Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Paper

The Effect of Legal, Regulatory and Safety Requirements on Human Resource Processes

Introduction

The role of the human resource department in the workplace has been essential in understanding and comprehending the regulations set for hiring, workplace safety, firing, pay, benefits and confidentiality to protect against harassment and discriminatory practices. Compassion and common sense in the workplace have been replaced by litigation which offers guidance in complaints and conflict. Human resource departments have to comply with all the legal, safety, and regulatory necessities to ensure that the organization remains compliant and prevents costly penalties. This paper will focus on the impact of safety, legal and regulatory demands on the human resource processes. Employee-related regulations developed by the United States influence the human resources process.

Employee Related Regulations

The state, federal and local employment laws have established the legal, safety, and regulatory requirements that the organization operates. The primary federal employment laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities, the Equal pay Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (Carnevale, Jennings and Eisenmann, 2019). Title VII eliminates discrimination on every employment condition based on color, gender, race religion, and national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act also protects various employees and applicants 40 years and above from discrimination based on age in promotion, hiring, compensation, and discharge.

The occupational safety and health Act sets standards that ensure that employees in the workplace are healthy and safe. Every organization has to comply with safety regulations. Ideally, the human resource management within an organization is responsible for workplace security and safety matters such as occupational safety and health, safety program development, and general workplace access. Equal Pay Act outlaws discrimination based on sex in the payment of salary by employers. This aims at eliminating wage disparity based on gender, thus offering equal pay for the equal workload. Fair Labor Standards Acts develops minimum wage, record-keeping, overtime, and youth employment standards influencing employees in local, state, and federal governments. Americans with Disabilities Act outlaws discrimination of individuals with incapacities in various areas such as employment and access to services.

Effect on Human Resource Processes

The core human resource processes include recruitment, compensation and benefits, talent management, training, and development (Michael, 2019). These processes are influenced by the legal, safety, and regulatory requirements that demand organizations to comply with the requirements in the human resource processes. For instance, federal law focuses on the whole scope of employment, from the employee’s hiring to termination. These outline the basic requirements and provisions for which employees are covered. The human resource processes have to comply with the state laws that govern the various aspects of employment, such as positing requirements, medical and family leave, safety and security, worker’s compensation, wage, and hours (Adjibolosoo, 2018). The human resource management professionals ought to consider the implementation of regulations and ordinances set by the local, state, and federal administrative agents.

The human resource has to draft and enforce clear workplace policies that prevent discrimination. The HR structures have formalized responsibility in the hiring process and made employers accountable for their behaviors and decisions. Human resource management has developed policies that state an individual’s gender, age, disability, origin, or race should not be used as a reason for discrimination during compensations and performance appraisals. The legal requirements have influenced the hiring, firing, and compensation process since the human resource management has to comply with all the legal requirements designed to safeguard the personnel from discrimination and inequality in the workplace.

The human resource department has to ensure that the workplace is safe and free from known safety and health hazards. They create and maintain safety standards and procedures by ensuring that the employees are appropriately trained. They ensure that the Occupational health and safety procedures and safety are in place and aligned to the existing HR policies (Adjibolosoo, 2018). The safety requirements have greatly affected training since HR has to ensure that employees are trained on policies and procedures that facilitate safety. They offer training programs and opportunities for awareness and education to support workplace safety and health.

The human resource has to make reasonable accommodations to ensure that all qualified employees are not discriminated against due to their age, gender, or disability. They have been forced to modify work schedules, working equipment, and working environments to accommodate all individuals. For instance, their training programs and equipment have been modified to include persons with disabilities in recruitment and skills training (Adjibolosoo, 2018). The human resource has to structure their compensation and benefits programs for the regulatory requirements of laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act that offer employees up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year.

Conclusion

The statement “compassion and commonsense at work have been substituted by litigation” explains how the workplace has changed since the implementation of laws that govern practices. The local, state and federal governments have established legal, regulatory, and safety requirements that have influenced the various human resource processes such as training and development, compensation and benefits, and talent management. The human resource management has to ensure that the processes are in line with the laws and regulations that safeguard the safety and rights of the workplace.

References

Adjibolosoo, S. (2018). The Evolution and Implications of Human Resources Regulations and Policies. In The Human Factor Approach to Managerial and Organizational Efficiency and Effectiveness (pp. 17-39). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Carnevale, A. P., Jennings, L. A., & Eisenmann, J. M. (2019). Contingent workers and employment law. In Contingent Work (pp. 281-305). Cornell University Press.

Michael, A. (2019). A handbook of human resource management practice.