Employment laws are important because they
help to assure fair play.
If you are an employer, and have had to deal
with workers for any length of time, you may well feel that the human race in
general is lazy, deceitful and greedy. On the other hand if you have been in
the work force as an employee for any length of time you may well suspect that
a significant number of business owners would vote to repeal the amendment that
outlawed slavery if they thought they could get away with it.
Employers and employees don't always take such
nasty views of each other of course. However, employment
laws help to assure fairness in the work place by making it illegal to
treat some people worse than others. It protects employers from incompetent or
malicious employees. Employment law serves the country as a whole by trying to
make sure that everyone is treated fairly in that place we spend so much of our
waking hours; the work place.
Individual states, and even local governments,
can and do have their own laws regarding employment practices. For example,
some localities may include sexual orientation or marriage status in a list of
groups or classes protected against discrimination although the federal
government does not, at this time do so. Still, over the years a number of
significant acts pertaining to employment law have come out of Washington. Let's look
at just a few.
1) The Civil Rights Act of 1866. This
prohibited discrimination based on race in regard to contracts entered between
an employer and employee, specifically meaning hiring and firing. The date is
significant, of course, since the civil war had ended just the year before. One
result of the civil war had been the end of slavery. Many will tell you that
the civil war was not about slavery but about state's rights. However, it could
also be asserted that the bloodiest war in our nation's history had employment
law as a core issue.
2) Title VII The Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and national
origin.
3) Fair Labour Standards Act. This is the law
that established minimum wage. It also provided for criteria to govern how old
children needed to be before they could work. The requirement that overtime to be
paid to a worker who exceeded 40 hours in a given week came from this act as
well.
4) Age discrimination act. Discrimination in
hiring, firing and assigning work against someone over the age of 40 is
prohibited.
5) American's with Disabilities Act. This law,
established in 1993 requires employers not to discriminate against a person
based on a disability if the disability is the only reason they couldn't fulfil
the job requirements of. It also calls for an employer to make reasonable
workplace accommodations to make it possible for the individual to work.
There are several other
federal laws which pertain to the work place. The Uniformed Services Employment
and Reemployment Act provides certain rights to employees who goes on military
duty. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides 12 weeks of unpaid
leave to employees of a year or longer in certain situations involving the
employee or a close family member. Benefits that have been accrued cannot be
lost and health care coverage must continue to be paid. Federal laws also require
employees to verify an employee's right to work in the United States.
The new health care laws also have items that affect employers and employees.
Employment law, can and does
originate on the state and even the local level. All employers do well to get a
good grasp on it Employees too need a basic understanding of their rights and
obligations in the work place. This can be accomplished by each business or
company compiling and passing out a booklet of the company’s policies.
Besides the various laws
designed to prevent discrimination there are several other areas of employment
law of which to be aware. These include:
1) Laws pertaining to hiring and firing
2) Regulations governing unemployment
compensation and worker's compensation
3) OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
rules that apply to your type of business.
4) Compensation law.
5) Record keeping.
Employment law is important and must be
followed.
