Employee Rights

Employee Rights

Employees engage themselves in certain activities that are secured by the laws and social sanctions on the basis of employee rights. The relationships of the employees with the management of the organization are secured by certain Federal and State government laws. The wrongful treatment by employees is also protected through the courts. There are a number of employee rights that are all secured by different laws and regulations.

The Human Resource Management area of the organization is governed by many laws and regulations that help set, maintain, and protect employee rights. There are laws of discrimination that facilitate the employees to work without being judged according to factors that are not related to the job like sex, religion, race, etc.

The employees can claim a certain level of basic compensation from the management of the organization in light of the minimum wage legislation. Labor laws allow employees to become members of specific unions under certain conditions.

Types of Employee Rights

Statutory Rights

Statutory rights are those rights that are prescribed through certain laws. These laws are as follows.

• Civil Rights Act
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
• National Labor Relation Act (NLRA)

The employees in the organizations are protected through these laws from discrimination, the right to join a union, and safe working conditions.

Contractual Rights

The terms and conditions of the employment are written in detail in an employment contract. There are certain issues that are mentioned in these contracts like due process, seniority, and wrongful discharge. There are also some additional contracts called implied contracts that are other than the written ones. Implied contracts include the following.

• Employee handbook
• Employment policies
• Statements made by the manager or interviewer

Other Rights

There are certain employee rights that are other than statutory and contractual like rights of limited free speech, ethical treatment, limited privacy, etc.

Managers’ Influence on Behaviors of the Organization

Following are some ways that are adopted by the managers and supervisors in the organization to make the climate and behavior fair.

• Trust should be developed by taking certain actions like being good in commitments and sharing useful information with other employees.
• The actions of the managers should be consistent so that employees are not astonished by the unexpected decision and actions of the management.
• Managers should not make lie to their employees and neither should they show any kind of unfair impression of the manipulation of others.
• The managers must show concern for others and keep confidence in maintaining their integrity in the organization.
• The employees should be properly communicated about the expected work that they have to perform.
• All the employees in the organizations should be treated fairly and there should not be any kind of special discrimination in giving rewards to certain effectively performing employees. The employees that show the same performance should be given similar rewards.
• The managers should also follow the standards of the organization that are established as reasonable ones.
• The employees in the organizations should be given respect by the managers. Furthermore, the managers should clearly show that they care for the employee and recognize their contributions and strengths of the employees.

Management Rights

Besides the employee rights, there are also some management rights that are also a part of an effective organization. The rights of management include the broader rights to operate the organization and keep any generated profit. Specifically, other rights of management include the right to lead a workforce which means to hire the workers and define their level of pay. In fact, the management rights are statutory in nature which means that their rights are not influenced by the laws and contracts.

Employment at Will

There is a common law that the employer of an organization has the right to hire, promote, demote or fire any of his employees unless any particular law comes in the way. Similarly, there is a universal law that an employee has the right to work or leave the job and work for any other organization after quitting an existing job provided certain conditions are not violated.

This law of employment at will was implemented in the nineteenth century; when the employees are free to leave their jobs due to any reason.

Similarly, employers are also free to lay off any employee on the basis of any particular reason. The court at that time passed this law of freedom because it was considered to be fair. There are certain situations in which this law of employment at will does not work like implied contracts, lack of fair dealing and good faith, and public policy exceptions.

Employee Rights Challenges

The employee rights are separated by a thin line from the management rights. There are certain issues related to the workplace that enlighten this conflict. These issues are as follows.

Random Drug Testing

There are certain challenges that are faced by the organization that uses drug testing like

• How urine specimens should be protected
• How false positives should be treated
• Is it possible to use alternative tests etc?

Electronic Testing

Electronic monitoring is used to prevent employees from theft. For the smooth functioning of the electronic monitoring, the employees should be aware of the types of monitoring devices employed and the management should find the best ways in which the monitoring devices are used. So the top management of the organization publishes the best methods of working on those devices in the organization.

Whistle Blowing

Whistleblowing is referred to as notification of the wrong actions of management by the employees. The employees of the federal organizations are protected through the laws, but the employees of the private sector are not much legally protected. The employees can blow a whistle against the management of the organization which would be harmful to the organization; so many organizations are considering policies that can cover whistleblowing.