August 25, 2012

SYNTHESIS PAPER ON EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES AND EMPLOYER RIGHTS 1

Synthesis Paper on Employer Responsibilities and Employee Rights

By John Michael G. Favila

In this paper the rights and responsibilities of both employees and employers are compared and contrasted. Every country has their own individual ways of doing business that works for them. Much of their customs and business ethics form from their own cultural background and traditions. Although, the countries have differences on how they tend to run their business in regards to employee and employer responsibilities, they also have similarities as well. In the United States employees experience such things as breaks, leaves, benefits, vacations, safety, and pay. All of these are important aspects of an employee's stabilization with the company. There are a number of laws available to accommodate each and every one of these benefits of an employee to a company. Things such as equal opportunity and discrimination laws are greatly enforced in the workplaces of businesses in the United States to ensure that all bases are covered and everyone feels safe and protected in the business atmosphere. Freedom of speech is highly enforced and ideas and opinions of employees are taken into consideration in order to keep things running fair and smoothly. These natural rights are rights that are usually encouraged in the workplace to help the employee feel like they are more of an asset and a part of the company's success. Each organization has their own unique policy and procedures in how to adequately run their businesses. The rights of employees and responsibilities of employers in the European nation are important and their needs to be a consciousness of minimum wage laws, pensions, disability, medical insurance, work at home opportunities, and also retirement. In the United States background checks has played a very important part of the hiring process in a business for years. Conducting background checks is still a relatively new concept

JOHN MICHAEL G. FAVILA

Ethical Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility

August 25, 2012

SYNTHESIS PAPER ON EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES AND EMPLOYER RIGHTS 2

for employers in the European Union. American companies have been doing this to uncover resume fraud, screen out potentially dangerous employees, and ascertain whether there has been a past history of criminal or other dangerous behavior. In Europe, serious concerns have been raised regarding privacy issues, what information can be legitimately asked and obtained from former employers, what kind of background information can be collected, and what is the potential risk of data protection liability. (employmentmentalalliance.com) So, there are procedures that the United States have adopted that European Union are just now implementing, this can also go the other way around, United States adopting some of the European Unions workplace procedures such as working from home. This has been going on quite some time in the European Union and United States is just catching on to this convenient work arrangement. In the United States the laws allow everyone to remain free, however, in the Europe decisions are made based on the European Union. Both the United States and EU have health and retirement benefits, safety procedures, pay, and leave policies. Both these countries are the same due to the fact that they both practice individualism. If someone were to file a formal complaint with a government agency his/her claim would most likely be pushed to the back burner in regards to urgency. Being that government agencies receive so many complaints on a daily basis that require immediate attention and are more severe than the complaint that he/she is filing, his/her complaint will most likely render a lower level of importance and be investigated on a basis that is convenient for the government agency. Cases such as harassment, discrimination, and substance abuse would take a preference over the one that would be filing. He/she would have to pay for her own court costs or mediator and the company would reimburse his/her for lost time with the company. In all actuality government agencies tend to back up the company more and lean towards their favor. This is usually done in order to maintain a stable economy.

JOHN MICHAEL G. FAVILA

Ethical Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility

August 25, 2012

SYNTHESIS PAPER ON EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES AND EMPLOYER RIGHTS 3

I believe that both United States and European Union supervisors would react in the same manner. They would be caring and compassionate and adhere to individual concern. They probably would attempt to conduct their own research of someone observations. This is very important to take an employee's problems and accusations into consideration because by doing so, this will save the company money being that it is being misused by employees. Both companies want to save and retain money so this is a big deal to the company. The supervisors would then confront the supervisor that he/she confronted before and come up with a plan of action as to how to handle company time and retention. The accused supervisor may even have to take management training refresher courses in order to keep company policy and procedures fresh in his/her mind and be reminded of how to conduct his/herself as an authoritative figure within the company. The best course of action of the concern people is to learn about the different languages and customs in order to better understand and appreciate them. He/She should remain within the company being that he/she only been there for 4 months and wait to see if any changes come about in regards to her complaint. If no changes come about I would advise his/her to keep tabs on her complaint filing with the government agency to keep up with the status of it. Until then, remain ethical and follow the company policies and procedures, don't fall in with the unethical behavior. I would advise the person to stay with the company for now and in the future he/she may find something better. It will all pay off in his/her favor in the long run.

References

(2010). Conducting Employee Background Checks In The EU: Is It Legal? Is It Advisable? Retrieved on November 20, 2011 from http://www.employmentmentalalliance.com/webinars/ConductingEmployee-Background- Checks-in-the-EU

JOHN MICHAEL G. FAVILA

Ethical Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility