Human Resources Law the Most

Human Resources Law

The most important resource that companies can exploit is represented by the human resources. The necessities of managing human resources are translated in the fact that the legislation in the field must be careful in including the requirements of both employers and employees in the human resources management law.

However, there are several challenges and paradoxes that characterize the HRM law. For example, individuals on management positions must ensure that their decisions respect the law, given the fact that the complexities of constitutional, statutory, administrative and common law make it difficult for them to respect these laws. Also, the requirements and interpretations of these laws is quite complex. In case managers do not have legal educational training, it is difficult for them to understand and to apply the laws. In order to solve such situations, these managers have the possibility to contact legal counsel, but the problem in such cases is represented by the fact that these formal opinions are obtained in longer periods of time, and the legal staff that provides such assistance is likely to not support their initial opinions.

In addition to this, managers confront with difficulties when using case law, because these cases are decided based on specific facts, which means that similar facts must determine similar decisions (Berman et al., 2010). The problem is that in practice, it is quite unlikely to deal with similar facts that would lead to similar decisions. Another paradox is represented by the fact that certain legal regulations are in conflict with others. Therefore, managers do not know which regulation they should apply in the situation in case. Also, there are differences between HRM regulations regarding public workplaces and private ones.

Employment laws refer to the rights and obligations of employers, employees, and they establish the conditions in which the relationship between them must take place. Federal and state law determine these basic rights and obligations, but contracts between employers and employees can establish a series of rights and obligations that are more complex than those referred to by the state law.

The basic rights that are ensured by the state and federal law include: the right to privacy, the right to be free from discrimination and harassment, the right to a safe workplace, the right to be free from retaliation from filing a claim or complaint against an employer, the right to fair wages in accordance with the work they perform (FindLaw, 2010).

The contract between the employer and the employee develops narrows the areas that these rights address. Therefore, the right to privacy can be limited regarding the e-mail and Internet use. As one knows, many companies do not allow their employees to surf the Internet, or to send e-mails to outside parties, or to visit certain Internet websites. These companies provide intranets, designed in order to help employees communicate and inform about certain issues.

Employment law also refers to a very important aspect that refers to discrimination. In other words, federal laws prohibit employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. There are also a series of acts that develop the aspects that the federal laws refer to, in order to create a work environment that provides equal opportunities.

The discriminatory practices that are prohibited by these laws include: hiring and firing, compensation, assignment, or classification of employees, transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall, job advertisements, recruitment, testing, use of company facilities, training and apprenticeship programs, fringe benefits, pay, retirement plans, and disability leave, and other terms and conditions of employment that are considered necessary (EEOC, 2009).

There are numerous situations that are not addressed by state and federal employment laws and that must be solved by managers based on their interpretation of other sets of rules, in order to ensure a work environment that favors equal opportunities.