What is Employment Law?

The term Employment Law covers a wide range of topics that relate to the employee and employer relationship. It is also commonly referred to as Labor or Labour Law. It encompasses a body of laws, restrictions, administrative rulings and precedents that address the legal rights of working people as well as restrictions of the employer and employee relationship.

The basic feature of employment law in almost every country is that the rights and obligations with the employee and employer relationship are governed and mediated through a contract between the two. However, many of the terms and conditions of the contract are implied by legislation and common law. In the United States, the majority of state laws allow for employment "at will", meaning the employer is able to terminate an employee for any reason, as long as the reason is not an illegal reason.

One of the most common employment laws incorporated in most countries around the world is the Minimum Wage law. The minimum wage is the lowest wage an employee can be paid and is determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. This acts as a price floor.

The United States was the first country to employ a minimum wage in 1938. This was followed by India in 1948, France in 1950 and the United Kingdom in 1998. In the European Union, 18 of the 25 states have minimum wage laws.

Another common employment law is the Working Time law. This not only governs the amount of time an adult is allowed to work, but also the amount of time that children can work. This also includes mandates of how much vacation time must be given to employees.

In the United States, the Wages and Hours Act of 1938 set the maximim standard work week to 44 hours and in 1950, this was reduced to 40 hours. Despite this law, there are some jobs that require more than 40 hours to complete the tasks of the job. For example, if you are a farm worker, you can work over 72 hours a week, if you want to. However, you cannot be required to.

These laws are the most common employment laws in use today. However, there are dozens of other laws regulating and protecting the employer and employee relationship.

Notes for editors: Claire Jarrett recommends 11sb, who are Employment Lawyers

Common Terms of Employment Law

Employment law came about due to the demands of workers to have better working conditions and to have the right to organize. Alternately, employers wanted to restrict the powers of workers in order to keep labor costs low.

Employers' costs can increase when workers organize to win higher wages. Also, laws imposing costly requirements such as health and safety or equal opportunity conditions will dramatically increase their costs.

The state of employment law at any one time is therefore both the product of, and a component of, struggles between the employer and employee.

The contract of employment is the most basic feature of common employment law. This governs the employee and employer relationship in order to facilitate a fluid labor market.

When an employee is hired, the essential terms are given to the employee. These must specify in concrete terms the hours to be worked, the term of wages, holiday rights, notice in the event of dismissal, job description and so on.

Common employment law also concerns the three-way relationship between employer, employee and trade unions. Trade unions, or labor unions, were formed to allow the employees to organize in order to protect their rights as a group. Trade unions must also follow particular procedures before taking certain actions such as strikes, pickets as well as workplace involvement.

Other areas employment law is involved with is Health and Safety, Anti-discrimination, Unfair dismissal and Child labor.

The earliest Health and Safety laws went into effect in 1802 to protect children working in English factories.

The Anti-discrimination law means that discrimination against employees is morally unacceptable and illegal. In particular, racial discrimination and sexist discrimination is not allowed.

The Unfair dismissal law protects employees by guaranteeing that they "can't be fired without any legitimate motive" and "before offering him the possibility to defend himself".

Child labor is the employment of children under an age determined by law or custom. This practice is considered exploitative and was not actually seen as a problem throughout most of history. It has only become a disputed issue with the beginning of universal schooling which brought about the concepts of children's rights.

As you can see, there are many rules, regulations and requirements provided by employment law. Throughout history it has always been a struggle between employer and employee that still continues today.

Notes for editors: Claire Jarrett recommends 11sb, who are Employment Lawyers London

Understanding the Employment Law

If you're an employer or an employee, or even a solicitor, then you may have come across Employment Law. In every kind of business there are rules built to run the business and for the employees to follow and fulfill the given tasks accordingly. There are laws such as for working hours, labor's reforms, industrial revolution etc. There are many laws that have been set up to ensure employee safety in workplace, when it comes to policies and standards OSHA is on of the most enforced industries, which doesn't impose much small businesses evenly.

As the laws are concerned the employment laws should be followed in everything related to work. There are companies who make fake certificates just in few hundred dollars, it is very easy with a word processing program, a scanner and a certificate which is original but has someone else name on it. Still it is bogus and it is wrong to declare that you have taken a training that you did not. OSHA is well aware of the industries where the fraud, improper work, unfinished paper work and poor trainings can be expected. Fines are charged if there is any misconduct of laws, and on breaking the rules and the regulations one can be arrested. The improper employee notification may lead to a great problem.

All the laws should be followed from the process of dismissals to the hiring process. The managers and the project managers should put through trainings. Today employment laws apply both state and federal level. There are numerous online programs that can be exercised on a very low cost and get the company to accelerate. There are these small companies which may end up to be successful in achieving a big contract for which they will hire more and more employees in order to expand the business, this may increase the risk of an unexpected visit from OSHA for breaking the rules.

The standards of OSHA are well known and the rules and the regulation of the OSHA are so many that they are in a set of 5 CDs published. There are rules for electricians, plumbers, roofers etc. They are built for safety and right instrumentation. All these rules are somewhat different from each other as all the works are not alike. There are many companies who have put these rules all together for you to make it easy to figure out and follow. This is the reason why you need to take an online test in order to know if this industry particular. Unfortunately there is no lawyer alive who cognizes all the rules of all the industries.

One should take the advantage of these programs available online. The employment's laws should be known and followed for the betterment of the company in everyway. A company can run for a longer period with more success than expected if the employment's laws are applied and complied properly and regularly by all the workers and implemented by every employer in a structural manner.

A critical part of remaining safe and healthy is to be OSHA certified. Check out our Online OSHA Certification classes at The EHS Pros.

Employment Law More Important Than Ever

Although California has the world's eighth largest economy, experts anticipate difficult times ahead as the state struggles to recover from the recession. The UCLA Anderson Forecast Group has said they expected to see unemployment at 10% or higher through late 2011. The figures show that in today's challenging economic climate where a steady paying job is as important as ever, a good understanding of employment law is a must.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California worker's compensation system covers 15,256,000 employees working for over 800,000 employers in the state. These employees and employers generated a GDP of $1.8 trillion in 2007. In addition, 644,700 occupational injuries and illnesses were reported in 2007. Statistics also showed that in 2007, there were at least 229,871 compensation related hearings.

Some Companies Disregard Employment Laws

A steady paycheck offers more than just a way to provide for your family's needs. It provides a sense of security that is hard to come by these days. Unfortunately, some employers intentionally or unintentionally neglect or refuse to pay their employees what they are rightfully owed under their contracts or under California law.

In September 2009, the California Labor Commissioner filed a $17.5 million lawsuit against the Federal Loan Modification Law Center for failing to pay their workers for all the hours worked.

In December 2008, the commission also filed a $250,000 lawsuit against an online health care company for unpaid wages. The commission hit the nail squarely when it argued that companies that fail to pay their employees when wages are due create hardships for employees who depend on their wages for the necessities of their family.

Know Your Employee Rights to Protect Yourself and Your Family

Sadly, many employers will go to great lengths to avoid paying their employees properly so they can maximize their profits, even if it means that families must struggle to survive. They count on their employees' ignorance of employment law or their fear of confronting their superiors. Hence, it is important to be apprised of one's rights for the sake of one's self and, more importantly, one's family.

For example, many employees are unaware that under California employment law, they are entitled to wages if they are forced to work through or miss a meal or rest period.

They're also unaware that under California employment law, companies cannot deduct, subtract or withhold from an employee's wages the cost of doing business. This means, for example, that if your company forces you to wear a uniform; they cannot force you to shoulder the expense of paying for and maintaining the uniform.

In addition, many employees do not know how to properly calculate wages due to them for overtime.

Aside from unpaid wages, employees also face the prospect of suffering workplace injuries. Statistics from California's Department of Industrial Relations showed that in 2005, at least 456 employees were killed in occupational accidents. Out of the number, 384 were wage and salary workers and the majority were men between the ages of 35 and 44. Some common workplace injuries include slip and falls, back injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome and mental stress.

The Labyrinth Of Employment Law and Filing Claims

Unfortunately, fighting for one's rights can be fraught with many obstacles. When the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently discovered many troubling trends on how labor complaints were handled.

They discovered that the department tasked to enforce laws on minimum wage and overtime responded slowly to complaints and had a poor complaint intake process. In addition, they also found that many claims were insufficiently investigated. The same problems unfortunately plague California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). In short, these public entities do not have the resources or manpower to handle all of these labor complaints.

In addition to these obstacles, the process is made even more complicated by the fact that even the DLSE has no set criteria on how to define an independent contractor. This means that one must often look to the interpretations of courts and enforcement agencies to decide if in a particular claim, one is an employee or an independent contractor. Because of their lack of resources and inability to adequately investigate each claim that comes to the, the DLSE has even urged employees to enlist the help of an employment lawyer.

