Employment Law Compliance (Principles and Strategies) - Essay Example

Reflection: Employment Law Compliance HRM/531 October 27, PROF Employment laws affect businesses of all sizes. Many laws and regulations will impact all businesses, while others will only affect certain types and sizes of businesses. In the United States, most federal statutes must be a part of an organization’s employment compliance plan; failure to comply often leads to harsh penalties upon the business and the involved individuals within that organization. As a business grows it can generally be seen that there are additional rules and regulations that must be followed.

For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to all businesses with fifteen or more employees; while most businesses will fall into this category, there are some small businesses that may employ fewer than fifteen employees (McGraw-Hill, 2013). The same is similar for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as it applies to businesses with more than 25 employees (McGraw-Hill, 2013). The size and expanse of a business may also change the laws and regulations that apply to it.

A medium size business will not only have to comply with federal laws but also the state and local laws that apply to each area that the business is located in. For example, Arizona enforces a different minimum wage requirement than does Michigan, as do many states. Oftentimes a states’ minimum wage law will depend on the cost of living in that area; it is important for a business to know what these wage requirements are to ensure compliance with employees’ wages. Also, other laws also have state specifics that expand on federal laws.

Referring again to Arizona, the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) is an expansion to the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) which states that it is illegal to hire or retain an employee that is considered to be an illegal alien within the United States (McGraw-Hill, 2013). LAWA further requires that all employers use the E-verify system, a free web-based system to verify employment, to determine the hiring ability of a candidate (Arizona Senate Research Staff, 2013). These state specific laws would only be applicable to those businesses that reside or partake in business within said state; therefore they would only apply to a small business if they were in a given state, and then to those medium and large businesses that have expanded into those areas with specific mandates.

It is important for a business to comply with all laws and regulations that apply to a business to ensure penalties are avoided. Finally, large businesses have the broadest of laws to comply with. Many large businesses have expanded internationally and participate in the global market. This provides additional challenges and compliance issues for a business. Various international laws must be complied with, and diversity should also be a concern. It is not uncommon to see what is considered acceptable in one country is not in another.

For a business to remain successful, and in full compliance, it should be aware of the different employment laws that impact each business segment located in different areas. While this may involve much work, the rewards are generally greater; likewise, those, penalties are typically harsher and can be devastating to an organization.It is worth to note that there are exclusive employer laws that only larger companies with large employee size need to comply to. In the United States, Employer shared responsibility is a regulation that is already in application by corporations having over hundred employees.

Note that one hundred employees are considered the threshold for large employers. Large employer shared responsibility provision is a new employment law that large employers are expected to adhere to (Mcnew, 2014). This provision falls within the affordable care act (ACA) and was to come into effect from 1st January 2014 in United States for firms employing more than 100 personnel. Under this law, large employers are expected to provide healthcare coverage that must meet specific minimum standards to the employees on full-time work.

This offer must cover the employees’ dependents also except their spouses. Failure to comply attracts a penalty that is evaluated by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) towards the non-compliant employers. This law seeks to boost the healthcare policy that United States has been emphasizing on and promote better working conditions among the employee. It also seeks to maximize tax revenue collection and compensate compliant parties with the overall goal of efficient socio-economic practices in United States.

ConclusionGeneral conclusion indicates significant emphasis on employer compliance with laws that regulate business practices within and outside the borders of a country. It is evident that the size of the company and its employee size increases its chances of have more strict rules and regulations to comply with in its efforts to carry out daily business. Compliance may look difficult but its effective achievement has more gain in the long run for the organization. ReferencesArizona Senate Research Staff (2013) Arizona State Senate: Background Brief.

Retrieved from http://www.azleg.gov/briefs/Senate/LABOR%20EMPLOYMENT%20LAWS.pdf McGraw-Hill (2013) Cascio, 9ed: Managing Human Resources.Mcnew, R. (2014). Emergency department compliance manual, 2014 edition. S.l.: Kluwer Law International.