Skip to main content

Employment Laws you cannot ignore

Approaches on conducting a managers’ training session on application of employee discrimination laws at the workplace
There are diverse human resource management theories in use at the workplace. Most of these notions are difficult, and hard for line managers to understand and apply. Nevertheless, failure to comprehend and properly apply the theories may end in lawsuits and loss to the organization. It is therefore significant that HR managers ensure that line managers are not in conflict with the application of such ideas.
In this paper, I will reflect on discrimination as a human resource notion, and strategies to train managers understand this idea. To start with, discrimination is the act of treating an applicant or a worker unfairly based on a given non-performance related factor (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d)). There are various types of discrimination based on the discriminating factors. Some of the major forms of discrimination, as highlighted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d), are listed in the table below:
No
Discrimination Type
Description
(Treating an employee unfairly due to ;)
Applicable Law(s)
1
Age
Age; being 40 years and above
Age Discrimination in Employment Act
2
Incapacity
Any type of disability
American Disability Act
3
Equal pay/compensation
Sex; whether one is male or female
Equal Pay Act
4
Harassment
Age (40 years and above), disability, genetic information
Age Discrimination in Employment Act,
American Disability Act
Civil Rights Act
5
Pregnancy
Pregnancy, childbirth or a medical condition resulting from pregnancy or childbirth
Pregnancy Discrimination Act


A great learning strategy needs to be people-oriented as well as business-oriented (Armstrong, 2009). By being people-oriented it means creating a favourable environment for people to learn and meet their needs and aspirations, rather than imposing learning on them. Being business-oriented implies that the strategy assists people to performance in a manner that will help the organization attain its business goals (Armstrong, 2009).
Combined learning is mixture of learning methods intended to increase the effectiveness of the learning process. In this perspective, the mix would include formal training/classroom sessions, and self-directed. Formal training is applicable in this context because, like Armstrong highlighted, (Armstrong, 2009), the skills to be learned are so ‘particular and complex and people are improbable to master them own their own initiative at a reasonable speed.’ Additionally, the learning prerequisite being addressed here is common to a number of people, hence a formal training (Armstrong, 2009). Elsewhere, Dessler (2013) calls these trainings lectures.  To make the training more effective, the training content would be aimed in such a way that it contains the general context of laws regarding discrimination, then specific context of the organization.
Self-directed learning involves inspiring and challenges employees to take responsibility for their own learning. It is generally self-managed and self-paced suiting the job hassles of employees (Armstrong, 2009). In these days of advanced technologies, self-directed learning is achieved through e-learning and other computer-based programs, among others. It is supported by coaching and mentoring by supervisors (Armstrong, 2009). Dessler, (2013) talks about online classes, referred to as virtual classroom.
References
1.      Armstrong, M. (2009). Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 11th Ed. Kogan Page Limited
2.      Dessler, G. (2013), Human Resource Management. 13th Ed. Pearson
3.      U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d). Discrimination by Type. Retrieved from: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/.


559 words
Permalink | Show parent | Reply

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Example of a Self-Concept Case Study

Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) defined self-concept as “the totality of complex, organized, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his/her personal existence” & the self-concept we hold to be true helps us form a “perception of who we are based on expectations from, and responses to, our social environment; stimulated by internal and external factors that can create intense emotional responses, impacting on our willingness to learn and our choice of action - guiding our behaviors” (p. 127). In the case (WA, 2018) Jack is a 36-year-old leader within a major hospital who prides himself as a professional. In his work, he supports and helps each of his team members. In his personal life, he used to focus on eating healthy and exercising regularly. In the past year, his focus on healthy living declined because of professional responsibilities. As a consequence, his state of health deteriorated to a point that hi
Post a Comment
Read more

DeBeers - the diamond trading company

PESTEL analysis Political aspect: In 1994 the DeBeers operation was prohibited in the United States territory because of antitrust legislation. These facts complicate the DeBeers operation and shake the whole company. Economic aspect: Although in 1990s DeBeers ruled the whole industry, after several events such as Soviet Union collapse and Alrosa’s appearing, DeBeers lost its control over the market. In addition, Canada’s appearing in the diamond market forced DeBeers to hold back a large portion of its diamonds from the market and purchase much of the excess supply from these producing countries often at inflated prices (McAdams, Reavis, 2008, p.7). Social aspect: In the mid-1990, Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Democratic Republic Congo were outflanked by rebel forces opposed to the government. DeBeers sponsored this military conflict by “blood diamonds” purchasing. Technological aspect: The main threat is the synthetic diamonds grown is the lab-conditions. This tec
Post a Comment
Read more

Case Study 2: Young, Confident, and Moving too Fast

Introduction             The increasing complexities of organizations as it grows and as some take the path of globalization resulted in diversity and attracted many forms of cultural differences. Hence, the need to manage these cultural differences existing within organizations has been increasingly becoming necessary. This is particularly true for managers who may be caught in between various individual culture that each of its subordinates is accustomed to. Managing cultural differences requires what they called cultural intelligence (CQ). Broadly speaking, CQ is the ability to cut across various cultural contexts such as ethnic, generational, or organizational cultures (Livermore, 2011, p. 5). In this paper, the generational cultural differences between Joanne, the manager, and Julia, the newly hired subordinate will be discussed. To give a brief background, Julia is a confident, fast learner, and passionate young woman who wants to do more in her job without being micromanaged
Post a Comment
Read more