Employment law report
Introduction
Employment law is meant to govern the rights, relationship, and duties between the employees and the employers. The law contains rules that aim at ensuring that safety of employees is maintained in workplaces and that the employees receive a fair treatment while at their respective workplaces. The different employment laws depend on the state and federal constitution, opinions of the courts, and administrative rules. Various issues addressed by the employment law include the definition of the standard working hours and a standard week of work, compensation for injured employees, issue of child labor, and safety of the work conditions. Another problem is regarding the establishment of a minimum wage for the employees as equal pay for all employees as well as the health care of employees (Guerin, 2011). Organizations must ensure that they are up-to-date with the state and federal employment laws; otherwise, failure to comply can attract severe punishments.
Employment laws and consequences for noncompliance
Compensation law is one of the legislation under the employment law. This law constitutes Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as equal pay Act. Fair Labor Standards Act expects employers to pay employees fairly for the performance of their duties. To satisfy this, there is a set minimum wage that employers should pay their employees. Employees governed by this law should also be given an overtime pay for hours worked more than the set hours of a standard working week. The standard working hours are configured to be forty hours, and if an employee works for more than these in a week, they are entitled to an overtime pay. Equal pay Act, on the other hand, requires employers to pay all employees equally for the same of work performed regardless of their sex. Another law is the labor relations law, and this is made up of the national labor relations Act and the Taft-Hartley Act. According to Taylor & Emir (2012), the Federal Labor Standards Act issues a framework governing the interaction between the management and labor union. It prevents the employers from treating their employees unfairly. Taft-Hartley Act, on the other hand, requires that employees should be a member of a labor union before they can be eligible for employment by any company.
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The third category is the health and safety laws and under this is the occupational health safety Act. It issues the required standards of safety that all industries and single employers should observe for the health of the employees. It requires inspections to be undertaken to detect any situations in the work environments that might compromise the safety and health of the employees. However, consequences apply in the case of noncompliance with these laws.
Noncompliance with the compensation law attracts different penalties under different circumstances. If an employer fails to pay compensation to five and less than five employees for twelve months, they commit a misdemeanor, whose punishment is a fine of a minimum of $1000 and a maximum of $5000. For more than five employees, the offense is a felony, and the punishment is a not less than $5000 and not more than $50000 and any other fines applicable. Subsequent failure to pay employees is also punishable by a fine not less than $10000 and not more than $50000. Misrepresentation relating to this law attracts a fine of $2000 in every period of ten days of failure to comply or double the total cost of compensation (IFAP, 2014).
Noncompliance with the labor relations law includes employers' interference with the right of employees in organizing a trade union. In this case, the national labor and relations board issues a desist and seize order to that employer. In the case where an employer tries to control or dominate a trade union, the board will require the company to pay all the dues withheld from the employees by the union. Noncompliance with work health and safety law attracts various penalties which include five years jail term or $600000 fine for an individual and not more than $3million for a corporation. This applies to a serious offense that resulted to or almost led to the death of an employee. Other cases where the noncompliance results to the illness of the employee attract a fine of less than $600000 and $3milliom for an individual and corporation respectively (IFAP, 2014).
An organization may establish a program that will enable it to comply with the employment law by structuring its culture practice and policies. An organization may regulate its policies or standards to form guidelines that provide an environment that enhances proper conduct that is consistent with the employment law. It should develop a code of conduct that should be utilized as a foundation for the procedures and policies to ensure adherence (Guerin, 2011). These procedures and policies should be in agreement with the employment law. It is also basic for the organization to reform its organizational culture, creating one that emphasizes on the compliance of the set policies and procedures. This may be achieved by establishing a reporting culture where employees are rewarded for reporting any noncompliant behavior. For effectiveness, this change should then be communicated to all parties of the organization ranging from directors, managers and to other employees.
In summary, employment law consists of rules and regulation that define the rights of employees as well and the relationship between staff and employers in any organization. Noncompliance with this law and regulations attract penalties which vary depending on the offense committed. Every employer and employee, therefore, should be aware of the employment law requirements before entering into a work contract to avoid any noncompliance.
References
Guerin, L. (2011). Employment law: The essential HR desk reference . Berkeley, CA: Nolo.
Taylor, S., & Emir, A. (2012). Employment law: An introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
IFAP. (2014). Tougher workplace safety laws for WA. West Australian Journal of Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved from https://www.ifap.asn.au/Documents/Publications/SafetyWA%202014/safetywadecember_2014_web.pdf.
