Employment laws also known as labor laws are laws that help define the relationship between workers, their employers, trade unions and the government. There exists numerous labor laws that apply to many businesses and therefore affect how certain businesses are run. Some of these employment laws include the Fair Labor Standards Act, Family Medical and Leave Act, Minimum Wage, Unpaid wages, Overtime Pay, Vacation Pay, Employment at Will Act, Wrongful Termination Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Act, the Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave or Adoption Leave Act and the Youth Labor law among others. Each labor law serves a certain purpose as will be discussed I the essay.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) which is a federal law regulates the health conditions and ensure safety in the private sector industries of workers by ensuring that the environment they are working in is not hazardous (Twomey 2013). In Alaska, the Occupational Safety and Health Section protects workers in Alaska from industrial harm. The section does tis by ensuring that work places maintain both deferral and state health standards.
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This law may affect how I as a manager run my business. This is because I have to ensure that new raw materials coming in are not harmful to the workers. I also have to ensure that the goods produced at my work place meet both federal and state charges. This will require certification programs in the office from time to time to ensure that safety has been maintained in all products
The Fair Labor Standards Act which is a federal law similar to the Alaska Wage and Hour Administration Law determines wage and overtime pay (Bogardus 2009). It states that overtime pay should be one and one half times the regular salary of each worker. The Wage and Hour Act in Alaska similarly safeguards employers from being exploited and ensures that they are justly compensated for their work. It includes the enforcement of both minimum wages and overtime regulations.
As a manager, the law requires me to determine the number of hours worked by each one of my employees. This will then help me in terms of the allocation of their salaries to avoid their exploitation. Additionally, I will have to calculate the number of overtime hours worked by each worker and determine the total overtime pay every worker deserves. The workers will be required to check in and check out every day for work in order to determine the total number of hours worked for the day.
The employment at will Act is also another law that applies at Federal level and in Alaska as well. As a state law, the act states that an employer is free to terminate employment of a worker at any time for whatever reason or without any reason at all. They are however, many limitations to this law that the employer must follow.
This act may not affect me much as a manager. I should however, ensure that before termination of an employment, I do no break any other laws such as contract or implication of contracts. To be safe from this, I should ensure that the only contracts to be made should only be binding contracts and not implied one.
Employment laws are useful to both the employer and the employee. They can however lead to trouble in the work place. This is where in case of their violation, employers can end up suing their employees or the other way round. This can bring a lot of unwanted attention for a business and it may not be good for a company. In order to void this, it is important that both employers and the employees are conversant with all the labor laws that apply to their business and they should follow them.
References
Bogardus, A. (2009). PHR/SPHR : Professional in Human Resources certification study guide . Indianapolis, Ind: Wiley Pub.
Twomey, D. (2013). Labor & employment law : text & cases . Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
