Legal_Safety_and_Regulatory_Requirements

Legal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Paper The legal, safety, and regulatory impact on the human resource department really differ by the kind of organization as well as the kind of employees. Rights of both the employee and employer are comprised by a few types of entities that may include the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. The United States has placed these organizations in order to protect employee and employer from unjust acts on each other’s part. The effect of legal, safety and regulatory requirements on the human resource process and awareness about the statement, “Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation.”; and a look into the impact of the Department of Labor on human resource processes. People working in the human resource department must be competent in the laws and regulations that the United States has put in place, because human resource people are supposed to abide by these rules and laws. After a prospective employee signs an employment contract there is a new affiliation that is formed concerning the employee and employer. “Both employees and employers have rights and obligations to each other when they enter into a contract. An employment contract spells out explicitly the terms of the employment relationship for both employee and employer (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010, p. 441)”. This states that both parties have agreed and have entered into a contract, both have the same rights and responsibilities. There are more than 180 federal laws that are administered and enforced by the Department of Labor (DOL). The directives and the regulations that implement them protect many activities in the workplace for ten million employers and 125 million employees. Saying that the DOL has something to do with the way a human resource manager relates with employees is an underestimation. The DOL is the ones who enforce for the government. Human resources personnel are the ones that need to know which laws and regulations are pertinent to their job. If there is ever any question about what needs to be done the DOL will know what steps to take. Safety and health conditions in most private industries are regulated by OSHA or OSHA-approved state programs, which also cover public sector employers ("United States Department of Labor", 2011). Those employers that are covered by OSHA need to observe the regulations and the safety and health standards proclaimed by OSHA. An employer under OSHA has an obligation to provide their employees with work in a workplace that is free of any serious hazards and is safe to work in. This is enforced by regular workplace inspections and investigations. Compliance assistance and other cooperative programs are also offered by OSHA. In the healthcare field OSHA lays out safety practices and is a good resource to be used by human resource managers. When a workplace is a safe area, it is a more tolerant place to work and an employee will feel more prone to do their best at their job. The statement, “Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation” is not true in the way that it has been written. We define compassion as an empathetic emotional response to another person’s pain or suffering that moves people to act in a way that will either ease the person’s condition or make it more bearable (Lilius, 2003). A person will find litigation in any field regardless of what the field. Litigation was placed in the work place as a tool in order for human resource managers have things done in an appropriate time. Human resource managers will use their common sense and this tool together in order to get the job completed. Common sense may not be so common at times. Laws and regulations are in place to make sure that safety as well as being treated fair and equal opportunity is safeguarded. When a human resources manager is able to use common sense, litigation is less likely to be needed. There should be compassion in a workplace. With compassion it helps people to relate better with each other. There is compassion needed in the job a person does; because it gives a person more satisfaction in the job they are doing. A human resource manager has many factors to deal with and it is surprise that they are able to get anything achieved. Human resource managers need to be not only compassionate but quick thinkers and observant. There are many laws that a human resource manager needs to be aware of and they are varied and will cover pretty much all situations that arise. The DOL is the human resource managers best friend; because they are the best source of information regarding legal issues since they are the custodians of the books. Safety is the responsibility of all workers in the workplace; but a human resource manager is the one that has to be sure that safety associated documentation and supplies are accessible and agree with OSHA’s standards. The human resource manager is one that needs to be able to relate to everyone; and that is near impossible in any organization or workplace. In the health care field there is no difference in the work of a human resource manager. The office of a human resource manager may best be described as a “one-stop-shop” for everyone’s essential needs. References: Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2010). Managing Human Resources (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Lilius, J. M. (2003). Compassion lab.com. Retrieved on 12/19/2011 from http://www.compassionlab.com/docs/whatgoodiscompassion.pdf United States department of labor. (2011). Retrieved on 12/19/2011 from http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm