Employment Law: What you need to Know as an Employer

They referred to the body of laws that regulate the dealings between employers and employees as the employment law. They provide for selection, recruitment and placement of employees, working environment, remunerations and privileges/entitlements or otherwise employees. It is important for both employers and the employee to know the legal requirements imposed on them by the employment legislation. 

“Rights and dues, clear and bright, employment law keeps it right”

What is Employment Law?

Employment law can thus be defined as rules governing relationships between employers and employees in a given labor market. This means federal laws, state laws and local laws. These laws help to address equality in the workplace, safety at workplace and also non-tolerance of discrimination at the workplace.

Various laws govern the employers and these include the FLSA, OSHA and anti-discrimination laws. Employees should also have proper knowledge on their rights as far as these laws are concerned in order to be protected from unfair treatment.

Scope of Employment Law

• Hiring Practices: there must be an equality that is made in the hiring process by the employers. This means:

•  Excluding race, gender, age and disability discrimination.
• How to conduct the background checks in a legal way
• Equal consideration of all the candidates who apply for their position 

Employment law therefore always demands that employment advertisements come with specifications of qualifications. This is good to avoid cases where individuals, especially lawyers misunderstand others’ intentions or messages.

• Employee Rights: employment law provides for certain timeless rights to the employees. Some of these include:

• It provides the employees with right to work in a safe environment
• Right to be paid a fair wage for employee’s work
• Freedom to associate with labor unions 

In order to do this; the employer has to respect the provided rights. Their neglect may result in legal fines which are costly and might deter so many people from the field.

• Workplace Safety: OSHA is an organization whose main duty is set standard in regard to workplace safety. Employers must provide:

•  Safe equipment
• Proper training
• Hazard communication 

Not following OSHA requirements, which is different from OSHA standard, may result in penalties as well as higher risk in terms of responsibility. Employers need to consider semi-annually the need of updating the safety measures to reflect those changes needed and make sure that all employees are fully trained.

• Minimum wage Requirements: the FLSA has to do with wage and hour. Key points include:

•  Extra labor costs as result of over time working by employee who meets the requirements
• Recordkeeping standards

This means that all concerned employees must keep records of the number of hours worked and the wages paid as required by the employers. That is, misclassifying employees may trigger penalties to the worker as well as the employees.

Essential Employment Law Guidelines 

• Family and Medical Leave: the FMLA entitles the employees to take off without pay for certain family and medical conditions. Employees must:

• Properly instruct the employees for exercising their right under the FMLA
• Support jobs for people with family care needs.

Having knowledge about FMLA requirements enables employers to care for the employees while avoiding non-compliance.

• Anti Discrimination Laws: social prejudices or other types of discrimination are always crucial factors within the field of the working places. Employment law prohibits discrimination based on:

• Race
• Color 
•  Religion
• Sex
• National origin
• Disability 
• Age 

It is therefore upon the employers especially Human Resources Managers to ensure that their policies display these protections. Teaching diversity is one of the best guidelines to ensure that employees at the workplace treat everyone with equal respect.

• Termination and Layoff: employment law also sets procedures on employment termination. Transitional measures also require that employees adhere to the laid down legal requirement in the process of discharging their subordinates. This includes:

• Notifying when necessary in compliance with the term of the contract or the legal provisions as the case may be.
• Documenting performance issues
• Preventing legal suits that may arise through violation of the employees’ rights to work up to the terminations of their contracts.

Organizational citizenship should make a provision for understanding of rights of employees in regard to lay off and severance packages.

Best Practices for Employers 

To comply with employment law, employees should adopt several best practices:

• Regular Training: organize seminars regarding workplace policies, anti discrimination laws, and other safety procedures.
• Clear Policies: incorporate standard procedures that in writing on matters concerning hiring, promotions and dismissals. It is equally important to make sure that all these policies are known by all the employees.
• Open Communication: promoting voiced out communication channels between the top management and the organizational workers. One particular remedy entails addressing an issue immediately hence, it cannot snowball.
• Documentation: make sure you maintain the records of the employees performance, their training records, and any disciplining records. This documentation may help to prevent certain possible legal problems. 

Best practices for Employees

Employees can also take steps to ensure their rights are protected:

• Know your Right: make sure you are aware of your employment rights and protections under federal employment laws such as anti-discrimination policy and wages law among others.
• Report issues: in case of employment law violation, then you should report to your HR department or other governing bodies.
• Keep Records: employment such as pay subs, performance appraisals and any other records that are relevant to be provided to immigration, Refugee and CItizenship Canada. The above documentation can be beneficial especially in case of disagreement.

Conclusion

It is crucial to know your responsibilities under employment law to ensure that you provide employees with a fair and safe working environment. Employers and employees have a responsibility to ensure that the laws are followed to the letter.

Employment law is a vast area of law and it is only possible to be knowledgeable about the general principles of employment law.

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