...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, Safety and Regulatory Requirements Zujeiry Roque HCS/341 Mike Sawyer April 22, 2012 Legal, Safety and Regulatory Requirements The legal, safety and regulatory impact the human resource department a great dealsince it has to do with the equality and fair treatment of all employees. There are several laws that protect both the employer and the employee such as: Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA), Immigration Act of 1990, Executive Order 11246 and Equal Pay Act. These laws and regulations were put into place to protect businesses and their employees. In this paper I will discuss all four regulations and the effect that they have had on the workplace. Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) The Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State and local governments (dol.gov). Under this as act, covered non exempt workers are required to get minimum wage at no less than $7.25 per hour which became effective in 2009 and overtime pay rate at no less than one and one-half times the regular rate is required for a 40 hour work week. Children 18 years and younger cannot do dangerous work and children 16 years and under cannot work at all. When this act was put into place it affected over 700,000 workers and it was one of the factors that ended the Great Depression. This act also helped with putting an end to child labor as well as employees that...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Every organization is responsible for ensuring that the organization follows legal, safety, and regulatory requirements when dealing with the employees of the organization. This responsibility falls to the human resources department. The human resources department must be experts in these areas to fully be able to train the employees. Has common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation. Let us take a look at the past six years. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has show that all of the suits that have been filed have decreased in the last six years. In 2006 there were 403 suits filed compared to 2011 where only 300 suits filed. There were 294 civil right suits in 2006 and only 162 in 2011. Equal pay suits went down from 10 to two in the last six years. The Secretary of Labor report to the president reported that there were 53 Federal civilian workforce fatalities in 2010 that number has decreased to only 21 in 2012. The stats show that common sense and compassion have not been replaced by litigation. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was established in 1970 was “created to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance” (OSHA, 2010). Employers are not the only ones responsible for safety in the workplace. “Employers have to provide a safe and healthy...
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...Effects of Legal, Safety and Regulatory Requirements Teresa A. Davis University of phoenix Mary Newby HCS/341 Aug 27, 2012 Legal, Safety, And Regulatory Requirement In the United States, human resources managers must follow state and federal laws related to employment, labor relations and wages. Human resources managers must have a strong understanding of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state laws. What is Title Vll? Title VII, the federal law that prohibits most workplace harassment and discrimination, covers all private employers, state and local governments, and educational institutions with 15 or more employees. In addition to prohibiting discrimination against workers because of race, color, national origin, religion, and sex, those protections have been extended to include barring against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, sex stereotyping, and sexual harassment of employees. Currently, Title VII doesn’t include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However federal legislation adding sexual orientation as a protected class against discrimination (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)), has been proposed in recent years. Many states have employment discrimination and harassment laws as well and may include even more protected classes – such as marital status and...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements The legal, safety, and regulatory requirements of the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), these three things are put in place and enforced by the Federal laws to protect employee rights. With these things in place for the employee does it mean that common sense and compassion in the work place has been replaced by litigation in today’s society? The legal side of the EEOC was put in place to protect employees, to enforce Federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Unfair treatment of an employee based on their race, color, religion, age (forty and over), national origin, sex, (including pregnancy), disability or genetic information (EEOC.gov). Also protects the employee from any retaliation by the employer if the employee has complained about job discrimination, or the employee has assisted with an investigation or lawsuit filed by an employee. The EEOC is a legal resource for any employee who feels that they have been discriminated against in any way shape or form, the employee can place a complaint with the EEOC and the complaint will be investigated to see if there is any truth to it or if the employee is just mad because they were released from their place of employment for something other than discrimination. On the safety side of the EEOC it is seems like a simple concept safety. Safety is the first thing all employers should look at and understand that safety is top priority for any job and all employees...
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...Safety In The Workplace Kristy Roper HCS/341 January 17, 2012 Joseph N. Atkins Safety In The Workplace Data from the Bureau of Labor statistics states that over 4.1 million people were injured on the job in 2006 and 5,488 were killed in 2007 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). All levels of government have passed laws to regulate and maintain safety in the workplace. There are two basic levels of workplace safety laws that affect most workers. On a state level it is workers' compensation laws. On a federal level it is the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). When it comes to the various objectives, policies, and operations of these two levels of law, one will notice how different they are. This paper will discuss the effects of legal, safety, and regulatory requirements in ensuring employee safety in the workplace. It will also discuss how the Department of Labor and the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970 play a vital role in workplace safety. Each state has its own workers' compensation laws, which means that the funding and enforcement of these laws differ by state. The main goal of workers' compensation is to provide compensation to workers who suffer job related injuries or illnesses. Workers' compensation was first established in the early twentieth century. Since 1948, all states have had workers' compensation programs, however it is mandatory in only 47 states(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Human Resource (HR) managers have a daunting responsibility in the workplace He or she must maintain a balance between a company’s agenda and employee rights, which is not always easy. It is essential that an HR manager is aware of the numerous laws and regulations in place, such as employment laws regulated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which include discrimination of any kind, as well as safety regulations, privacy issues, and overall fair treatment of all workers. It would be nice to say that common sense and compassion rule the day in the health care industry, but it has been the author’s experience that is not always the case. For instance, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential in some circumstances, but invariably there will be someone who will have to be told to use PPE, such as goggles or gloves, in a dangerous situation. Common sense would dictate an automatic response toward protection, however certain individuals need guidance. Compassion in the workplace seems to be reserved for the consumer and not the worker, otherwise there would be no such thing as harassment laws. Common Sense and Compassion have been replaced by Litigation There may have been a time when this statement was not true, but unfortunately that time has passed. When a look is taken at all the regulatory boards and government agencies, involved in employee issues, it is clearly a “sign of the times” we live...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Karen Lynne Ferguson HCS 341 February 28, 2011 Denise R. Holcomb, MA Legal, Safety and Regulatory Requirements This paper examines the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the effect it has had on the human resources Process. In order to understand the effects the ADA has had on the human resource process, it is first important to understand what the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is all about. According to Human Resources IQ, “the ADA is a federal anti-discrimination law which prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment” (Human Resources IQ, 2011). Human Resources IQ further explains that “this law covering employers with 15 or more employees is designed to remove barriers that prevented qualified individuals with disabilities from enjoying the same employment opportunities that are available to persons without disabilities. When an individual’s disability creates a barrier to employment opportunities, the ADA requires employers to consider whether a reasonable accommodation could remove the barrier” (Human Resources IQ, 2011). To further understand this law it is important to understand that the ADA defines what an individual with a disability...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements tina Okoroafor HCS/341 1/22/12 In the U.S., the human resources department must always operate and function with the rules and regulations that are required by law. The providers of the rules and regulations are the department of homeland security, the equal employment opportunity commission, the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the U.S. Labor department among other human resources required laws that are to be followed at all times. The purpose of these laws is for employers to give employees the necessary provisions that they require to be successful in whatever that they do in the society. Human resource process requires that HR managers hire employees, provide compensation and Benefits to employees, engage in performance management and evaluation of employees as well as firing and hiring employees, provide employee health safety and prevent employee discrimination and sexual harassment among others(Walsh, 2009. P.299). Currently, the workplace are being regulated by the workers’ compassion laws at the state level and the OSHA or occupational safety and health act of 1970 at the federal level with all this Acts that is been implemented on both the employees, employers, and the organizations themselves if not developed adequately will lead to a serious criminal lawsuit against everyone that are involved. In most workplaces, today the managers and employees so not fear that they are been sued by someone...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements HCS 341 September 26, 2011 Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Human resources administrators want to improve the work environment to enhance employee performance. Regulatory practices to improve the work environment are base on works of scholars who spearheaded the scientific movement. Human resources law has taken center stage in dealing with workplace violations and excessive abuses. There are many challenges to effective performance measurement in how a human resources manager can ensure accurate measurement of a worker performance. Managers are confronted with five challenges, (1) Rater errors and bias, (2) The influence of liking, (3) Organizational politics, (4) Whether to focus on the individual or the group, (5) Legal issues (Go’mez-Mejia, Balkin, and Cardy, 2010). A rater error is an error in performance appraisal that reflects consistent biases on the part of the rater. One of the most prominent rater errors is halo error, the tendency to rate similarly across dimensions (Go’mez-Mejia, Balkin, and Cardy, 2010). If an individual does well in one aspect, this can trigger favorable reports on other aspects. The Influence of liking can cause errors in performance appraisals when raters allow their like or dislike of an individual to influence their assessment of that person’s performance (Go’mez-Mejia, Balkin, and Cardy, 2010). A manager can correlate the performer’s ratings...
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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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...Memorandum To: Sharon Matthews, CEO HCS/341 From: HR Director Date: 12 September 2011 Subject: Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements ------------------------------------------------- Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation As we are both aware, the human resources department in every organization is accountable for guaranteeing that the organization adheres to all legal, safety, and regulatory requirements when dealing with both the employees of the organization as well as with the patrons that the organization serves. Throughout the human resource processes a central concern is the assessment of employment laws and the consequence of their use. It has come to the attention of the human resource department that common sense and compassion have been replaced by litigation in the workplace. Although conflict is by no means a new phenomenon, the elements of workplace conflict are becoming more convoluted as the years go by. Changes in employment laws mingled with how we live and the unpredictability of today’s economy have coalesced into convoluted answers to what used to be basic questions (Gilbert, n.d.). The result is a growing sense of unease among employees and an accompanying need to claim one's legal rights when conflicts arise. Misconceptions about employment laws, and employee rights often fuel this fire. Not to mention today’s society’s augmented recognition and approval of lawsuits as a probable and lucrative alternative...
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...Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Abstract Todays’ workplace is a very diverse environment with many personalities. This diversity can create challenges within an organization. The human resources department (HR) has the responsibility to develop strategies that allow employees to work in a safe, non-discriminatory environment with fair wages. With the development of regulatory agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and the Department of Labor common sense and compassion has been reinforced with laws and regulations allowing litigation in cases of discrimination, unsafe working conditions, and unequal pay. The enforcement of these regulations by HR seems to have developed a more structured, safe environment. Human resources management (HRM) has the obligation to comply with employment, health and safety legislation. This includes federal, state and local laws that pertain to the many areas of HRM such as benefits, recruitment, and termination. HRM must stay up-to-date with legislation so that the organization is compliant and avoids costly penalties. Federal Regulations Federal laws cover the whole scope of employment, from hiring to termination. These regulations prescribe standards for wages and hours, safety and health, health benefits, retirement, workers’ compensation, working conditions, and discrimination. United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity...
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...1 Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Joe Brown HCS/341 September 9, 2008 Alejandra Sipion University of Phoenix 1 Human Resources plays an important role in the success of an organization. Organizational policies, culture, compensation and benefits and employee relations help control the motivational level of the employees within the organization. These benefits also help to retain valuable and talented employees. Human Resources also will help develop policies, standards, systems, and processes to help the organization to grow and prosper. Human Resources helps organizations develop a strategy for success in the current and in the future. Human Resources helps improve an organizations bottom line with the knowledge of how human capital impacts organizational success. Individuals with experience in HR strategic management take part in corporate decision making processes that underlies current staffing requirements and for the workforce needs in the future. Human Resources specialists create realistic compensation strategies that align competitive salaries with other companies within the same area, in the same industry or competing companies. HR conducts extensive wage and salary surveys to ensure that their compensation is attracting the best and brightest talent. 3 Human Resources benefits specialists can help reduce an organization’s cost associated with turnover, attrition and hiring replacement employees. These individuals are important...
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...HCS/341 Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements The United States regulates employment organization practices through state, federal, and local level laws. Human resources processes within the workplace are impacted by regulatory requirements. Regulations such as legal and social are necessary for organizations to control the existing workforce as well as future labor supplies within the workplace. The paper will attempt to discuss the effects that regulations have on the processes within the human resources department when relating to rationale and compassion within the workplace being replaced by litigation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a law that was put into effect to protect individuals from being discriminated against during hiring processes. The Civil Rights Act has three sections which include equal opportunity, affirmative action, and sexual harassment (Cliff Notes, 2011). These three sections have an impact on the human resources department and it is important that human resources managers comply with these laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws protect individuals from being discriminated against based on their age, gender, or race. Equal Employment Opportunity regulations help ensure that all individuals are given an equal opportunity when applying for a job or when individuals are considering working towards a promotion. Affirmative action requires that employers put forth additional effort to select and promote individuals who belong to a protected...
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