The author Oscar Wilde once said that the best way to appreciate one's job is to imagine oneself without it. But having a job and not getting paid properly for it is not only frustrating, it is illegal.

In over three decades, BISNAR | CHASE lawyers have represented over six thousand people in car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian and other personal injury cases. The law firm has an "AV" rating, the highest level of professional excellence, by Martindale-Hubble. John Bisnar, who is the author of this article, and his partner Brian Chase each have a "Superb 10/10" Avvo rating, the highest possible. John was named a "Community Hero" by the United Way, while Brian was named a "Trial Lawyer of the Year" in 2004,one of the 2007 Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and a 2009 OC METRO Top Personal Injury Lawyer. Isn't this the legal team you want representing you? For more information on employment law, visit http://www.employee-rights-attorneys.com or call 1-800-561-4887 for a free consultation.

Copyright 2009 BISNAR | CHASE. All Rights Reserved.

Vision for Workforce Diversity

A genuine Workforce Diversity Initiative is based upon respect for one another and the recognition that each person brings his or her own unique attributes to each endeavor in life. A workforce diversity vision is a commitment to provide equal opportunity for all employees to reach their full potential. Without action, however, this vision is meaningless.

There must be a commitment to build an exemplary workforce community that offers a nurturing and challenging intellectual climate, a respect for the spectrum of human diversity, and a genuine understanding of the many differences-including race, ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic status, national origin, sexual orientation, disability and religion that will enrich the the entire workforce. community.

It is incumbent upon each individual to share the responsibility of creating and maintaining an environment of mutual respect and support. Instead of responding to rising diversity with fear and insecurity, we can treat our diversity as a strength and asset and devise ways of responding to it which enable our society to reap continual benefits no matter what the occupational field.

Multiple global working environments now will undoubtedly continue to serve as a meeting place for different cultures and it will be very important that all employees find ways to make those encounters positive experiences. Employees learn and work better when their work environment occurs in a setting where they are interacting with others who are unlike themselves.

The benefits of workforce diversity through the positive engagement of different cultures are that employees who experience the most racial and ethnic diversity in employment settings and in informational interactions with peers will experience the greatest engagement in active thinking processes, growth in intellectual engagement, and growth in intellectual and academic skills. Employees with the commitment to equity will be the champions of diversity ink every organization. They will be immediately recognized not only in our institution but in their community for valuing and leveraging differences to fuel innovation.

Support of positive engagements will make all employees feel comfortable encountering members of different racial, ethnic and religious groups. Support from senior management will have the greatest success of promoting the personal growth of employees and the institution as a whole. There must an institutional expectation in any organization that every member of the workforce embrace the underlying values of this vision and is willing to demonstrate a strong commitment to attracting, retaining and supporting all employees who reflect the diversity of our larger society.

We all must strive to take on the spirit and passion of the original "Freedom Riders" while walking the walk and always being cognizant of setting the example.

"Diversity is about allowing differences and respecting differences until the differences don't make a difference anymore."

John Fuller is the Diversity & Equal Employment Opportunity Consultant for Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has held prior EEO positions with Fortune 300, the US Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Defense. He holds a Master of Science in Leadership/Business Ethics from Duquesne University and a Master of Arts in Education from Norwich University. John has been directly involved in EEO and prevention of sexual harassment training and EEO investigations since 1989.

At Work With Employment Laws

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and state extensions of Title VII when added to the ADA, FMLA, ADEA, EPA, FLSA, USERRA, PDA, OSHA, OFCCP, Affirmative Action, Workers Compensation, Minimum Wage, with many others, create a firestorm of confusion for those who are unfamiliar with employment laws. What is confounding is that any one of these laws with the exception of Title VII can change abruptly with court decisions and also yearly with Congressional, state, local, or legal decisions or actions. If an employer or an employee were to actually take a comprehensive look at the myriad of employment laws that protect the employee or that the employer is legally required to be aware of and adhere to, their heads would spin!

Employers and employees constantly ask me the question, "Does this law pertain to me? The answer is not always a pure yes or no. An employment law may apply to some employers or employees and may not with others depending upon how many employees an employer has or possibly whether the employer is a federal contractor or not or even s where the employer may be located.

A perfect example is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employment discrimination based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex or handicap. Maryland takes this a few steps further to include sexual preference, familial status, and genetic code. Baltimore Maryland takes it even one step further with protection for the category of transgender. Since Johns Hopkins Hospital is within the Baltimore city limits, it must adhere to all of the above stated protected categories. A neighboring employer in a city such as Towson adjacent to the Baltimore city limits would not have to have protection for transgender and a city such as McLean, Virginia less than 45 miles away would not have protection for genetic code, transgender, or familial status but would still maintain the Federal law that applies to everyone...well almost everyone.

