...INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze in depth the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. This Act was approved on October 31, 1978 with the purpose of amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. EXPLANATION OF THE ACT AND ITS HISTORY: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was brought about as a result of the significant discrimination being placed upon woman in the workplace due to pregnancy or pregnancy related medical conditions. This Act was also passed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court holdings in General Electric Company v. Gilbert, that pregnancy discrimination does not violate the Constitution or other federal law. The Act was passed in 1978 as an effort to rebuke this descision and eliminate this discrimination and set guidelines for employers. As provided by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is described as follows: “An Act to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 701 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(k) The terms 'because of sex' or 'on the basis of sex' include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related...
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...Workplace Legal/Ethical Issues – Summary Paper BUS 670 – Legal Environment Instructor Troy Tureau September 19, 2011 Workplace Legal/Ethical Issues – Summary Paper Legal and ethical issues are prevalent in the today’s workplace. That is one reason why many companies have a legal department within their organization. It is the management team’s responsibility to set the tone for their organization’s ethical and legal behavior. It is also management’s responsibility to ensure that their employees understand the ramifications of poor ethical and legal decisions. This paper will examine workplace issues surrounding a facility composed of union labor, contract awards in that facility and vendor selection for equipment and supply purchases. When I was a child, I loved to sing along with the Oscar Mayer television commercial, “I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer wiener, that is what I’d truly like to be, ‘cause if I was an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me.” I loved hotdogs, as did many kids, and that jingle was every kids anthem. In 1999, as a management consultant, I had the opportunity to perform a job at the Kraft Oscar Mayer facility in Madison, Wisconsin. It was during the fall and winter months, therefore, in addition to the work, the weather has always made that a very memorable experience. The facility manufactures the “Lunchables” product line, a product primarily for children, as well as bologna, bacon, hot dogs, sausage links and sausage...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Issues of Human Resources Tara Moreno HCS/341 August 24, 2015 Angela Thomas Human resources are greatly impacted by the legal, safety, and regulatory issues that pertain to their company’s employees. The statement, “common sense and compassion has been replaced with litigation”, implies that companies today have become so engrossed with avoiding legal liabilities and lawsuits by employees that a cold management style becomes the result. Human resource managers must be well informed of regulations and laws in place that protect employee and employer rights and enforce employer responsibilities as they pertain to legal, safety, and regulatory issues in the workplace. There are many legal issues that companies must adhere to that are enforced by the Department of Labor. These laws are set in place to protect both the employee and the employer and to ensure fairness and ethical behaviors within the workplace. Some of the legal aspects of human resources that are governed by the Department of Labor include, but are not limited to; wages and hours, workplace safety, and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ("U.s. Department Of Labor", n.d.). Employers are required to pay minimum wage to non-exempt employees for regular hours worked and time and a half pay when overtime hours are worked. The standards for wage and overtime pay are set forth by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), while the Wage and Hour Division enforces these standards. Additionally...
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...in which the romantically involved parties acknowledge the following: • Their relationship is voluntary and consensual. • They agree to abide by the employer’s antidiscrimination, antiharrassment, and workplace conduct policies. • They promise to report any perceived harassment to management, if it occurs. • They agree to behave professionally and now allow the relationship to affect their performance. • They agree to avoid behavior that offends others in the workplace. • They agree not to engage in favoritism. This is especially an issue if one of the employees is in a higher management position and has the authority to influence rewards available to the other employee.” Thesis Statement: In analyzing the case, “Consensual Relationship Agreements”, the following categories will be addressed: (1) Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements in your current (or future) workplace; (2) Create a counter argument against the use of CRAs in your current (or future) workplace; (3) Discuss the ethical principles involved in the use of CRAs; and (4) create at least one (1) other option besides CRAs that would address workplace romances. 1. Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements (CRAs) in your current (or future) workplace: High performance workplaces often require long hours and high pressure, and that often drives employees to...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements When reading the statement, “Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation”, I realize that many people may have very different ideas on whether they agree or disagree with the statement. In my opinion, I believe that this does not have to be the status quo. I strongly believe that it is up to the organization and how they treat their employees as to whether litigation in the workplace supersedes compassion and common sense. Let’s take a closer look into this. Employee-Related Regulations In today’s society there has been a drastic increase of lawsuits against employers, which has resulted in heightened awareness and acceptance of employees filing legal claims against a negative workplace situation. Some of the organizations and laws created for the purpose of protecting employees include the Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the American’s with Disabilities Act of 1990. These laws and organizations address issues such as discrimination in the workplace, sexual harassment, safety in the workplace, senseless firing, and denial of employee rights. Unfortunately, several of these human resource laws are very complex. For example, according to Gomez-Mejia (2012), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is extremely long and there are over 1,000 different disabilities that affect over 43 million Americans (p. 95). Due to the complexity and...
