The creation, definition, and revision of compensation laws is often conducted to ensure employees of non-discriminatory or conducive work environments. Employee compensation plays such a crucial role since it is crucial to both the employers and the employees; hence it comprises an essential part of the employment relationship. Typically, employees rely on salaries, wages, and other benefits for their health security and income needs. On the other hand, employers use compensation decisions in influencing their operating costs, and therefore influence their capacity to sell their products at competitive prices. Additionally, compensation decisions allow employers to be competitive in pursuing the best talents in the labor market as well as retaining the employee’s behaviors and attitudes. The concept of educating organizations regarding compensation laws is frequent among human resource consultants. Biotech Industries also require a deep understanding of the laws that affect compensation. This paper will explore some of the laws and regulations that would affect a total compensation plan in an organization operating within the Biotech industry, as well as the differences and similarities in total compensation plans within the industry and other organizations found in different markets.
The client’s company, a federal contractor that operates within the biotech industry has 200 employees. Some of the laws and regulations that may affect the company include the McNamara–O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965, since it focuses on contractors that are contracted by the federal government. The law/regulation mandates contractors to compensate the local prevailing wages if its prime contract exceeds $2,500 ( Ono, 2013) . Moreover, the Act requires contractors to offer workers fringe benefits or compensation equal to the prevailing benefits in the local market. Another law that affects compensation plans in the biotech industry is the Executive Order 11246. The order addresses the issue of discrimination in government contracts, stating that contractors cannot discriminate against employees on the basis of creed, color, race, or country of origin and they should embrace affirmative action to ensure equality among all employees. In cases where a contractor acts discriminatively against employees during the hiring process or when employees are at work, the contract will be subject to termination, cancellation, or suspension either in part or in whole, and the contract is declared ineligible for more government contracts.
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Moreover, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) laws and regulations are included in the biotech industry. The OSHA Act requires all employers to provide a healthful and safe workplace for all their employees ( Friend & Kohn, 2014) . The Act achieves its objective by enforcing safety standards, providing training on safety measures, and implementing outreach programs that focus on safety education and assistance. Employers are therefore required to comply with all the standards established by OSHA as well as the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which mandates employers to ensure that their workplaces are free from any harmful and recognized hazards. However, the client’s company differs from other companies in the market in that , since the organization is a federal contractor and it employs 200 people, it possesses additional regulations that cannot affect organizations that are not considered federal contractors. The key examples include the McNamara–O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965 and the Executive Order 11246. The second regulation only affect contractors that have more than 50 employees, while the first regulation only affects federal contractors.
There are several differences between the client’s company and other companies in other markets; for instance, the McNamara–O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965 does not affect non-federal contractors ( Ono, 2013) . On the other hand, both the regulations stated above do not apply in labor markets outside the U.S.; rather, the markets have their own defined laws and regulations pertaining to how employees should be compensated in different industries. On the other hand, the biotech industry comprises additional laws and regulations to the already existing compensation laws, including the OSHA laws, which mainly focus on such elements as the management of chemicals, hazards, security, health, and the extreme procedures for ethical and moral issues.
Compensation laws and regulations are similar within different organizations despite the fact that the laws could be slightly different. The biotech industry is similar to other organizations outside the biotech industry since the all the organizations have a similar alignment with the compensation laws and regulations that are currently in effect. Some of the laws and regulations that affect all the industries include the FLSA of 1938 and the Social Security Act of 1935 ( Ono, 2013) . Hence, during the creation of the company’s total compensation plan, several factors must be considered, including the type of wok that the employees are expected to perform and the hazards that employees are exposed to during work. From this perspective, OSHA laws must be incorporated in the compensation plan, since employees in the biotech industry face a high risk of hazards, including exposure to dangerous chemicals among others. Other crucial regulations that the company should incorporate in the total compensation plan include the McNamara–O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965 and the Executive Order 11246, to ensure fairness in employment. The FLSA of 1938 and the Social Security Act of 1935, which affects all industries must also be considered when drafting the total compensation plan.
References
Friend, M. A., & Kohn, J. P. (2014). Fundamentals of occupational safety and health . Bernan Press.
Ono, R. (2013). Business of Biotechnology: From the Bench to the Street . Burlington: Elsevier Science.