Now, when you take into consideration that Title VII and any or all extensions thereof is applicable to only for employers of who have 15 or more employees, the ADEA applies to employers who have 20 or more employees, and the EPA applies to employers with any number of employees, the confusion for employers and employees is readily apparent.

Employment laws sometimes contradict long established personnel policies that have failed to realize changes through legislation or legal decisions that affect compensation, payment of earned vacation or other earned benefits. Those contradictions can be a ticking time bomb waiting for a lawsuit to occur or for sanctions to be applied. The Federal Department of Labor or EEOC, just like the IRS with taxes, is not amenable to employers claiming to be ignorant of employment laws that pertain to them.

What can be done to prevent either a misapplication or violation of employment laws? First of all an employer contemplating opening a business should be cognizant of employment laws that pertain to that business prior to opening the door for their first day. Second, the employer should hire a professional EEO Officer well trained with expert knowledge and application of employment laws and who is an experienced EEO Investigator in the workplace. Employers should not rely solely upon human resource generalist to make these decisions. While HR generalist may have some knowledge of employment laws, it has been my experience that an EEO specialist will be a welcomed addition to that HR staff. Much larger firms or businesses should of course consider hiring both an EEO specialist and a labor law attorney especially when government contracts are involved.

Courts will generally ask an employer during a discrimination law suit how employment laws are disseminated to their employees. Are they merely posted on a bulletin board (which some are required to be posted) and the employee given a handbook to read, or are employees provided this valuable information on the day of hire through an orientation with supplemental training throughout the year? It is in the best interests of an employer to hire experienced EEO professionals and/or legal counsel. Doing so will lessen liability they will likely incur if there are discrimination lawsuits. The bottom line for an employer is that an employer may actually prevent that one damaging lawsuit from occurring. How they do that is by taking the affirmative steps to ensure compliance with the law and applying all of the employment laws with the genuine intent to ensure full equal employment opportunity.

John Paul Fuller, MA, MS

Adventures in Questionable HR Management

The cardinal rule of HR Management should always be Do Not Let Management Overreact and Make a Bad Situation Much Much Worse.

This is not always easy to do. Case in point this week: Apple Computer (Disclosure: I love Apple Computer and own, much to my wife's dismay, virtually every product they have ever come out with, so it pains me to point out this questionable HR management moment but, alas, that is our job.)

Apparently, Apple Computer has an employee talent show in which it invites employees to participate with there own performances. (Think of it as "American Idol" for computer programmers.) In the most recent show, a customer service rep performed a somewhat humorous poem along the lines of "Def Comedy Jam". (If you don't know what this is, stop a teenager on the street and ask them. - That's what I had to do.) Said poem made a humorous reference to leaving a rude customer on customer service hold for a very long time.

Management no likey the poem. Management fire the employee.

OK, now I guess I can understand management not being completely pleased with an employee mentioning customer hold times as a part of a comical skit. To my mind it really isn't all that offensive (and not terribly unrealistic given some of the hold times I have racked up on tech support lines) but whatever, its your company.

Here's the rub: Sometimes things are only a big deal because you make them so. Had management called this employee in the following week and said, "Hey, I saw your act. I know it was in the spirit of fun and everything but in the future let's not reference doing anything bad to our customers b/c that is against our company ethic, etc. etc." that would have likely resolved the issue and no one would have even remembered the comment the next day.

By overreacting (in my opinion) and firing the employee in the heat of the moment, you invite trouble. Co-employees will be upset. The event will take on more importance than it deserves and make the water cooler rounds for a few weeks. Management is open to all kinds of comments like "Think different...just don't say it." (For the uninitiated, "Think Different" is an old Apple slogan.). And....who knows what the terminated employee will do.

Well, in this case, we actually do know. He used his Apple computer (which is an excellent tool for putting together slick little media pieces quickly) to produce a movie titled "Why I got Fired from Apple." He posted it on the web. And now, thousands of people get to see the performance that got this employee fired and decide decide for themselves about the professionalism or lack thereof of his comments.

Thus, what was arguably an inappropriate remark made at an internal company function is now a public piece of video getting more airplay than all of Apple's Ipod ads. In short, the situation is much, much worse.

Incidentally, here is the video:

Nod to HR Lori for the link.