Here are the most important human resource management laws and regulations. 1. Confidentiality: HR professionals will often come into contact with sensitive information, such as social security numbers, home addresses, marital status, and even sometimes medical information through FMLA requests.
Legal Topics Every HR Professional Should Know. 1 1. Workplace Discrimination Laws. Among the most important legislation for HR professionals to know, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws protect ... 2 2. Wage and Hour Laws. 3 3. Employee Benefits Laws. 4 4. Immigration Laws. 5 5. Workplace Safety Laws.
Whether you have an in-house human resources department or have reached out to third party entities such as ours, we are all required to follow the law. Understanding and above all conducting ourselves in a manner that complies with all employment, health, and safety legislation is crucial.
HR professionals should be familiar with the individual laws that safeguard these protected classes of individuals such as: 1 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 2 Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) 3 Equal Pay Act (EPA) 4 Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)
A. practices that a company has to put in place to manage employees.
Once hired, Glenn's orientation did not discuss the sales territory or the preferred selling methods.
A. even the most qualified applica nts may not have all the necessary skills.
The law touches every profession that falls under the HR umbrella in some way.”. These professionals are tasked with frequent on-the-spot decisions that can have severe legal consequences, so knowledge of common HR-related laws gives these industry workers the confidence to make these decisions or know when to contact outside counsel.
1. Workplace Discrimination Laws. Among the most important legislation for HR professionals to know, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws protect against the discrimination of any individual based on age, disability, genetic information, national origin, race/color, sex, pregnancy, or religion. HR professionals should be familiar with ...
Some HR managers are solely responsible for staffing, others concentrate on employee development, some deal strictly with compensation and benefits, and others —the generalists—do it all.
HR professionals with legal expertise also have a competitive advantage in the workplace, as they are able to proactively minimize a company’s exposure to legal risk. With working knowledge of current laws and their real-world applications, they help companies remain compliant and avoid unnecessary claims while also protecting the rights of valued employees.
This category of laws helps protect employees’ access to benefits. The most prominent laws include: 1 The Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” which was enacted to increase access to affordable healthcare for those living below poverty levels. 2 The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) stipulates that any organization offering pension plans must meet certain minimum standards. 3 The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) mandates insurance programs must provide eligible employees access to continued health insurance coverage for a period of time after leaving employment. 4 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) affords employees and their dependents protection and privacy from the release of personal medical records. This law also protects employees from discrimination based on medical condition or history.
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) mandates insurance programs must provide eligible employees access to continued health insurance coverage for a period of time after leaving employment.
If an organization violates these complex and ever-changing regulations, it exposes itself to risk, including lawsuits, financial losses, and reputation damage. Since non-compliance can result in such serious consequences, there is a strong demand for industry workers who possess knowledge of HR laws and common legal issues in the workplace.
4. Harassment: Another one of the important legal issues in human resources is preventing harassment. It’s important to have a harassment policy in place and ensure that it’s readily available to all employees, as well as make sure it’s part of all new employee onboarding training. Companies should also mandate regular training for managers.
Protection occurs in a number of ways, including those that intersect with traditional HR responsibilities like managing benefits and practicing ethical and legal hiring and management practices. The legal issues in human resources can span many areas, however.
Finally, if a harassment complaint comes up, it’s HRs job to handle the process, so HR managers need to be trained in how to conduct a fair, impartial, and thorough investigation. 5. Safety: Employers are required to provide employees a safe workplace.
HR has a responsibility, then, to ensure confidentiality and discretion when managing all paperwork and records.
HR should also offer management training to educate managers, especially new managers, in how to interact with employees as a supervisory level. This can help to decrease issues of favoritism and protect the business’s interest. 4. Harassment: Another one of the important legal issues in human resources is preventing harassment.
Some company’s use background checks to ensure compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act. This is one way that HR works to protect the company’s interest – by trying to reduce their risk and liability. 3.
6. Equal pay: One important pay-related mandate is that employees must be paid equally for equal work. If there is a younger person and an older person with the same job title responsible for the same duties, the rate of pay needs to be the same. If a man and a woman are performing the same day to day work and have the same job title, the company must ensure that their salaries are the same.
Three sensitive areas of legal concern that managers must comply with are equal opportunity, affirmative action, and sexual harassment, described in the following sections. These areas, as well as other laws, impact all human resource practices.
Civil Rights Act of 1964. Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. Civil Rights Act of 1991. Reaffirms and tightens prohibition of discrimination. Permits individuals to sue for punitive damages in cases of intentional discrimination and shifts the burden of proof to the employer.
From management's standpoint, sexual harassment is a growing concern because it intimidates employees, interferes with job performance, and exposes the organization to liability. Organizations must respond to sexual harassment complaints very quickly because employers are held responsible for sexual harassment if appropriate action is not taken. The cost of inaction can be high. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 permits victims of sexual harassment to have jury trials and to collect compensatory damages in cases where the employer acted with “malice or reckless indifference” to the individual's rights.
Employers can take the following steps to help minimize liability for sexual harassment suits: Offer a sexual harassment policy statement. This statement should address where employees can report complaints, assure confidentiality, and promise that disciplinary action will be taken against sexual harassers.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 permits victims of sexual harassment to have jury trials and to collect compensatory damages in cases where the employer acted with “malice or reckless indifference” to the individual's rights. Employers can take the following steps to help minimize liability for sexual harassment suits:
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Prohibits discrimination or dismissal of women because of pregnancy alone, and protects job security during maternity leaves.
Sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.”. Sexual harassment may include sexually suggestive remarks, unwanted touching, sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature.
There are a myriad of federal, state, and local laws that cover the numerous areas of HR, such as recruitment, labor relations, benefits, and termination. When your company operates with the full knowledge of these laws, it ensures that you will be in compliance and avoid potentially damaging fines.
Human Resources, Inc. can assist in navigating all of the regulatory compliance that is required by your organization. We can ensure that your business is utilizing best practices, avoiding hefty penalties, and walking you through any possible compliance audit that you may be facing.
Whether you have an in-house human resources department or have reached out to third party entities such as ours, we are all required to follow the law . Understanding and above all conducting ourselves in a manner that complies with all employment, health, and safety legislation is crucial. There are a myriad of federal, state, and local laws that cover the numerous areas of HR, such as recruitment, labor relations, benefits, and termination. When your company operates with the full knowledge of these laws, it ensures that you will be in compliance and avoid potentially damaging fines.
In addition to complying with federal regulations, there are also a number of state laws that govern many facets of working individuals. Some of them are the same as the federal requirements, such as safety and worker’s compensation. However, when you get down to the local level, smaller municipalities may have their own regulations related to employment and benefits. It is important to be knowledgeable of these regulations and take appropriate actions.
Similarly, he said, human resource professionals should provide training concerning employer policies and how managers and supervisors comply with those policies. “When the training is intended to teach managers how to comply with policies that have been designed by human resources and vetted by lawyers, the human resource folks can do an excellent job. When the training concerns teaching managers what sorts of situations are likely to lead to legal claims and liability, especially when the people being trained are expected to ask ‘what if’ questions in areas such as exemptions under the FLSA, or handling harassment allegations, or handling intermittent leave issues under the FMLA, then it probably is a good idea to have an experienced employment lawyer involved,” he said.
There are ample opportunities for HR professionals and attorneys to team up to provide training, each focusing on their areas of expertise to provide the greatest value to the client. And there are times when the issue really requires the attention of an attorney.
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