Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Issues Essay

Employment practices of organizations in the United States are regulated at federal and state levels. The human resource process is impacted by regulatory requirements in the workplace. Legal and social regulations are crucial when managing the workforce or future supplies for labor in the workplace.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has a mission to protect the welfare of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees. They also improve working conditions and ensure work-related benefits and rights. The DOL has many laws and reregulation’s protecting workers that range from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets standards for wages and overtime pay, to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which focuses on workplace safety and health. With the wide range that the DOL has employees can feel that they have standards in place to ensure fair pay, fair treatment, and a safe environment to work in. Without the enforcement of the DOL corporations are left to establish pay and safety standards internally. In a business atmosphere where the importance of profit is often placed before the employees, an environment without laws and regulations can be dangerous. An example can be seen in other countries where labor laws are not in place compassion and common sense also seem to be absent. In these areas workers, many times children often works long hours for little pay. Sadly it has been shown that when corporations are unregulated the importance for the fair treatment of employees takes a less important role.

Under this act, employers are responsible for reporting certain types of incidents, accidents or illnesses to the Health and Safety Exectutive, or the local authority.

With respects to prevention it is imperative to the legal materials than it is to looking at solving complications after the fact for one’s that are existing. Preventive measures (PM) are a better alternative than trying to fix complications. When establishments do not take the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws seriously, and they do not have any preventive measures to stop things that can lead to legal actions they will always have a problematic and a less than efficient establishment.

In 1992, six regulations on Health and Safety at Work were introduced. These are listed below:

The Health and Safety at Work Act is probably one of the main laws to consider as this not only affects your safety but

There are many acts that help the employees within the workforce. The acts we will be discussing are as follows: Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment act, Occupational Safety and Health Act, Family Medical Leave Act, and Fair Labor Standards Act. We will also be discussing harassment, diversity, and grievances.

The legal process within the human resources department tries to format strategies and alliances that avoid negative activities affecting the employers and employees; however, exhibitions using common sense or compassion can conflict with these guidelines creating inappropriate behaviors. If this becomes the case, disciplinary actions begin bringing about other matters of legal issues. Nevertheless, once an individual believes they have been illegally mistreated, they become more apt to submit a lawsuit for purposes of revenge, financial struggles, or inapt employment securities (Alboher, 2012).

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 emphasize what employers are required to achieve under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

“In carrying out this mission, the Department administers a variety of Federal labor laws including those that guarantee workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other income support” (2003).

Give examples of legislation that impact on. Employee holidays, rest periods, working hours and night working. Explain why these are important for both the employee and employer

The main features of current employment legislation are:- Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), Minimum Wage Act (1998), Pensions Act (2008), Employment Rights Act (1996), Disability Discrimination Act (1996), Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974), Sex Discrimination Act (1975) and the Race Relations Act (1976) .

Three landmark pieces of legislation have been enacted within the last forty years; ERISA, COBRA and HIPAA. Each one of these laws was created to foster development and improvement in the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States. The mainstays of these three pieces of legislation are to improve working conditions; to add advanced opportunities for profitable employment, protect employees, and to assure work related benefits and rights.

According to the Bureau of Labor, statistics indicate that more than 4.1 million people were hurt or injured on-the-job in 2006 and 5,488 were killed in 2007 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010, p. 511). Laws and regulatory requirements are currently in place to standardize and promote workplace safety. Organizations with extensive safety programs have reduced number of accidents, decreased workers’ compensation claims and lawsuits and lesser accident-related expenditures (Gomez-Mejia, et al, 2010, p. 511). This paper discusses the effects of legal, safety and regulatory requirements in

2:1 Give examples of legislation that impact on: employee holidays, rest periods, working hours and night working and explain why these are important for both employee and organisation: