Basis of Personnel and Labor Law - Assignment Example

Personnel and Labor Law Question The letter of reprimand that is issued for an employee often serves as a warning for an employee. This letter ismajorly related to the work related issues that is associated with the employees. The letter of reprimand that is given to an employee is to make him or her realize that they are not performing at par with the required standard which would eventually lead to their dismissal from the organization. Once this has been issued there is proper investigation carried so as to prove whether the charges that has been put on the employee is valid or not. An employee who receives this letter and is not subjected to any form of action is often regarded not to undergo any adverse employment action but this is not true in all cases. This form of letter brings down the work quality level of an employee though he or she may not be demoted or subjected to any form of actions but in the future career path it would prove to be a big negative factor. Thus this form of letter does constitute adverse employment action (Servais, 2009).This letter though may not be effective at a particular time but it would prove to be very harmful for an employee if the charges that are mentioned in the letter are repeatedly executed by an employee. This form of act would lead to demotion or even dismissal of the employee at times even without giving any further letter or reprimand to the employee. Question 2 The questions that had been asked to Gale in an interview were illegal on the basis of labor laws. As per the labor law an interviewer cannot ask any form of personal questions to a candidate as these information forms the basis of discrimination. Gale was asked about her husband, what he does to maintain their standard of living and even she was asked whether she was planning for any child or not. These questions are irrelevant in relation to the job and cannot be asked to any candidate. Anti-discrimination law talks about the right of people to be treated as equally. This personnel and human law talk about equal treatment of every labor irrespective of sex, race, age, nationality, sometimes religious opinion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and political opinions. This law plays very important role to fight against any kind of possible discrimination that can happen in a workplace (Cihon & Castagnera, 2013).This kind of discrimination can also happen through an interview and none of the candidates should be rejected on the basis of their caste, creed or sex. Workplace discrimination, it may be any kind of, is a serious social issue it has lots of direct and indirect impacts on both society and work places. To remove this issue Anti discrimination law plays an important role. This law protects the workplace environment from any form of illegal action that can even be associated with an interview that is conducted by an organization as in this case it has happened with Gale. Question 3 An individual if contacts me regarding an employee who has been terminated from my organization few days back because of any kind of poor performance I would not say any such thing that would spoil his or her entire career. If the employee has suggested my name as a referral then that indicates that the employee trusts me and it would not be correct to speak against the employee. The employee may have been dismissed from the organization because he or she was not able to cope up with the performance standards and this does not indicate that the employee would not be able to perform well in another organization. I would not say anything annoying about the employee so that he or she may avail the new job opportunity. On the contrary if apart from the performance factor if the employee was dismissed because of any other reason such as stealing then I would not lie to an individual who asks me about the employee. This is simply because of the fact that this would be against my ethics. The factors such as performance can be increased by an individual with a bit of hard work but habits such as stealing cannot be changed and I would not convey a wrong message to an individual who asks me about trusting this particular employee. In such a scenario my response would be completely different and I would say the truth to the individual so that he or she does not trust a wrong person. Case Analysis Analysis The case that has been put forward is regarding the organization Hill v. Lockheed Martin Logistics Management. This case is surrounding an old lady who worked as a mechanic of aircraft metal sheet. The allegations of this case was that the old lady claims that she has been abused and even discriminated on the basis of her age and gender by the safety inspector of her department. This kind of behavior has resulted into her termination from the job and she claims that the decision of the management has been greatly influenced by the opinion of safety inspector. The person who has been adversely affected in this case is that worker who has been subjected to termination. That lady has been working in this organization from many years and the experience she has gained is not given importance by the higher authority but more importance is been given to the subordinate workers. This case is a good example of the situations that occurs when there is discrimination in the workplace. There is a specific labor law that has been designed to handle such as workplace discrimination. Anti-discrimination law talks about the right of people to be treated as equally. Some countries have made it mandatory in their employment system. This personnel and human law talk about equal treatment of every labor irrespective of sex, race, age, nationality, sometimes religious opinion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and political opinions. This law plays very important role to fight against any kind of possible discrimination that can happen in a workplace. Workplace discrimination, it may be any kind of, is a serious social issue it has lots of direct and indirect impacts on both society and work places. To remove this issue Anti discrimination law plays an important role. The issue that is put forward in this case is also that the anti-discrimination law is only applied on those individuals who possess an authority in the organization in relation to decision making (Riccucci, 2007).The worker has clearly stated in the court that the decision makers or the supervisor who had issued the letter of reprimand did not have any form of discriminatory motive and she agrees with the fact that there has been certain negligence on her part which she tried to rectify after receiving such letters. She even does not have any allegations on the higher authority as they have not dismissed her without carrying out proper investigation process. The only issue is that the decision makers have given importance to the information that was given by the subordinate workers and this forms a controversial issue related to the labor law. The employers have major responsibilities in the form of preventing any form of discrimination that is exercised on the employees. In this case the main responsibility of the employer was to handle the situation effectively so that there was no scope for any court decision. The employer has the responsibility to investigate the overall scenario before concluding at a decision and even needs to analyze the situation of the employees from both ends. Problem Identification This case highlights certain problems and issues that need to be addressed. There are majorly two important legal issues that have been highlighted in this case. Firstly the case revolves round the lady who has been facing discrimination by the safety inspector at the workplace. Secondly, the other problem that has been identified in this case is that of the decision making process that has been undertaken in the organization. The decision makers followed a proper investigation process but their decision was greatly affected by the opinion that was put forward by the inspector. These legal issues needs to be addressed properly as this would lead to further conflict in the workplace in the future years and more number of experienced employees can be dismissed from the organization on the basis of this form of discrimination. These legal issues hold significant importance majorly because of the factor that they are related to the workplace environment which needs to maintained properly so as to enhance productivity. On the other hand these legal issues are based on some real time situations as females are often subjected to such discrimination in the workplace. These legal issues also needs to be addressed on the basis of the factor that often in workplace it becomes important for the employer not to be dependent on any subordinate workers for the decision making process but they need to properly investigate a situation which may lead to termination of an employee. These issues are essential from the employer’s point of view and also from the employee’s end as it is associated with the career of the employees. Alternatives There are two major problems that have been identified in the case which needs to be addressed. There are some possible alternatives that can be used for addressing such problems as identified in the case. The first major problem was related to the discrimination that was faced by the female worker who was working in the logistic firm. The best alternative for this problem was to educate the managers and supervisors about the anti-discrimination law so that they do not discriminate any workers on the basis of sex, religion, caste, etc. This form of education would even make the subordinate workers be aware of the consequences that are associated with violating the law and even they would possess sufficient knowledge about the labor laws. On the other hand when the lady was witnessing ill treatment she should have directly complained to the top management who were the ultimate decision maker so as to avoid such an outcome. This would have prevented any form of complexity in the situation. For this alternative it would be essential to set up a platform through which the workers can directly communicate with the top management so as to put forward their problems and discuss work related issues. The second problem could also have been addressed by an alternative and this would be an efficient decision making process. The higher authority should have prepared a framework so as to make the subordinate workers aware about the fact that the decision making is the responsibility of the management and any form of opinion or views from the workforce regarding an employee or any situation would not be entertained (Dobbin, 2009).This alternative would have solved much of the problems and even would have prevented the adverse effects that resulted in the case scenario. This alternative would have made the workers rely on the factor that the higher authority would not make any decision under pressure or by being influenced by the inspector or supervisor of the workforce. Recommendation The recommended solution for the problem that has been identified in the case would be directly associated with the second alternative that had been chosen to address the problem. The recommendation would be of developing a platform between the top management and the employees so that such a situation does not arrive where the subordinate workers needs to provide information to the management in order to take a decision. This form of platform that is been recommended would also be beneficial for the organization as it would not give birth to any form of complex situations This recommendation is also suitable as it would help in resolving issues that was faced majorly by female workers in the organization. The kind of abusive behavior that was being witnessed in the workplace could have been communicated by the workers to the higher authority so that strict actions can be taken against such supervisors. On the other hand this form of platform would also reduce the rate of termination of employees for poor perform. This is simply because of the factor that the employees would feel free to talk to the higher authority regarding their workplace problems which are not being efficiently solved by their immediate heads or their supervisors. This in turn would also eliminate the issue of being discriminated by their heads or warnings that are generally given by their heads of being terminated from the job. This open platform even would restrict the heads from performing any such activity that comes under violation of anti-discrimination law. The supervisors would even extend their support because of this recommended solution because they would feel that if the employees do not perform well then they can be dismissed by the higher authority. This solution is the most suitable as it would prevent the supervisors from discriminating their workforce, it would help the employees to perform well by resolving their issues directly with the top authority and even it would enable the management to portray a clear picture about the scenario of the workplace so that right decision can be taken for the well being of every employee. Implementation There should be a specific time frame to implement the recommended solution so that such a problem that has been identified in the case is not repeated again in the organization. The best way to implement this solution is through forming a common channel for communication with the help of which the employees do not need to rely on their supervisors for solving their issues or supporting them to improve their level of performance in the workplace. This channel would enable the workers like this female worker to talk directly to the higher authority on receiving any letter of reprimand and even communicate the fact that they are being discriminated by their immediate heads on the basis of caste, creed, religion, sex, etc. This form of channel would also reduce the conflict level as the situations can be quickly resolved without being stretched or making them further complex. The top authority needs to implement this communication channel immediately which would be applicable for certain layer of the workforce and with passing years if this solution proves to be beneficial then it can be further incorporated into the lowest levels of workforce. The management should understand the factor that this form of platform would be beneficial for the progress of the organization. On the other hand the staff inspectors should not take this medium as a tool that would be used against them but this should be considered as a medium that would enable them to put across the difficulties that they are witnessing in dealing with the workforce in the real time situations. The three vital elements of this solution are the employees, heads and management who needs to be convinced equally so that a common solution for the identified problem can be established. The implementation process is a critical aspect that needs to be given importance so that the recommended solution is effective for the organization. References Cihon, P., & Castagnera, J. (2013). Employment and Labor Law. London: Cengage Learning. Dobbin, F. (2009). Inventing Equal Opportunity. New York: Princeton University Press. Riccucci, N. (2007). Public Personnel Administration and Labor Relations. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Servais, M. J. (2009). International Labour Law. London: Kluwer Law International. 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