How To Protect Labor And Employment Rights In Your Organization!

17 January, 2020

 

The HRM is an important ingredient for any business. Therefore, there must be laws and regulations at all the levels like state, federal, organizational, and departmental. The legal provisions and organizational policies govern the relationships between employer and employee. Hence, it is essential to carefully devise them to protect the labor and employment rights. The organizations must not forget that there are legal protections, rights, and risks involved governing the breach of basic employment rights. Employers need to avail the legal expertise and assistance to draft employment agreement, workplace policies, rules and regulations. Sometimes, employers also have to face false allegations placed by its employees. To deal with such issue, they must consult experts of field like Long Beach Criminal Lawyer to strongly defend the case in the court of law. In contemporary business environment, every organization needs to work hard on policies related to its workforce like pay and pension rules, law and labor litigation, labor relations and trade unions, termination and layoffs, health and safety, benefits and compensation, etc. Here I have discussed in detail the effective ways to protect labor and employment rights:

 

No Employment-Based Discrimination

 

You can protect the rights of your employees by making sure of that there is no room for discrimination in your organization. The discrimination is a threating concern for contemporary business environment. The term discrimination is defined as “the inequalities that an employee has to face due to his caste, color, race, region, cultural background, ethnic group, gender, religion, national origin, or sex by his co-workers and sometimes by his employer.” An increased number of discrimination cases have been observed in the offices. In America, Civil Rights Act 1964 efforts to protect the employees against social justice. It is illegal for the businesses to discriminate their workforce based on any of the reasons mentioned above. The conduct of discrimination with women and minorities is also prohibited under this law. Therefore, it is important to strengthen the workplace rights by employing the rules of equality.

 

Whistleblower Protection

 

Whistleblower is a person whom raises his voice against illegal, immoral, unethical, or violent actions within the organization. These actions can be conducted by an employee, a group of individuals, or by an employer itself. It is suggested that there should be specified company policies to protect the rights of whistleblowers who take high risk to pin down the inappropriate actions to ensure the long-term success of an organization and the society. There are federal laws to safeguard whistleblowers who report the violation of an employer or employee. Under the Clean Air Act, a person is allowed to highlight violations that can be a threat to the environment. Similarly, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act offers support when a whistleblower reports illegal and uncover manufacturing processes. If these protection rights are being offered at the state and federal level, then there should be some organizational policies too to protect the rights of whistleblowing employees. Formulate a body inside an organization to safeguard employees concerns and encourage them to blow the whistles when observed any unauthorized behavior in the office.

 

Most of the time, employees are reluctant because they fear job loss and other retaliation. Ensure open-door place in your organization to file complaint against violations.

 

Employment Benefits

 

Other than basic salary, there must be additional monetary and non-monetary benefits for your employees. They can include: commissions, bonuses, paid leaves, sick leaves, casual leaves, commute expenses, lunch expenses, health care services, career counseling services, or medical reimbursements. By employing any of above, the organizations get to safeguard basic human rights.

 

Most importantly, employers can retain its workforce for a long-term and can reduce turnover or attrition costs. Each state has designed its own specific laws to protect the rights of employees. For instance, unemployment insurance plans and jobless benefits are being offered to citizens who are currently jobless and looking for a secure career. Obviously, to get the funds, citizens have to meet a certain criteria. To qualify for the monthly income sponsored by state, they must have valid reason for the unemployment. It can be a layoff or firing. Sometimes, state or federal laws arrange for payments only when there is an economic turmoil. Therefore, there needs to be some pre-employment and post-employment benefits at an organizational level too to protect the rights of its workforce. For instance, employer must provide maternity leaves or temporary leaves to the pregnant female employee.

 

Health Coverage Program   

 

Understandably, nobody likes being sick, especially when a person has an office to go to daily. But, sometimes, medical conditions are uncontrollable. You cannot really do anything to prevent such conditions expect that taking leaves from the office and paying heavy bills on medical consultations, prescriptions, or medicines. Hence, an organization needs to take care of its employees by backing them with financial and non-financial support. In 2010, at a state level, the first law was passed with the name of Affordable Care Act. Under this act, state is responsible to get health insurance rights for the workers by all the medium-sized to large-sized corporations. According to this rule, the employers will be responsible to share medical payments for its hospitalized employees. All the organizations who have 50 or more than that employees are required to provide minimum and reasonable level of health insurance. If not provided, the employers will have to face serious penalties by the state. But, there is a “full-time employee” condition to avail the benefits of organizational health coverage programs. An employee is required to work for his organization for at least 30 hours/week. Otherwise, he is not eligible to enjoy health coverage benefits or medical reimbursements.

 

Safe Work Environment

 

The workplace safety is one important thing to ensure labor and employment rights within your organization. A safe working atmosphere tends to increase the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of the workforce. Employees are encouraged to perform positively for the betterment of an organization under safe working conditions. The employers need to make certain of that employees have been provided with a comfortable environment like proper sitting area, best-suited room temperature, appropriate lights, and practical operating systems so that employees are motivated to provide quality output. Particularly, for those businesses, who have a lot of factory work and hazardous activities, are required to take proper care of their laborers and industrial engineers.

 

Provide them with protection hats, gloves, sunglasses, jackets and boots. The state have also placed laws to ensure workplace safety of employees. As per the Occupational and Health Act of 1970, the American organizations are legally bound to mitigate the potential risks or dangers associated with the workplace. The state has passed a number of safety provisions for industrial, construction, maritime, and agricultural jobs in the USA. The act includes a “General Duty Clause,” which prohibits organizational practices that are clear threat for its employees. Not only at the state and federal level but at an organizational level too, the employers and upper management team have a prime responsibility to enforce rules and regulations to achieve safe working setting for the workforce.

 

Industry-Specific Regulations

 

Every organization or business needs to study, learn, understand, follow, and employ the rules and regulation set/passed by the specific industry. It is mandatory to educate and train the upper management committee and personnel of human resources department about industry-specific regulation to protect the basic rights of employees. These specific protections are must particularly in industries like mining and agriculture. If the employer is facing difficulties to understand these regulations, then ask for some external help like hiring services of legal consultants. The experienced employment law advisors have a better and advanced knowledge of the field. They can surely help you in drawing organizational policies as per the specified criteria of an industry. Not only this, an organization can frame Department of Labor to ensure occupational safety, wage and salary standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and to deal with some other workforce-related issues. This department can ensure that the industry-specific employees’ rights are being properly followed and implemented within the workplace.

 

Social Sustainability

 

The process of social sustainability tends to outline a formwork that works to safeguard the well-being of organization’s workforce.

 

The social sustainability supports the growth of a healthy community. The social sustainability approach revolves around three features: equality for the people, bearable parts for the planet, and the viable profits for the business. The rights of the employees fall under first feature. In the United States of America, many recent initiatives have been taken in the field of social sustainability. The sustainable organizational environment attempts to favor and promote the basic worker’s rights. It offers safe working conditions, prevents human trafficking, eliminates illegal activities, rejects child labor, deals in healthy products, and provides sourced services.

 

Not only this, organizational sustainability offers reliable solutions to deal with specific employee-related issues. They can include resolving conflict management and providing adequate safety against workplace harassment, bullying, explicit sexual abuse, name-calling, violation, inappropriate conducts, gossiping, etc. internationally, labor rights have been defined and approved to achieve a standard organizational environment.