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...ethical issues associated with conflict in the contemporary workplace? Option B 9/27/2012 HRMN365 \la In the earlier centuries, contemporary workplaces put all of their focus on making their organization grow; however in the twenty century there have been more and more major ethical issues such as Employee Behavior, Harassment, and Paying Employees Equally associated with conflict in the contemporary workplace. Since the rise of ethical issues in the contemporary workplace, it is no longer in the organization hands to enforce ethic training; Courts have made a decision that ethics training became a legal requirement “federal guidelines and state laws make it essential that you provide your employees with a compliance training program on certain laws and ethics-related topics” (Ethics Training Program & Corporate Compliance Training Programs, n.d.). Researchers haves said (Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, John and Ferrell, Linda, 2008) that by having an ethical workplace, your organization will benefit from it; it is the key to building an ethical work environment. “A compliance Training program will save you money by reducing the number of legal claims and the costs of investigating, litigating, and resolving those claims” (Ethics Training Program & Corporate Compliance Training Programs, n.d.). With organizations teaching and communicating their values and principles ensuring that employees know proper policies will also reduce some of the major ethical issues and...
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...Ethic Issues in Management Conel Joseph MGT/216 September 1, 2010 Chrystal Tart Ethic Issues in Management In business ethic issues occurs on a regular basics. How does business resolve these matters? What legal aspect does management may have to address? In any business management has to prepare for ethic issues. The businesses realize that being unaware of ethic issues in the company can be a problem waiting to erupt. In this paper I will discuss moral and ethical issues, social issues responsible in management, and legal aspects facing management. In the business world management has multiple tasks to complete on a daily basic. In a business managers are seen as a leadership role. The leader must be productive efficiency with a group of employees. The task of handling moral and ethical issues is critical aspect that management has to address. The moral issues can be tough to handle. Individuals view morals as what is right and wrong pertaining to all situations. Ethic issues ties into the moral views of the employee as well. The norm is that everyone knows right from wrong. In the workplace employee are diverse and unique. Also there are different ethnicity, race, gender, ages, and physical disabilities in the workplace. Some of the moral and ethics issue managers have to face are termination, hiring, working hours, work ethic bias, discipline, and harassment. How do managers tackle such a major problem facing business around the country? The first...
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...The Effects of Unethical Leadership in the Workplace Leadership in Organizations A leader’s actions, ethics, behaviors, and values have a huge impact on those that they lead (Span, 2012). The impact can change the whole culture of the organization. Unethical behavior by a leader in the workplace can lower employee’s performance and productivity, lower a company’s credibility, and the possibility of legal issues ("Effects of Unethical Behavior in the Workplace | Cogentys," 2013). Unethical behavior can lower employee’s performance and productivity. By having an unethical leader, an employee may begin to take their job less serious. A leader should be setting an example for their employees to follow. If an employee sees a lack in effort and values from their leader, they will be more likely to reflect the same behaviors. Employee’s performance is determined by the amount of motivation they have; if they have a leader who does not care, they will not care either. By lowering the performance and productivity of the employees, the company will begin to lose money and cash flow (Zeiger, n.d.). Having an unethical leader can lower a company’s credibility. If consumers hear of things a leader has said or done that they do not ethically agree with, they may refuse to shop or spend money on a specific item or service given by the company. Once the public knows the lack of ethics, the company will lose credibility. Although a company can recover, it is hard to rebuild the relationship...
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...Ethical and Legal Issues Concerning At-will Employment Jasmine Mills Park University Abstract As years pass by, every sphere of life is taking a new dimension; for instance, advancing technology. This has resulted in some ethical issues in workplaces such as cyberloafing, privacy, information technology usage, employee monitoring. Also, legal issues in workplaces such as lawsuits have emerged. Both employers and employees are worried about the ethical consequences resulting from the ethical issues While bosses use surveillance devices to keep track of their workers' activities and output, these workers feel that excessive monitoring is an attack on their confidentiality and privacy. The strategy of checking workers on a timely basis is contributed by the fact that bosses have rights over everything in the “at-will employment environment.” Additionally, this paper provides a proposal for reducing the ethical and legal issues. The paper also encourages organizations to generate and efficiently communicate ethical standards for workers in their companies. It also includes real examples of workers' perceptions as well as an emotional state from the surveys based on ethical and legal issues raised regarding the topic of study. Keywords: At-will employment, employee monitoring, Ethical and legal issues. Introduction At- will means employment can be terminated at any time, for any reason or no reason without facing legal action. Likewise, an employee can quit a job with or...
