Legal Regulations in Workplace Practices
Federal, state and local level laws regulate the employment practices of organizations in the United States. Regulatory requirements certainly impact the human resources processes of a workplace. Social and legal regulations are necessary to manage the current workforce or the future supplies of labor in a workplace. This paper tries to examine the effect of regulations in the human resources processes of a workplace relating to the statement that Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a very important law in the workplace practices which banned most discriminatory hiring practices. The three areas of this act equal opportunity, affirmative action, and sexual harassment described in various sections impact all human resource practices and managers are supposed to comply with them compulsorily. The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws protect individuals against discrimination on race, age, or gender. The EEOregulations ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity of getting a job or considering for a promotion at the work place. Affirmative action requires the employer to make an additional effort to appoint and promote people belonging to a protected group. Taking actions to eliminate the effects of previous discriminations also are considered as affirmative actions.
The Equal Employment opportunity laws are enforced by Equal Employment opportunity Commission and the commission carries out enforcement of some other major labor laws in the US. Apart from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, EEOC oversee the compliance with Civil Rights Act of 1991, Equal Pay Act of 1963, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, American with Disabilities Act and Vocational Rehabilitation Act. Compliance with these regulations are required for all private employers of 15 or more persons, public and private employment agencies, all educational institutions, state and local governments, labor unions with 15 or more members and joint (labor-management) committees for apprenticeship and training.
The present statistics reveals an increasing trend among the workforce to seek legal protection against discriminatory acts or denial of rights by their respective employers. The Equal Employment Commission (EEOC) averaged about 80,000 charges of discrimination between 1997 and 2007. It will include all categories of the protected classes such as gender, age, religion, race and ethnicity etc. Together with the high levels of unemployment and the down-turn in the economy, discrimination charges hiked to an average of 94,000 charges filed in 2008 - 2009 which was equivalent to a 20% increase. The EEOC also enforces the Americans with disabilities Act of 1990. Enforcement actions taken under this acthad declined steadily each year from 18,100 actions in 1997 to 14,893 actions taken in 2005. But in 2008 and 2009 there has also been an increase in enforcement actions of this act to 19,453 in 2008. The 2009 statistics have hit at a record 21,451 enforcement actions under the Act.
The statistics available with the Department of Labor also offers some hints of new trends in workplace. In the business sector, Productivity, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and prices are seasonally adjusted. The productivity of the American worker per hour between 2008 and 2009 increased from an increase of 1.1% in 2007 to an increase of 3.5% from 2008 in 2009. Costs per hour of labor from 2007 decreased by 1.8% and the decrease jumped to 3.2% in 2008 for 2009. While productivity per hour of American labor increased 3.5% there was a decrease in the cost of American labor per hour of 3.2%. It means that though American workers were being more productive, they were rewarded less for their output.
The Department of Homeland Security (HS) would impose regulations that impact the labor force. HS establishes immigration regulations though a temporary worker program required by the previous Executive Administration has not been approved by Congress. This program would allow employers to hire temporary labor for seasonal jobs for which Americans are not suitable. The administration of HS is enforcing its deportation rules with a less stern manner for theBorder States, such as Arizona. As per statistics, the number of illegal aliens deported from the United States has increased in each of the last seven years to a high of 393,000 foreign nationals being removed from the United States. The illegal immigrant population is estimated to be around 11 million and the enforcement of existing laws will result in a reduction in the labor market as the Temporary worker Program is not yet approved by the Congress.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) comments on the present trends in the workplace litigation that they have observed a potential increase in employment related lawsuits in the last ten years. They also state that American companies are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The increase in employee litigation is attributed to new laws that were established in the early 1990s. The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 are familiar to any individual and employees are much more educated and aware of their rights to sue an employer. They don’t have any more inhibitions in opting for such actions as they are more informative and watching such incidences and the benefits of employeelawsuits circulated through the mass media.
At present, the work place regulations and followed lawsuits are accepted increasingly among the employees. In fact, legal practices are advising the firms they represent to refrain from unhealthy workplace processes so that they are observed more compassionately. In most of the modern organizations, human resources departments take care of employee grievances together with other employee related responsibilities. An efficient Human resources team must be aware of state and federal laws regarding welfare of employees and labor rights. The HR team has much to contribute in avoiding legal interventions within an organization. They can work as a good intermediary between the employees and employer by understanding the objectives of the organization at the same time protecting the wellbeing of the workforce.
References
Stennis, Monique (2011). Five Ways To Protect Your Company Against Employment Litigation. Retrieved on 20 June 2011 from
HR Management: Laws and Regulations. (n.a), (2011). Retrieved on 20 June 2011 from
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) Charges (includes concurrent charges with Title VII, ADEA, and EPA) FY 1997- FY 2010. Retrieved on 20 June 2011 from
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Overview of BLS Statistics on Pay and Benefits. Retrieved on 20 June 2011 from
US Deports 393,000 Immigrants, (7 October 2010). Retrieved on 20 June 2011 from