Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Paper

Leah Smith

HCS/341

March 21, 2011
Norman Greene

Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Paper

The human resources department in every organization is responsible for ensuring that the organization follows all legal, safety, and regulatory requirements when dealing with the employees of the organization as well as with the clientele that the organization serves. Throughout the HR processes a main priority is the examination of the employment laws and the effects of how they are used. Divisions that house the employment laws such as the US Department of Labor (USDOL), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), etc. are important divisions that all HR departments must maintain up-to-date information from to ensure that the processes are staying in line with the regulatory requirements such as the Americans for Disability Act of 1990 (ADA). All of these laws, acts, divisions, regulations, and requirements are what led to litigation between employees, clients served, and the organization. These types of litigations bring to mind whether or not common sense and compassion in the workplace has been reduced by this type of litigation.
Effects of Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements on HR Processes Laws, acts, and regulations have been placed for organizations to follow throughout history. These laws, referred to as HR laws are the main reason that there are HR and legal departments. “Understanding and complying with HR law is important for three reasons. It helps you do the right thing, realize the limitations of your firm’s HR and legal departments, and minimize your firm’s potential liability” (Gomez-Mejia, et al. p.88). Understanding these HR laws will also enable an organization to determine the effects that the laws can have on the HR processes in place. Legal requirements as it relates to HR processes can be a very complex system as “each individual law is accompanied by a set of regulations that can be lengthy” (Gomez-Mejia, et al. p.90). The main effect of legal regulations on the HR processes is whether or not an action by the organization will result in litigation. The goal of the organization is to avoid litigation at all costs lending them to comply with HR laws as much as possible. As with the legal side of the HR laws, safety requirements are also a main player in the HR processes. If the employees and clientele of the organization are not covered under the safety requirements legal issues may come into play, which lead to unwanted litigations. Safety requirements such as those regulated under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) must be followed to avoid unwanted litigation because of an injury to an employee or client. The effects seen because of the safety requirements are both negative and positive. The safety laws were created to maintain safety standards to protect employees; however there are times when the requirements impede the completion of duties in a manner that can cause a drop in productivity. On the other side of the effect, the safety requirements are followed and an injury is avoided, thus avoiding any sort of litigation that would arise because of the injury that would have otherwise been sustained. Regulatory requirements in an organization have a major effect on the HR processes. This effect is seen when the productivity of the organization is at its maximum. When all regulatory requirements have been met and the organization is running up to standards, the employees are safe and able to function in their positions without time-consuming pitfalls such as litigations. When these requirements are not met there is the possibility that the organization could face penalties, fines, and possible closures due to non-compliance with government regulations.
Regulatory Divisions Organizations are required to comply with government created laws and regulations. In creating these laws and regulations, the government has also developed divisions to maintain enforcement of these laws and regulations. Divisions such as the USDOL, EEOC, and DHS are responsible for maintaining enforcement on employee-related regulations such as the ADA. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) “fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements. In carrying out this mission, the Department administers a variety of Federal labor laws including those that guarantee workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other income support” (HG, 2011 p.1). ‘The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information” (USEEOC, 2011 p.1). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as it applies to employee-relations enables organizations and departments to check the employment statuses of potential employees. The laws and requirements maintained by DHS ensure that terrorism is not fostered within the walls of American organizations through employees. The American for Disability Act of 1990 ensures that potential employees or clients are not discriminated against because of a disability. A couple of the terms of this act are “(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities; (2) to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities” (ADA, ch126). With the number of employee-related laws and HR processes in place to protect employees as well as the people who are served, there should be no reason for any sort of litigation to occur. However with the increase of litigation against organizations for petty issues by employees has caused the statement “Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been reduced by litigation” to become very true. The legal, safety, and regulatory requirements and the effects they have on the HR processes along with the divisions that maintain enforcement of the laws are vital to the overall running of any organization to ensure a minimal amount of complaints and litigations.

References
ADA. Title 42-THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE CHAPTER 126 – EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES Sec. 12101. Findings and Purpose. Retrieved from: http://www.ada.gov/archive/adastat91.htm#Anchor-Sec-49575
EEOC, 2011. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission online page 1. Retrieved from: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/enforcement_litigation.cfm
Gomez-Mejia, et al. Managing Human Resources, Sixth Edition 2010 by Luis R. Gomez-Mejia, David B. Balkin, and Robert L. Cardy. Pages 88 and 90.
HG.org, 2011. Employment Law – Guide to Employment and Labor Law. Retrieved from: http://www.hg.org/employ.html