Since the Great Resignation began, employees have become more aware of their rights. The changed scenario of the employment landscape, as shaped by the Great Resignation, also requires employers and HR professionals to be fully aware of employee rights.
Ignorance or intentional negligence of employee rights can cost organizations thousands of dollars and their reputation. So without further ado, let’s take a quick look at employee rights HR professionals should never forget:
Employment-at-Will Principle
While all HR professionals know that the Employment-at-Will principle allows employers to fire employees without reason, they fail to realize that the law works both ways, meaning that employees can leave an employer at will. There are exceptions to this principle, in particular states, that bind both parties. However, HR professionals must understand that employees can leave their job at will too, and they cannot do anything about it.
The Employment-at-Will principle exceptions include implied contract exceptions, public policy exceptions, and good faith and fair dealing exceptions. However, not all exceptions are valid in all states.
Wrong discharge of employees, proven through the exceptions mentioned above, can result in lawsuits and heavy fines for the organization. On the other hand, threatening employees to leave at will can result in penalties and public humiliation.
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
Passed by the US Department of Labor in 2011, this law requires an organization with a hundred or more employees to provide sixty-day notice before laying off fifty or more employees at once or closing permanently. Violation of this law can lead employers to pay all employees working with the organization for more than six months.
Privacy Rights
As per the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, employers must keep all health, medical, and disability information of employees private. However, many organizations, especially those requiring manual labor or heavy machinery operation, may require employees to regularly take drug tests. Drug tests for illegal substances, performed under the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988, are not covered under ADA, and employees cannot say no to them.
Privacy rights of employees on social and digital media are an aspect regarding which there are no defining laws. But HR professionals must understand that while there are no laws stopping employers from prying on their employees’ social media usage, no laws allow it either.
Hence, prying on employees’ digital media usage can lead to employees quitting. Organizations asking employees for consent to track their digital and social movements can also face lawsuits for imposing a law that doesn’t exist.
Wagner Act and Taft-Hartley Act
Wagner Act outlines the responsibilities of labor unions regarding the administration and enforcement of provisions, while Taft-Hartley Act sets standard fair practices by the unions. The two acts allow unions to bargain fairly with the employers.
While the Taft-Hartley Act allows employers to express their displeasure at labor unions, they cannot threaten employees or keep them from unionizing.
The Great Resignation has led to labor unions at organizations across the US. Labor unions have also spread awareness of other employee rights among the employees. Hence, HR professionals must be equally aware of employee rights to not become responsible for lawsuits against the organization.
