Employment Law Paper 1

Employment Law Paper Michelle J. Hodge University of Phoenix BUS 415 Patrice D. Carrington October 29, 2008

Employment Law Paper 2 Legal rules governing the employer-employee relationship are many and varied. Economic analysis has illuminated both the efficiency and the effects on employee welfare of such rules, as described in this paper. Topics addressed include workplace safety mandates, compensation systems for workplace injuries, privacy protection in the workplace, employee fringe benefits mandates, and targeted mandates such as medical and family leave, wrongful discharge laws, unemployment insurance systems, minimum wage rules, and rules requiring that employees receive overtime pay. Both economic theory and empirical evidence are considered. Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Pub. L. 102166) (CRA) amends several sections of Title VII (EEOC, 2008). The Civil Rights Act helped in resolving the separation of employment application or processes because of racial profiling such as toward African Americans, Hispanics as well as foreigners applying to large companies. The Civil Rights Act did not contribute to resolving the same issue within smaller organizations and self-owned businesses.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act Discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII, which covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. Title VII also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government. Women who are pregnant or affected by related conditions must be treated in the same manner as other applicants or employees with similar abilities or limitations (Women Employed, 2004). The Pregnancy Discrimination Act protects women who are currently working are trying to

Employment Law Paper 3 apply to a company while pregnant. This act was part of the resolution to women being terminated or segregated because of their pregnancy. As well as with other acts created for employment law this act did not apply or resolve the issue with self-owned or smaller privately owned businesses. American with Disabilities Act - Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 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. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations. The ADAs nondiscrimination standards also apply to federal sector employees under section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, and it is implementing rules (EEOC, 2008) The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA protections apply to both employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his/her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training. The ADEA permits employers to favor older workers based on age even when doing so adversely affects a younger worker who is 40 or older (EEOC, 2008). This act has contributed to the resolution of employees over the age of 40 from being isolated to the termination pool to prevent companies from having to pay larger salaries, contribute larger amounts to a persons 401K or retirement plans as well has paying out retirement benefits. The

Employment Law Paper 4 Act did not assist in the resolution of the company being able to use other reasons as a hide a way for actually releasing that employee. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a United States labor law allowing an employee to take a paid or unpaid leave due to a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform his job or to care for a sick family member (Women Employed, 2004). This Act was a major contributor in resolving the issues of people being released from their employers due to unforeseen or uncontrollable personal health conditions. This act also helps in resolving employers from terminating employees who qualify for this benefit, which would result in loss of health coverage. This act was not a resolution in preventing the abuse of the system that is done by employees to the company in which they work. Employment Scenario At this company, three employees performed the same job duties and tasks on a daily basis. The employees were one white male, a disabled white man and a pregnant Hispanic female all had been employed with the company for the last 20 years. Each of the employees were assigned to take calls within the call center and meet the standard quality, calls per hour and average handle time. All three of the employees sat in cubicles next to each other. The supervisor overseeing this team always emphasized in public how well each of them performs their jobs. These same three employees were all selected many times to perform the on the job training for new business and even new employees. They all came to work on time, never accrued any unplanned absences and exceeded in all goals. One day in a management meeting the supervisory staff was advised that they had to let some people go due to budgeting. The supervisor of these same three reps was advised that she would have to cut her disabled team

Employment Law Paper 5 member and her pregnant team member. She argued as to why they were selected. The manager simply stated, They have served their purpose. The supervisor went to her desk unsure of how she was going to tell two of the three top performing employees that she had to terminate them. Based on the advice from the manager she had a few days to break the news because they technically wanted them to complete the workweek to allow the company time to get the new employees processed in. A couple of days had passed and the supervisor really thought on this and was unsure how to handle it. She scheduled a conference with both employees to discuss the issue. To her surprise after speaking to both of them both informed her separately that the one of the managers had been, harassing them about the amount of money each of them cost the company with their medical situations. Neither of the employees had previously said anything because the comments were made somewhat jokingly but was taken to heart each time. The female employee also stated that the manager had even previously made jokes regarding to how many children Hispanics have. The employees advised their supervisor that they were going to file a complaint against the company filing discrimination for ADA as well as Pregnancy and race. The supervisor in this situation called the HR department and opened a case because she had been advised that various types of harassment have been stated against the manager. The supervisor wanted to make sure that all steps she took was for the protection of the company as well as the employees and the manger. By opening a case, she has followed procedure regarding the zero tolerance in the work place implemented by the headquarters. The supervisor also advised each of the employees to also open a case, be honest as to why they are now saying something, and provide any evidence they have such as documentation, dates, people who are willing to step up Based on each of the civil acts possibly violated the supervisor took the appropriate steps once she was told about the alleged charges. If these employees were contract,

Employment Law Paper 6 employees or agent workers the same steps would have been taken but they would have also made those complaints to their temporary agency or EEOC if they were contract employees. If the employees were part of a union they would make their complaints to the union head as incidents were taken place for clear documentation as well as for the union leader to take the appropriate steps to prevent this issue from continuing.

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References The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Facts about Age Discrimination (2008) retrieved November 10, 2008. From www.eeoc.gov The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Facts about Pregnancy Discrimination (2008) retrieved November 10, 2008. From www.eeoc.gov The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Facts about Civil Rights Act (2008) retrieved November 10, 2008. From www.eeoc.gov