Employers have an obligation to ensure that information in employee handbooks are current at all times. In complying with federal and state laws, it may require sudden changes, that should be expected on an annual basis. These are mandated changes that the employer generally has no control over and must be implemented whenever the regulation becomes effective. These are standard modifications that personnel are accustomed to; however, employers modifying the handbook at their own discretion is a fair employment practice when conducted in a good faith manner. First of all, the word “discretion” is defined as having a choice and within reasonable bounds. At times, it is necessary to implement changes that are not required by law based on the …show more content…
First, no employer is free to violate the law. All aspects of employment relation must comply with the law, including those related to non-payment of wages, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, taxes, fraud and otherwise. Second, no employer can be inconsistent with oneself, meaning they can not have it both ways. While no one is required to be 100% consistent 100% of the time, “sole and absolute discretion” does not permit an employer to be materially inconsistent with itself to deny employees what they clearly earned by their efforts. This causes disgruntled employees and may lead to the onset of a lawsuit. Last, no employer can implement changes to act in bad faith or commit fraud. For instance, creating a policy that will involve employees committing fraud but worded in a manner that insinuates that it is in the best interest of the company. For example, eliminating the separation of duties provision to allow a business office representative to input payroll and also process the checks. This creates an opportunity for fraud and waste, as the person inputting payroll data for employees should not also process the check, as the control mechanism was removed due to the handbook
For example one of the rules states ““strive for excellence” but the employees at Walmart act the opposite. That is not what it takes to be a Walmart Employee. There was a video shown at the orientation of an employee caught on tape stealing from the cash register. When Walmart was having the presentation with the pre employees they were in a windowless room filled with no distractions because they wanted them to only be focused on that specific thing the “orientation”. While Ehrenreich was working for Walmart she saw a lot of hostile behaviors she did not like that environment but she had no choice because of the few jobs available in the town she didn't have a alternative. I felt the same way if there were more jobs in my neighborhood I would definitely would have stopped working for
In 1980, a precedent was set in a Michigan court case involving a man named Charles Toussaint who was suing his employer, BlueCross Blue Shield, for wrongful termination based on the guidelines set in the employee manual (Alfred and Bertsche 33). The manual stated that employees would only be terminated for just cause, and the court decided that Blue Cross had violated the agreements in the employee manual (34). The court also ruled that even with Blue Cross’s efforts to provide a document that “issued non-binding guidelines” the employee manual was a contract and Toussiant was wrongfully terminated (34). After the precedent set by this case many employers and employees for that matter were reviewing their employee manuals for the type of ambiguous language that could allow them to get sued or sue. Consequently, a slew of wrongful termination lawsuits followed this one, which is why it is now important for employers to draft their manuals with experienced legal staff. Even with the best legal team and the perfect wording there is still no definite assurance that an employer will be completely protected from such lawsuits, but taking these preventive measures helps in the long run.
...efits from adopting unfair business practices and discouraging competition are much higher than the expected penalty and punishment. With changing time, there is need to make these laws more effective and relevant.
Authorizing the NLRB to conduct hearings on unfair labor practice allegations and, if unfair practices are found to exist, to t...
...to recognize an evolving society and through these judges decisions changes can be made as required.
A toxic coworker is someone who demonstrates a pattern of behaviors at work that can negatively affect others. A toxic employee is someone that is motivated by personal gain, uses unethical and mean-spirited actions to manipulate and annoy those around them. Toxic employees do not recognize respect towards others in the organization they work for or their co-workers, as far as ethics or professional conduct go. A bully is someone that repeatedly mistreats a coworker by verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, humiliation, sabotage or a combination of these. The bully is trying to place the target in a powerless position so that the bully can have control and manipulate the victim; this in turn creates a negative work environment.
But, employees are not obligated to abide by the changes made by the employer of his/her own discretion (Corthesy & Roper, 2014). It also presents the benefit to the employer of not following specific termination procedures when disciplining or discharging the employee. But in the case of a union employee, employee handbook can bind the employer because the employee handbook is considered a collective bargaining agreement in court. In this case the employee and employer are expected to abide by the procedures and policies stated in the handbook (Barancova & Olsovska, 2011). “Currently, enforceable just cause protections exist in collective bargaining agreements and in employment contracts with individuals with sufficient leverage to successfully bargain for enforceable job security protections” (Herbert, McNally, p.386, 2016).
It may happen when the existing laws become incompatible with the changed context. The views of legal
Introduction Employers simply want their employees to be doing the best possible job that they can. However, with the ever-growing pace of technology, it has been harder than ever to keep up with everyone around you. Especially in younger generations entering the workforce, they are known to be lazy and completely addicted to technology. Younger generations are not the only people guilty of these traits, however since more and more millennials are graduating college and entering the workforce, it has become more of an obvious trend. It has also become increasingly difficult for employers to keep track of their employees’ productivity.
to the environment and social life. There are different types of stress and its stressors we face in our daily lives. A huge source of stress comes from the workplace. It is caused by work and workload. Many employees become victim of the stress in the workplace both physically and mentally. This is underlying the workplace stress. This essay will discuss internal and external stress.
The term ‘occupational health and safety’ (often abbreviated to OHS), is used describe work practices that will keep employees safe. The absence of OHS can be detrimental to a company and its workers alike, as there is a high risk of serious injury. Safety on many worksites must be the top priority for any corporation. Though at our walk-around of Juggernaut Industries, we noticed it wasn’t monitored at all. The following is a list of possible effects and laws that will remind you of the consequences.
Ethics in the workplace is a very important thing to have. Without a sense of ethicality in the workplace there are many things that could go wrong. You could even end up losing a job because of a lack of ethics, or other consequences could be felt due to a lack of caring or morality. The workplace is a place that you should show respect and dignity, and a deeper sense of ethics is very important in order to uphold these senses of morality. Workplace ethics, which include such things as behavior, integrity, commitment, teamwork, and other things, are important, if not required, in most workplaces and can help to improve performance and morale for workers and employers.
Can I Receive Workers’ Compensation If I Do Not Have A Workplace Accident? Florida’s workers’ compensation laws are designed to protect workers who are injured on the job. Most people associated a workplace “accident” with workers’ compensation; however, that is not the best definition of what is covered by workers’ comp. A better definition of what workers’ compensation covers is a workplace “injury.” Not all injuries in the workplace are the result of an “accident.”
The buzzword in the global HR arena these days is ‘employee engagement’. Its impact has become so immense that is has become somewhat indispensible in the realm of the business world where operational efficiency and profit earning are the sole endeavour of any company. The questions are often asked regarding the utility of the employee engagement policies that are adopted by the companies especially in this world of cutthroat competition. These policies have been extremely useful one hand for the organisations; on the other hand they have been a failed drastically as effective HR and internal communications function in lot of companies.
Accidents occur in the workplace but in secret. These most of the time lead to physical and mental injuries that might affect the worker way of living for the rest of their lives. It is estimated that more than 337 million workers get injured in their place of work or in the course of work every year leading to work-related diseases causing about 2.3 million deaths per year (United States Department of Labor, n.d.).