Employee Benefits Aid in Recruiting Certain Types of Workers, Research Paper Example

Abstract

Many labor laws have been passed and others amended in the various labor markets in the world. In the last century, there have been a lot of amendments on various bills and laws especially in the U.S. The importance of this piece of work is to illustrate how these three human resources laws aid in the employee benefits. The paper covers three human resources laws; Equal Employment Opportunity, Fair Labor Standard Act, and Employee Retirement Security Act. The paper will look into these three laws and their implications in the business employment environment.  These will help in the determination how the employee benefits aid in recruitment of different types of workers.

Introduction

There are various laws in the labor market that protects both the employer and the employees in general. This paper points out three of those highly important human resources laws; the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (EEO), the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FSLA) and the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). All three were enacted at different times in the American history by the various federal agencies involved.  The EEO saw the end of employment discrimination among the various employee and applicant groups from different origins and races, both men and women alike. The FLSA demarcates the employees’ minimum wages, overtime pay as well as protecting persons under the age of 16 from child labor. The last law in this paper is the ERISA, a law that protects employees’ retirement benefits. Other laws that could be said to be affiliated with the EEO include, among others, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA). In the recruitment of workers, all these laws will guide the employers on the requirements to be met during the process. It is essential for them to understand them and not bleach any one of them as that would be against the law.

History of the Laws

Taking the Employee Employment Opportunity law, it was instituted by the Equal Employment opportunity Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-261). The employer is not allowed to make any distinctions on the bases of the above in job classifications, retirement ages, wages, seniority, hours, or job fringe remunerations like the company’s insurance or pension plans contribution. According to U.S. Department of Labor, “there is discrimination prohibition in employment practices such as upgrading, promotion, pay rats, layoff, and training selection.”

EEO laws and policies are dated back to the 1883’s Civil Rights Act. This prohibited the political preference in the federal employment. The Executive Order 0948 in 1940 did not allow discrimination in the federal agencies on the bases of creed, race, or color. 1961 saw the Executive Order 10955 which required positive measures be taken to wipe away discrimination in the work place in all agencies. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was enacted and it disallowed different wage rates to employees of considerably similar work based on sex. The Executive Order 11246 (1965) named the procedure for EEO which was the Affirmative Action. Executive Order 11375 came later in 1967 and it disallowed discrimination on the bases of sex. It also required that the employment’s affirmative action in order to help women. The Age Discrimination Act (1967) was enacted to ensure that employees between 40 and 70 years of age are not discriminated in employment processes. The Executive Order 11479 (1969) provided that   the EEO be a part of each and every human resources practice and policy aspects in the hiring, development, treatment and advancement of federal government civilian employees .

The law was enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) which is under the U.S. Department of Labor (simply DOL). The main objective of the law was to make discrimination in employment process illegal. This Act amended the 1964’s Civil rights Act to accommodate the public employees. Equal Employment Opportunity law and program is inclusive of employees’ affirmative action and also discrimination complaints remedies. Every employee, including former ones, supervisors, applicants (regardless of position or grade level) and managers are under this legislature. Other Acts like the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA) prohibits the employers from inequity on present and past uniformed services members as well as new applicants. This Act was enacted on October 13, 1994 after being signed into law (U.S. DOL). It is strengthens and clarifies the Veterans’ Reemployment Rights (VRR) Statute.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1995 , which was passed after that of 1972, disallows discrimination on 14 grounds: marital status, race, sex, impairment, age, religion, political affiliations, pregnancy, business dealings roles, lawful sexual activity, physical features, person’s societal status, past and present employment positions, and association with a person identified with any of the above.

Burstein (1998) views the public opinion that led to the enactment of the law would affected both its intended beneficiaries and its enforcement. A public increased hostility to discrimination might advocate for strong enforcement of the Equal Employment Opportunity law and discourage the employers from the act of discrimination.

The second human resources law is the 1938’s Fair Labor Standards Act. It was intended for the provision of fair labor standards in employments in and involving interstate commerce, and for other purposes (The Fair Standards Act of 1938). The FLSA gives the minimum standards for overtime and wage entitlements, as well as the administrative processes by which covered worktime are to be compensated. It notes the standards for the overtime pay and minimum wage and affects most public and private employment.

