Hrm 546 - Workplace Compliance with Discrimination Laws

Workplace Compliance with Discrimination Laws

Human Resource Law

HRM/546

Instructor

July 28, 2001

What practices can a manager establish to ensure compliance in the workplace with discrimination laws?

A primary practice is to keep current with new compliance laws and trends in the workplace. Communicating information to managers and employees is critical to ensuring compliance is met in the workplace. This information can be provided through instructor training, Intranet communications, bulletin boards / posters, or webinars. Training and documentation are essential elements to compliance with discrimination laws. Companies should establish clear procedures and protocols for managers to follow during recruitment, selection, promotion, and retention processes. A quality assurance team should be created because follow up is important to make sure the companies are in compliance with federal, state, and local laws.

The monitoring and reviewing of these procedures should be carried out regularly within the company to ensure satisfactory compliance. Failure to comply with standards set by the company should result in immediate disciplinary action. The disciplinary action process could be through a tier system unless the infraction has a zero tolerance policy. Zero tolerance policies should be provided to new hires and employees and updated as needed to reflect current trends in the workplace environment. Managers should be diligent in listening to and observing the workplace environment to gain a perspective of the culture that exists. The manager's ability to listen to and observe employees' behaviors will allow for interaction so minor issues can be remedied before they become major issues and become grounds for a legal claim.

Basic steps that can be taken in the workplace to avoid liability and ensure compliance in the workplace with discrimination laws should be taught in management or leadership training. All steps must be followed to ensure compliance when it comes to making necessary decisions that affect all employment related issues. The following steps should be taken to decrease a company's risk for liability:

* Use objective, job-related criteria for all employment decisions, whether these involve hiring, firing, promotions, transfers, discipline, or any other term, condition, or privilege of employment.

* Evaluate employees based on job performance, not personal attributes. It shouldn't matter if an employee is young or old, black or white, male or female. If that employee does a good job and meets all requirements, that's all that counts.

* Apply the same general work standards, such as production, accuracy, and so on to all employees and apply specific job-related standards to all employees performing the same or comparable jobs.

* Finally, make sure all employees have equal chance for assignments, promotions, raises and other job opportunities.