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...Legal & Safety Felisha Torres HCS/341 Angela Thomas March 12, 2012 Legal & Safety A huge effect of legal, safety, and regulatory requirements are significant when it comes to the human resource process. It is important for all human resource departments to be fully aware of safety, legal, and regulatory requirements for the protection of both the employer and the employee. I agree with the statement “Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation.”. Furthermore, there have been many employee related regulations that have been set forth ; an example of such is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The human resources process is built on legal, safety, and regulatory requirements that all HR personnel must abide by. The legal effect on the human resources process allows HR to do the right thing, to realize the limitations of your firms HR and legal department, and it allows the HR department to minimize the firm’s potential liability. Doing the right thing regarding the HR department will give each individual an equal chance at employment. Complying with state and federal laws is not only mandatory it is the “right thing to do”. There are certain results that can be a result of not doing the right thing; those things include low job satisfaction, poor job performance, poor employee morale, and could cause potential legal liability. Equal Employment opportunity laws also known as EEO laws were created to give individuals...
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...brief features research related to conversing about sexual relations in the workplace between employees. Following the summary of the topic, there is an analysis of implications within App2go’s workplace environment in relation to the issue. The brief will conclude with recommendations for App2go to monitor and control the implications of discussing sexual relations within the work atmosphere. 2.0 Summary of the issue The current issue focuses on talking about sex/sexual relations within the workplace. Talking about sex has become very commonplace in today’s society; it has become very easy to cross the line between professional discussion and discussions meant for after work. It is becoming an ever-increasing problem within the workplace as persons and employees think of themselves as innocently flirting, cracking a joke or making a risqué comment (Seidenfeld,2010). The persons themselves may not have a problem with their actions and remarks; it may in fact be their co-workers who have difficulties understanding and dealing with the said actions. Small businesses are more likely to entail conversations about sex within the workplace due to the likeliness of little to no Human Resource censure (Cain,2015). App2go as a business has grown from a small business of roughly ten employees to a medium size business with over 100 in the space of three years. It is important to the business that the workplace environment is of high quality and respectable standard, regardless of...
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...the parties were unable to proceed to court. Janvier et al. case was terminated, as the current legislations in Saskatchewan prevents workers’ from suing employers for damages in the event of a workplace injury. Currently, the parties are petitioning WCB to review their policy and legislations, as the victims do not feel adequately compensated (Leo 2014). As WCB is bound by policy and legislation, and the liability protection towards employers is an important component this legislation, this matter is not appealable to the Board unless revisions are made to Saskatchewan...
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...Saquoia Cox Professor Currie ACC647Z2 3 October 2015 Legal and Ethical Issues Business Owners Face Legal and ethical issues play a big part in the operation of a business for many owners. Business owners have to take into account many issues such as legal, regulations, safety, liability and brand of the company. Business owners must know their legal responsibilities and code of ethics, because they have to adhere to both when running a business. Many business owners face these issue everyday with changing regulations and laws, making sure that their reporting is ethical and up to standards. "Navigating all of the legislative and regulatory changes that occur throughout the course of the year can be challenging, taking business owners away from other important aspects of running their businesses," said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO. Business owners have to follow state and federal labor laws which can be very taxing on business owners. Business owners have to monitor their tax reforms, because with the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 the processing of taxes will affect the way that business owners have budgeted for their businesses. Business owners are also affected by new health reforms which state that “employers must be prepared to meet new IRS mandates to file annual information returns with the IRS and provide statements to their full-time employees about the health insurance coverage the employer offers” (Brooks, 2015) Business owners have to know...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Destiny Hill HCS 341 October 24, 2011 Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements The development of the Human Resource Department has facilitated a safety net for all employees to fall under and build a stable environment for employees to feel safe and secure. In the health care environment the workplace is filled with different personality types. The differing needs creates a challenge for the department of human resource in maintaining a safe and comfortable workplace. To balance and create a structure environment the Department of Labor Law and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have set laws in which must be complied by both the organization and the employee. The common sense and compassion in the workplace have been replaced with litigation to better serve and protect the workplace. Discrimination plays a vital role in employee satisfaction and should employees consider he or she is being discriminated against for any reason have rights to be protected. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws that make it illegal for any workplace to discriminate an employee because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.). Training and education on preventing discrimination is emphasized by The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC...
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...Legal Issues of Performance Management Legal issues associated with a performance management system can vary, but as Herman Aguinis states “performance management systems that are fair and acceptable to the employees are also legally sound” (Aguinis, 2013). The following paper will review some of the most common mistakes found in performance management systems that allow for legal implications to take place. The primary focus will be directed towards procedural standardization and implementing them equally with all employees. The secondary focus will examine how improper documentation leads to legal implications because of a lack of showing reason for decisions of no pay raise or even termination of employment. Procedural Standardization Setting up a performance management system has many aspects, but one of the areas it could be detrimental for an organization is how they standardize procedures for all employees to follow when describing another employee within reviews. In this manner there cannot be what is referred to as a double standard. Double standards are defined by Dictionary.com as “any code or set of principles containing different provisions for one group of people than for another” (Dictionary.com, 2015). A great example of procedural standardization is best found in an article written by Kathleen Davis for the Fast Company website. Within Kathleen’s article she describes how words appear on men and women’s reviews and the manner of which they appear to present...
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