions That Make Business Risk for HR/Employment Law More Likely

Different human resources components and procedures are faced with unique individual problems and concerns that poses a threat to the existing employment law compliance (Hernandez, 2010). The following are the key approaches of predicting conditions that increase the risk of business employment law non-compliance:

Nepotism in Hiring Practices and Lack of Elaborate Talent Selection Criteria

Nepotism and lack of talent selection criteria creates an ideal environment within an organization which increases the risk of employment law non-compliance. Nepotism involves business favoritism amongst those that have power and influence who prefer their relatives and friends for job opportunities within an organization (Hernandez, 2010). Such practices can be used to predict employment law risk because the federal, the state, and local governments protects employees against discrimination of any kind. For instance, cases of nepotism poses a risk to business compliance to the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Boone, 2015).

Inefficient Promotion Procedures and Lack of Proper Disciplinary Criteria

Another important aspect that can be used to predict the business failure to meet employment laws guidelines is a business environment where there is lack of promotion transparency and proper criteria of handling disciplinary cases (Boone, 2015). Business laws requires organizations to give their employees equal chance to promotion and promotion based on merit (Hernandez, 2010). In businesses with poor promotion and transfer procedures increases the overall cases of corruption which is against the federal and state employment laws.

Discriminatory Policies and Procedures

Business non-compliance to employment laws can be evident when business human resources policies which does not consider existing legal framework for employee regulations. Business procedures should be in compliance with the existing employment laws to ensure that business activities are legal (Hernandez, 2010). Arbitrary policies and procedures for compensation can lead to business employee discrimination and substandard pay which does not meet the set minimum wage requirements.

Lack of HR Officers Training on Employment Laws

Human resources employees play a significant role in the overall business compliance to the workplace safety, prevent employee discrimination, compensation compliance and even the guidelines by the different government agencies (Boone, 2015). Routine training of the people responsible for managing and implementing the human resources policies is necessary to ensure that an organization comply with the employment law.

Suggestions on How to Reduce the Occurrence of Employment Law Risk

Harnessing Business Transparency and Integrity Values

Business organizations can be able to reduce the occurrence of employment law compliance risk by developing values and principles within the HR department that encourage transparency and integrity in the selection of employees, compensation, promotions, and disciplinary processes within an organization (Boone, 2015). Lack of transparency within the HR department is the recipe for malpractices which leads to non-compliance of the employment laws. HR employees who have transparency values and observe integrity which is key in the compliance of the United States employment laws (Hernandez, 2010). Business organizations should be able to encourage a culture of transparency by announcing promotions and the criteria used or employment opportunities which is key in preventing discrimination and nepotism cases in the hiring, promotion, compensation, disciplinary and the professional development activities of an organization.

Internal Business Responsibility in Creating Internal Compliance Procedures and Policies

Business internal leadership responsibility is a significant deterrence to employment law noncompliance (Hernandez, 2010). Leadership responsibility encourages legal compliance due to high accountability of the junior employees who are forced to follow the example of the leaders who show high level of transparency and observance of the employment laws. Internal discipline amongst the HR leaders can be instrumental in preventing business malpractices such as nepotism, corruptions and arbitrary ignorance to the employment laws (Boone, 2015). Responsible HR leadership can oversee the talent selection, promotions, disciplinary action and procedures and mediate in employee harassment and discrimination cases (Hernandez, 2010). When leaders are actively involved and held accountable of the human resources decisions increases the overall compliance to the employment laws in all HR activities.

Early Warning Signals of Said Risk

Lack of Internal Human Resources Activities Control

Internal controls are policies that regulate the HR activities and processes with the aim of promoting professionalism and compliance to the government laws. The lack of internal controls within an organization increases the tendency of employment law non-compliance (Boone, 2015). The internal controls prevents arbitrary and non-professional decision making within the ranks of HR which reduces noncompliance to the employment laws (Hernandez, 2010). Internal controls are procedures and rules of engagement that have to be observed by the HR and employees in general.

Lack of Transparency in HR Activities

The lack of transparency within HR activities is a signal for employment law noncompliance due to lack of criticism and publicity of the HR activities (Hernandez, 2010). Transparency encourages professional conduct of HR employees which reduces the chances of nepotism, corruption and discrimination which could negatively impact the business public image.

Lack of Internal Reporting Channels and Diversity

An organization that does not have internal reporting systems for whistleblowing on malpractices and lack of diversity in the employee leadership ranks increases corruption and collusion which decreases the compliance to the employment laws (Boone, 2015). Organizations that does not have room for whistle blowing and diversity in the leadership ranks are prone to employment laws noncompliance.

How to Mitigate Employment Law Non Compliance

Regular Business Inspection

Noncompliance to the employment laws can be mitigated through regular workplace inspection which ensures that a business maintains the required work safety standards which is key in promoting employee safety and reducing the potential of accidents (Boone, 2015). Business organizations should schedule regular inspections in the premises to ensure that safety standards are maintained and can mitigate potential noncompliance to the employment laws.

Creation of Employee Malpractice Investigation Procedures

Malpractice accusations that can lead to disciplinary cases or dismissal should be handled in a clear and procedural manner which will eliminate the cases of discrimination of the employees facing disciplinary or dismissal cases (Vosko, Grundy, Tucker, Thomas, Noack, Casey... & Mussell, 2017). This ensures that employees are satisfied with the fairness of the proceedings and they are pleased with the outcomes of the cases.

Promoting Fairness and Transparency

Fairness and transparency within the human resources activities such as hiring, promotion, compensation, professional development and disciplinary action and talent search are conducted in a fair and just manner without discrimination (Hernandez, 2010). Transparency prevents secrecy within an organization which can be detrimental to the observation of the employment laws.

Promoting Leadership Accountability and Responsibility Culture

When leaders are held accountable of their actions there is higher compliance level to the employment laws (Hernandez, 2010). Leaders should be made to assume full responsibility in the observation of employment laws in HR activities which will encourage other levels of HR officials to follow suit and operate within the constructs of the employment law.

Risk Reporting

Creating procedures for reporting employment law noncompliance and risks within an organization is integral towards achieving full compliance, fairness, transparency and respect to the business internal policies. The organization should establish policies that encourage employees to report malpractices by establishing an ethic committee that should protect the identities of the whistleblowers without the potential of prosecution for such acts. Reporting of the risks of employment law noncompliance should be conducted through the public media with the emphasis on the steps that the business has established to encourage compliance (Shimabukuro & Whitaker, 2012). The board of directors should be made aware of the potential risk of employment law non-compliance poses legal or reputation risk to the business which could negatively affect the business outcomes and sustainability.

Conclusion

Employment law risk is a significant challenge that many businesses face due to weak internal procedures and malpractices. Poor training of HR officers, nepotism, lack of transparency within an organization HR procedures, and poor implementation of internal controls increases the risk of employment law non-compliance. It is important for business organizations to establish mitigation efforts to reduce noncompliance of employment laws. An organization should increase the culture of transparency and also make leaders personally responsible for any HR malpractices such as discrimination and corruption in the promotion and the compensation policies. Besides, an organization should be able to create reporting measures for whistleblowing on internal HR malpractices and also reporting to the stakeholders which is key in further deliberation of the HR policies.

References

Boone, G. (2015). Labor law highlights, 1915-2015. Monthly Labor Review. Bureau of Labor Statistics Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/pdf/labor-law-highlights-1915-2015.pdf

Hernandez, T. K. (2010). Employment Discrimination in the Ethnically Diverse Workplace. Judges J., 49, 33. Retrieved from https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/judgej49&section=42

Shimabukuro, J. O., & Whitaker, L. P. (2012). Whistleblower protections under federal law: An overview. Digital Commons. Retrieved from https://digita...