Teleworking Employee/Labor Relations - Research Paper Example

Teleworking – Employee/Labor Relations Introduction Piskurich (1998) notes that since teleworking was first described in 1985 as the next workplace evolution, interest in this flexible work plan has grown among employees, employers, communities, transport planners, and telecommunication industries among others. Daniels, Lamond, and Standen (2000) noted that as technology continues to advance, more employees would continue developing interest in teleworking as opposed to working at a central office. Teleworkingor telecommuting refers to a workforce plan, which gives employees the opportunity to work at a location remote from the workplace of an employer according to Daniels, Lamond, and Standen (2000). Home working is one of the main forms of teleworking in which an employee is given the opportunity to work from home and deliver the results via different technologies such as phone and email among others. Research conducted by Huws and Podro (1997) in the U.K. found out that out of a sample of 1000 U.K. about 6% of employers already employ telecommuters. At the same time, the study found out that a further 8% of employers in the U.K. expect to introduce teleworking due to increasing interest of employees on this type of flexible working programme. The study also found out that of the 305 employers in the U.K., about 70% expected that interest in teleworking would increase in their companies beginning 1996 (Informa Publishing, 2001). This has come to pass as many employers throughout the U.S. have introduced this working plan. The increase is mainly attributed to the advancement in technologies over the past decade, which has made it easy for employers to give their employees the opportunity to work remotely without necessarily having to work at an employer’s workplace. However, despite the increasing interest among employers and employees in teleworking, this method of workforce plan is associated with a number of issues that make employees are not comfortable about and would want to be addressed. The purpose of this paper is to explore the employee issues associated with teleworking. It will also examine measures taken by organizations and unions to address the issues. Finally, the essay will examine the lobbying efforts parties are conducting at the federal, state, and local levels to address issues related to teleworking among employees. To begin with, employers are increasingly introducing teleworking in their organization as one of the flexible working programs. Nevertheless, despite the many benefits this working plan brings to the employer and the employee, employees have raised a number of issues related to this policy in many in the country (Goluboff, 2001). One of the most common issues that concern many employees that telecommute concerns the risk of an employee not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime obligation accruing overtime hours for which they are not paid time-and-a-half as the law requires (Gray, Hodson, and Gordon, 1993). Research has revealed that it is normally very difficult for employers to monitor the actual hours worked by employees who telework (Jackson and Van Der Wielen, 1998). In this regard, it becomes very difficult for employers to know with certainty whether an employee has worked overtime or not, something that has been of great concern to employees. This is because even those who work overtime sometimes fail to get paid for the overtime worked at home. However, a number of measures can be taken by employers to reduce incidences of unpaid overtime violation. One such is a policy, which requires non-exempt telecommuters to sign a consent acknowledging that they are not allowed by law to work overtime without prior approval (Verbeke et al., 2008). Organizations can also solve the problem of overtime hours worked by requiring every worker working remotely to clock in and out via telephone call or through email. This will certain reduce the problem associated with monitoring overtime worked by employees working remotely. Korzeniowski (2005) notes that cost is becoming an issue for telecommuters, especially as regards taxes. This follows the move by states like New York to look for ways of increasing tax revenues. Korzeniowski (2005) reveals that the rules regarding taxation of a telecommuter who lives in one state but works in another are not the same throughout the country. Generally, most states have a rule, which requires telecommuters to pay a fair state income tax. For instance, a telecommuter who works in state two every week may be required to pay 40% of their income as tax. However, Korzeniowski (2005) notes that a state like New York follows a different formula in that it taxes a telecommuter 100% of the income of an employee regardless of the time spent. In the end, a telecommuter is likely to pay all New York’s income tax plus a portion of the income tax of his or her state. This new taxation formula being introduced in the state of New York has been rejected by the telecommuting lobby groups at state, federal, and local government level arguing that taxing telecommuters in that manner will add a lot of the cost burden on the employees thereby discouraging employees from seeking telecommuting working plan. In addition, the lobby argues that teleworking has been of great help to both the employer, employee and the government at large, therefore, should not be jeopardized for the sake of increasing tax revenue. Worker’s compensation has also caused a lot of concern among employees telecommuting (Huws, Jagger, and O'Regan, 1999). In this regard, it is noted that employees working remotely sometimes suffer some injuries in the cause of their work. Nevertheless, it has not always been very easy for such employees to prove that their injuries are suffered in the course of their work, which sometimes lead to their denial of compensation from such injuries (Piskurich, 1998). At the same time, it has emerged that ascertaining whether such injuries are compensable under the law is not always very easy since it involves fact-finding analysis (Clark, 2000). This is true because, whereas a witness can easily be found for the on-the-job injuries, this is not the case for telecommuters, making it extremely hard to determine with certainty if the injury did occur in the course of the employee’s work. However, it is very necessary for organizations to ensure that any injury reported by an employee is thoroughly investigated including the exact place where the injury occurred (Kugelmass, 1995). However, before an employer can do so, it is very important for employers to seek for written consent from the employee to that effect. If possible, employer should consider inspecting an employee’s home offices occasionally for ergonomics and safety. Some employees have also opposed the issue of zoning laws, which restrict them from working at home. Report indicates that many cities in the U.S. have zoned laws that restrict the operation of home businesses (Huws, 1996). It is reported that, in most cases, the zoning laws requires that, for anyone to operate a home business, and then he or she must obtain a license or business permit. In this regard, there have been attempts by the telecommuting lobby groups to pressure the local, state, and federal government to consider reviewing this law so as to allow any employee who wish to telework to do so at their convenience (Johnson, 2001). This is because it denies people the opportunity to adopt this flexible working plan, which research has shown to be the next business evolution for the coming years. In fact, employers have been finding it hard, as well, in trying to determine whether it is the employee or the employer who should pay for the required home office license (Eldib, and Minoli, 1995). This is because whereas many employees have been pushing the cost to the employer, some employers have not always been ready to pay permit for telecommuting employees. Therefore, this issue needs to be brought at the bargaining table in order for the best solution to be found so as to ensure that the telework plan operates effectively in an organization. Conclusion Following the many issue that have arose regarding telecommuting, it is very crucial for all the parties to the matter such as employees lobby groups, employers, and the government to sit at the bargaining table so as to find the best solution to the issues being raised by the employees. This is because bargaining will ensure that every party get hard and the best solution found that pleases every party to dispute, that is, a win-win situation. References Clark, M.A. (2000). Teleworking in the countryside: home-based working in the information society. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Ashgate. Daniels, K., Lamond, D. A., & Standen, P. (2000). Managing telework. Manson, OH: Cengage Learning EMEA. Eldib, O. E., & Minoli, D. (1995). Telecommuting. New York, NY: Artech House. Goluboff, N. B. (2001). The law of telecommuting. Hoboken, NJ: ALI-ABA. Gray, M., Hodson, N., & Gordon, G. E. (1993). Teleworking explained. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Huws, U., & Podro, S. (1997). 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An organizational guide to telecommuting: setting up & running a successful telecommuter program. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development. Verbeke, A., Schulz, R., Greidanus, N., & Hambley, L. (2008). Growing the virtual workplace: the integrative value proposition for telework. London: IOS Press. Read More