This law was passed in June 1938 by Congress and limited the maximum number of working hours for employees as well as the minimum wages they were entitled to (Jones, 2003). As from September 1^st 1997, it was passed that the minimum wage to all employees should be $5.15/hour. This was after long years of amendments since the law was first passed in 1937. It was feared that the bill would violate the employees’ “contract liberty” (Jones, 2003). This doctrine held that the government in general is not capable to set forth the contracts terms that are freely entered into especially by the private parties.  According to Pollock, Rubenstein & Landrigan(1992), “Child labor is the employment of persons under the age of eighteen.”  (p.54) This has become common in the U.S. and the world over. Many countries have children as young as 4 begin working.  These children are involved in “carpet schools” where they are given a couple of instruction on what they should do (Arthur, 2009).

According to Leslie (2000), “President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 wanted to put forth a legislation that would guarantee maximum hours and minimum wages and at the same time ensure child labor restriction.” (p.122) But he held back because he was aware that it was to be opposed by the conservatives in the Congress at the time. Many southern conservatives viewed the bill as a setback to the regions’ competitive advantage it possessed as a result of low wage rates. Also they did not want the black community to have the same wage rate as their white counterparts.

The FLSA requires that the employers pat the covered workers who are not otherwise exempt at least the federal minimum overtime pay and wage of one-and-one-half the normal pay rate. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) administers the FLSA. The standards established under the Act are those of overtime pay, minimum wage, child labor and record keeping (U.S. DOL). Regardless of their business volume dollar, the Act covers institutions primarily involved in the sick, disabled or mentally ill, all schools, hospitals, and local federal and state government agencies. The law prohibits persons under the age of 18 to work in environments otherwise deemed too dangerous. For nonagricultural sectors, it also restricts persons under the age of 16 to work. The  basic information of the employee that need to be obtain include full name, birth date, address, time duration of the employee, regular hourly pay rate, total workweek earnings, total weekly/daily straight-time earnings, additions or deductions to/from the his/hr wages, total wages paid and the date the payment was made. This is necessary for record keeping purposes.

The third laws covered here is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or simply ERISA. This federal law sets the pension plans minimum standards in the private industry. An excerpt from this 1974 ERISA notes that:

“… declared to be the policy of this Act to protect interstate commerce, the Federal taxing power, and the interests of participants in private pension plans and their beneficiaries by improving the equitable character and the soundness of such plans by requiring them to vest the accrued benefits of employees with significant periods of service, to meet minimum standards of funding, and by requiring plan termination insurance” (Leslie, 2000 p.123).

ERISA does not detail the amount of money an individual is to be paid as a benefit. In fact, it does not require one to have a pension plan. ERISA requires regulatory steps for the provision of participants’ information pertaining to the plan, its funding as well as features. It sets the minimum requirements for the involvement, vesting, and benefit funding and accrual. If a defined schedule is terminated, ERISA guarantees that certain benefits are paid through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which is federal chartered.  But many retirement plans like those offered by midsized and small businesses, do not meet all the requirements of the plan (Szabo, 2000). The Internal Revenue Authority (IRA) in 1997 examined some qualified plans and found out that half of them were not in compliance.

In a report, Public Policy and Private Pension Programs, it’s argued that the federal government ought to regulate the pension plans so that the employees can receive their promised benefits as per the plan (Wooten, 2009). The Congress was urged to pass the both the minimum funding and vesting standards and after years, ERISA came to be signed on September 2 1974 on Labor Day by President Gerald Ford. According to Wooten, an all-inclusive regulatory program was create by the law that included conduct rules for the plans overseers, funding and vesting standards, disclosure requirements, as well as an insurance-pension plan. All these were for the basis of workers’ protection on pension plans that are private. Few other rules were created by ERISA for welfare plans. However, it limited the state governments’ authority to oversee the plans.

President Gerald Ford signed ERISA on September 2, Labor Day. This law created an all-inclusive regulatory program, including rules of conduct for plan managers, disclosure requirements, vesting and funding standards, and a pension-insurance program, to shield workers who relied on private-pension plans. ERISA created a small number of standards or rules for the welfare plans although they greatly limited the influence of state governments to control these plans.

These laws and others under the U.S. Department of Labor ensure that all benefits, wages and overtime pays are granted to all employees regardless of their backgrounds.

Importance of the laws

Benefits awarded to employees include life insurance, pension pays, vacation, disability insurance, bonuses, stock options, maternity leave, and profit sharing among others. Intangible benefits may include a nice office, appreciation from the employer, promotion likelihood, etc. Employers should embrace some, or all, of these benefits in their packages to employees. However, worker’s compensation is more of an employee right than it is a benefit. When designing the proper packages for the employee, the employers should however work in line with the labor laws.  These three laws, among others, has seen the development of equality in the employment field, fair wages and salaries among the employees, as well as ensuring that all employees receive their pension or retirement benefits according to the pension plan they undertook.

Taking the FSLA for instance, the law is now a major anti-poverty legislation piece (Newman, 2009). The maximum working hours in a day have been slashed from 10 hours in 1886 to 8 hours nowadays (Samuel, 2000). Children under the age of 16 are also exempted to work and those under 18 years of age are limited work that does not pose a risk to them. This sees that they can comfortably stay in school and concentrate on their education. The FLSA ensures that proper records are kept for health claims. This is mostly not usually the case in the U.S. (Arthur, 2009). Employees should be compensated for any extra working hours. This should be included in the employees’ packages. The exempt and non-exempt jobs employees are covered by this law in the sense of salaries, wages and overtime compensation.

The EEO law has been praised by majority of employees all over the globe. In the U.S. the EEO ensures that all employees are treated equality and are exposed to uniform opportunities when it comes to the employment terms. It was structured in order to ensure that all segments of the society are treated fairly irregardless of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This law comes into play when employers are customizing the employee benefits. No employee or applicant is denied such benefits as bonuses or compensation under this law.

The ERISA on the other hand has aided in the provision of most employees’ pensions and retirement benefits. It is a crucial and vital law that sees the worker’s long years of service and savings are fruitful in the end of their working terms. With this law in play, employers should include a pension plan in the employee packages in order to facilitate their retirement benefits.

All these laws ensure that there is a good relation between the three main bodies of the labor market; the government, employers and employees. With these laws in place, there is bound to be smooth employment, development, and treatment of employees by the various employing organizations. The human resources personnel should always be updated on these and other laws pertaining to employee rights as a worker.

Conclusion

These laws have seen it through years of their inaction and it is through them that most employees, as well as employers, have benefited from their work. Were it not for these laws, people would be living in a country whereby employers treat the employees in the most inhumane way. There would be work discrimination in almost, if not all, agencies, institutions, and other profit driven and not-for-profit organizations. Child labor would be on its toll today. Most employees would end their working terms with little or no pensions at all. The pension schemes and plans in the country would be those that favor the employer rather than the employee who applies for it. Most of all the Equal Employment Opportunity Act will always be praised by many of “minorities” in the U.S.

References

Arthur, L.F. (2009).  Fair Labor Standards Act.  Retrieved January 30, 2010, from http://www.answers.com/topic/fair-labor-standards-act

Jones, M.K. (2003). Fair Labor Standards Act. Retrieved January 30, 2010, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401801458.html

Leslie, D.L. (2000). Labor Law in a Nutshell. 4th ed. St. Paul, Minn: West Group.

Newman, K.R. (2009). Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).  Retrieved  January 30, 2010, from http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/fair-labor-standards-act

Samuel, H.D. (December 2000). Troubled Passage: The Labor Movement and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 123, 2000.

Pollock, S.,  Rubenstein, H., & Landrigan, P. (1992). “Child Labor” In Public Health and Preventive Medicine, 13th edition, (eds). J. Last and R. B. Wallace. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange.

Szabo, J. (2000, November 22). Pension Tension. Entrepreneur. 320(11): 22-29.

United States Department of Labor (2010). The Employee Retirement and Income Security Act. Retrieved January 30, 2010, from       http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-erisa.htm

United States Department of Labor (2010). The Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Retrieved January 30, 2010, from http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-eeo.htm

United States Department of Labor (2010). The Fair Labor Standards Act. Retrieved January 30, 2010, from http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-flsa.htm

Wooten A.J. (2009). The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Retrieved January 30, 2010, from  http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/employee-retirement-income-security-act