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lesson3.docx· Welcome to Week 3
At the conclusion of this week, you should be able to:
· Identify the laws, which regulate discrimination in the workplace and are pertinent to this case
· Managing Difficult Employees
Course Learning Objectives:
· Explore the importance of human resource business partnership with organizational leaders to ensure effective implementation of policies and procedures
· Discuss HR policies and strategies and the impact on current issues and topics in the workplace
Key Learning Concepts:
· Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
· Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
· Equal Pay Act
· Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
· Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Ace of 1985 (COBRA)
· Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
· Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA)
· Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
·
· READING AND RESOURCES
· Electronic Materials are provided under licensing or in keeping with Fair Use exemptions for your educational use only. You may quote and utilize this material for this, other APUS courses, and related scholarly pursuits. Unless the materials are in the Public Domain or specific written arrangements are made with the Copyright holders, you may not sell, share or otherwise distribute these documents for personal or other use without the likelihood of violating Copyright Law.
Week 3 – Understanding & Managing People
Gaul, P. (2016, May). Rodd Wagner. TD Magazine, 70(5), 68+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=udel_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA453916661&asid=3496fdbea29c9ebf1b97a74ba0cf32dd
Emett, S. A., & Tayler, W. B. (2013, November). Is your strategy evaluation biased? The balanced scorecard may be the cause--and the cure. Strategic Finance, 95(5), 27+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=udel_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA349741170&asid=e6f4e1fa3dfbe930abc15275ba1ae853
Odoardi, C. (2015). The relationship between proactive goal generation and innovative behaviour at work. The Journal of Management Development, 34(5), 553-565. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1680929624?accountid=10457
Sabir, F., Abrar, M., Bashir, M., Baig, S. A., & Kamran, R. (2015). E-HRM IMPACT TOWARDS COMPANY'S VALUE CREATION: EVIDENCE FROM BANKING SECTOR OF PAKISTAN. International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 7(2), 123-143. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1657416966?accountid=10457
· LESSON
HRMT603 | LESSON 3
Understanding and Managing People
LESSON TOPICS
· Business Relationships
· Antidiscrimination Laws
· Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
· Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
· Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
· Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA)
· Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
· Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
· Title VII of 1964
· Managing Difficult Employees
INTRODUCTION
This lesson covers material about Understanding and Managing People. In Lesson Two, we learned HR policy is used to drive the behavior of employees in order to help achieve the organizational goals and objectives of the organization. Policy is developed for two reasons; because it is required by law and to support the overarching goals and objectives of the organization. Once we know the overall organizational goals and objectives, we develop policy to support those goals and objectives and we manage people to help us reach those goals and objectives.
At the conclusion of Lesson Three, we should have an understanding of people and how to manage people. We will not be exploring these topics from the traditional management perspectives, but in a way that will illustrate the importance of business relationships as they pertain to implementing and enforcing policy and procedures.
Business Relationships
Please watch these two short videos discussing the importance of relationships in business. This is so important, yet many of us do not think about it from a strategic viewpoint. It is not just so you can get ahead, it is essential to your success and the success of the company. The two videos illustrate the importance of relationships, which is part of understanding people.
The Importance of Investing in Business Relationships
-No transcript is currently available
The Importance of Building Strong Relationships
-No transcript is currently available
Just think about yourself for a minute. You want to be heard, you want people to listen to your ideas, and you want to be respected in the workplace. These are all valid points. Your employees feel the same way and so does your boss. Understanding people is a critical skill in the HR profession.
Understanding how policy affects employees is important too. Let’s look at how policy can help us understand and manage our employees.
Anti-discrimination Laws
One area policy should touch on in every workplace is anti-discrimination. Regardless of the size of an organization, there are laws that pertain to discrimination and cover almost every employee. Some laws come forth out of state legislature and may be dependent on one particular state; we will not cover state anti-discrimination laws in this lesson.
For our discussion, we will concentrate on federal anti-discrimination laws that are enforced by the EEOC – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. These laws are designed to ensure equity in the workplace. We will briefly cover eight of the federal laws. There are more than eight, but we will discuss the most common laws that affect the majority of employers and therefore, influence the HR relationship with employees from a policy perspective.
For detailed information on federal anti-discrimination laws, please visit:
Equal Opportunity Commission website
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The American with Disabilities Act applies to employers with 15 or more employees and covers employees who have a long term physical or mental disability the severely limits them in the daily activities of life. “A "disability" under the ADA can include confinement to a wheelchair, vision and hearing problems, reliance on a cane or "walker," certain mental illnesses, and disorders of the muscular system” (FindLaw, 2015). If an employer has 15 or more employees, they fall under the law of the ADA and reasonable accommodations should be made for eligible employees. For a better understanding of a reasonable accommodation, please visit the EEOC or DOL websites. For a brief overview of the basics of the ADA, please watch the following three-minute video:
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
How old do you have to be to be considered old? You can answer that yourself, but under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), you have to be 40 years old or older to be afforded protection. The ADEA was enacted to protect people from discriminatory treatment because of their age as it pertains to firing, hiring, and promotion decisions (FindLaw, 2015).
The ADEA applies to employers with 20 or more employees and does not supersede a legitimate seniority system or an age related BFOQ - bona fide occupational qualification. Age related BFOQ is very rare but can be found in some professions such as airline pilots.
Please watch this two-minute video for details on how this law is different from Title VII.
Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act is simply that. It makes it illegal for an employer to pay different wages to a man and a woman for doing the same work at the same work location. “The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit” (EEOC, 2015, para 3).
Please watch this short video for a summary of the Equal Pay Act and how it relates to Title VII:
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
“The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for retirement and health benefit plans in private industry. ERISA does not require any employer to establish a plan. It only requires that those who establish plans must meet certain minimum standards” (DOL, 2014). This act is very intricate and needs special attention. If you are an HR professional and are not familiar with this act, please take some time to fully understand ERISA.
Find additional information on the DOL website
Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA)
COBRA came about as an amendment to ERISA. The purpose of Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act is to allow employees to continue receiving healthcare after employment or in between employment. The reason for being no longer employed is irrelevant; it does not matter if the person quits, was fired, or laid off. The previous employee will have to pay for the coverage, but it is an option, albeit an expensive option. COBRA can also cover a spouse and dependent children. Please watch the short video clip pertaining to COBRA. Although the video discusses the state of Georgia, the information provided is applicable to all 50 states.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
This law, FMLA, dictates the employers allow up to 12 weeks of family leave each year. The employer does not have to pay the employee but must allow them to take unpaid leave under certain circumstance. Some of the reasons are for the birth or adoption of a child and to tend to serious health issues of the employee or a family member.
A serious health issue defined by FMLA is one in which the person has a serious injury or illness that requires an overnight stay from hospice or in a hospital or some other medical care facility. This included any period of incapacity and follow up care related to that incapacity. These include; being incapacitated for more than three days consecutively; being incapacitated because of a pregnancy or prenatal care; being incapacitated from or receiving treatment due to a serious and chronic health condition; being incapacitated permanently or long-term when treatment for the serious issue may be ineffective or any absence associated with ongoing treatments from a medical provider. This includes treatments for a condition that may not be incapacitating now but could be if left untreated.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
The Fair Labor Standards Act applies only to those businesses involved in interstate or foreign commerce and has sales in excess of $500,000 annually. With the global marketplace, this has become much more common compared to years past. The Fair Labor Standards Act essentially states that employers must follow the federal minimum wage and overtime standards. This includes the federal child labor laws too.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or Title VII as it is commonly referred to, was enacted to make “it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex” (EEOC, 2015). The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against an employee who has complained or filed a grievance related to discrimination or participated in an employment investigation or lawsuit.
Title VII is also the law that directs employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees’ or applicants’ religious practices as long as it does not put an undue burden on the employer.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act: “This law amended Title VII to make it illegal to discriminate against a woman because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit” (EEOC, 2015).
Managing Difficult Employees
We covered many laws that may dictate policy in our organization. We know one reason to have HR policies in place is due to our legal obligation. The second reason is to influence employee behavior in order to meet the overall goals and objectives of the organization. In Lesson Two, we discussed the different kinds of HR policies such as behavior, safety, attendance, and requests.
As we close out Lesson Three, we will focus on managing difficult employees. Every organization has them and every organization should have a policy in place to deal with discipline. Keep in mind, the goal of employee discipline should not be to fire anyone but to train our difficult employees to become team players and not continually offend or harass other employees. A progressive discipline policy is usually the best way to address this issue. Training managers on how to deal with conflict and difficult employees is also essential. Avoiding the problem is not the answer.
Conclusion
In this lesson, we covered material about understanding people and how to manage difficult employees. This was explored in a way that illustrated the importance of business relationships as they pertain to implementing and enforcing policy and procedures.
References
Department of Labor. (n.d.). Retrieved September 08, 2017, from http://www.dol.gov/
EEOC Home Page. (n.d.). Retrieved September 08, 2017, from http://www.eeoc.gov/
Find Laws, Legal Information, and Attorneys. (n.d.). Retrieved September 08, 2017, from http://www.findlaw.com/
