Effect of Labor Laws on Human Resource Management (HRM)

Effect of Labor Laws on Human Resource Management (HRM)

Of all the issues that have affected the way human resource management is handled are labor laws. After years of acknowledging that workers are not given the right kind of treatment, labor laws were established. These laws have a uniform purpose; they seek to protect the rights of employees and enforce employers to honor their responsibilities and obligation. Some primary function is to provide for equal opportunity and pay, to stress for the physical and mental wellbeing of workers, to ensure that workers are safe and also to ensure that diversity is respected at the workplace, thereby denying any available room for discrimination of individuals. Breaking labor laws is prosecutable, as can be seen in a recent case named Ossanna v. Nike, Inc., where the plaintiff complained of being treated and fired unfairly, forcing the organization to go through a prosecution process, which is yet to be completed.

According to Azzam (2019), labor law is the basic blueprint that defines the relationship between an employee and the employer. The law outlines the obligations of the employers and the rights of the employees. While it does not mean that the law is only meant to protect employees, it is the primary source where employees can discuss their treatment and present their grievances, not just to the employees but even in courts of law (Azzam, 2019). Labor law across every nation in the world sets the precedent of how employees should be treated,  how they should be paid as per the minimum wage, the bases of their contracts, the benefits they should be paid and the way their safety should be ensured by their employers when they are at the organization.

At the organizational level, the human resource department is responsible for the relationship between the employee and the employer. The department hires, offers recommendations in case an employee has to be laid off and ensure that labor laws are ensured. In any case, the human resource department works based on organizational directives as well as labor laws. The department must ensure that hiring is done in a manner that is not discriminative, and also it must ensure that the conditions or livelihoods of the employees are ensured as per labor laws (Azzam, 2019). In this view, it is necessary to say that an organization that does not respect labor laws has a weak human resource department that needs to be strengthened as it places the organization at a high stake for failure in case employees are not satisfied. The relationship between human resource management and the employees also affects the success and profitability of the organization, which is the reason to ensure that the department follows labor laws.

The employment relationship between an employee and an employer cannot be sustained when one party does not maintain its part of the bargain. In a world where employees are skilled and understand their rights and responsibilities, it is only beneficial for the organization to ensure that its human resource management capabilities are upbeat.  Evaluation of modern-day employees indicates that they are somehow disconnected from organizations; they believe that they are just there to work and earn while the organization should fulfill their responsibility by paying them and ensuring that their stay at the organization is beneficial (Rodriguez, Johnstone & Procter, 2017). Organizations that have strong human resource management have discovered this phenomenon and use labor laws, not to harm the employees but to ensure that they provide adequate benefits, the right working conditions, and competitive salaries for their employees. The results for such organizations have been increased profitability, fewer hinges between employees and management, and long-term keeping of talent. Labor laws have therefore made the organization to be employee-centered as opposed to solely being market-oriented since the human resource management department realizes that when employee relationships are broken on the basis of dishonored labor laws, the consequences are deleterious.

Traditionally, organizations were seen to handle their employees as per the directives of the management. This is no longer the case, and modern times have experienced greater litigation than ever before. The basic reason for these prosecutions is the disrespect of labor laws. Common cases involve dehumanizing experiences and severely poor working conditions. Hefty compensation has been witnessed in many cases, and thus, organizations are working hard to ensure that they do not run on losses and to ensure that they do not soil their bran through litigations that showcase the organization as toxic (Obodo,  2017). The way human resource management departments treat their employees affects their industrial relationships positively or negatively; hence it is only necessary for organizations to strive for better human relationships by ensuring their human resource departments acknowledge and work with respect to the labor laws.

Though labor laws cover a wide spectrum of the rights of employees and the responsibilities of the employers, a great deal of stress is directed on indiscriminative hiring as well as the termination of employment. In Ossanna v. Nike, Inc., which is a case that is continuing, Douglass Ossanna sued Nike, his former employer, based on being unlawfully terminated from employment, among other poor treatments while working at the facility. The plaintiff offered that there was retaliatory bias that was directed against him by the organization that had seen him get fired in the wrong way and dehumanized. Though the case had not favored him in the lower courts, the Supreme Court of Oregon indicated that the trial proceeds with retaliation claims being listened to alongside the claims of bias and adverse employment action.

Closely observing the case of Osanna, it is easy to note disrespect for labor laws. Ideally, the reason the employee was terminated is that he and the supervisor disagreed on the way that the supervisor handled matters of finances and that of the wellness of the employees.  The human resource department of Nike had failed the labor laws as, according to the labor laws, termination of employment ought to be procedural, and there needs to be adequate reason for the employee to be terminated. For instance, the organization could be justifiably laying-off, or there could be claims supporting the inability of the employee to deliver as per the expectations of the organization (Rodriguez, Johnstone & Procter, 2017). There was not a single reason that justified the adverse employment action, which proves the prosecution of the case and, indeed, needful compensation of the plaintiff in the end.

In summation, labor laws are very impactful in the human resource department. They do not just affect the relationship between the organization and the employees but also that of the government and the organization. It is necessary for human resource management departments in organizations to consider that the treatment of their employees need to be in due respect of labor laws lest they become unproductive or face litigations that soil their brand like in the case of Ossanna v. Nike. By ensuring due compliance with labor laws, organizations will have a fulfilled workforce that delivers effectively and ensure that goals and targets as set by the management are realized.

References

Azzam, O. F. (2019). Positive Discrimination in Labour Law: A Comparative Study between Egyptian and Saudi Legislation. E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies, 8(2).

Obodo, N. A. (2017). The Effect of Extant Labour Laws on Human Resource Management in Nigeria. Journal of Humanities and Social Policies, 3(3), 50-57.

Ossanna v. Nike, Inc. IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON (CC 130101385; CA A157434; SC S065889). (2019)

Rodriguez, J. K., Johnstone, S., & Procter, S. (2017). Regulation of work and employment: advances, tensions and future directions in research in international and comparative HRM.